Green Kensington

Dome Playground: As you know, Councilmember Lander was very pleased last year to have allocated $600,000, along with an additional $300,000 from Borough President Marty Markowitz, to begin the renovation of Dome Playground. In February, representatives from the Parks Department came out for a community visioning session which was attended by over 50 people who talked about their hopes for the park. The next step in that process is for Parks to present their first draft of a phased plan for construction to the community. Based on that plan and community response, Brad hopes to allocate a significant portion of his capital funds to Dome playground again this year. This is obviously a slow-moving process, but one that will hopefully result in a more user friendly park for all area residents.

The “Walgreens plaza” (this will definitely need a better name!): Last year DOT came out for a site visit to explore the idea of adding some benches and planting to the curved area of sidewalk at Beverly Road, between Church Avenue and East 2nd Street (outside the Walgreens). Turning this area into an actual plaza would require some capital funding, which Councilmember Lander is open to doing next year if the community advocates for it, but even the addition of benches and plantings will require a “maintenance partner” from the community. This is where we hit a wall last year, when DOT expressed a willingness to consider making the triangle at 35th Street a plaza under DOT's public plaza program but we were not able to identify a not-for-profit organization with the capacity to maintain it. We are eager to move forward here, so hope that a community group will be able to step forward to help make this happen.

PS 179: Councilmember Lander wrote a letter to the DOE expressing his desire for a plan to address overcrowding at the southern end of his district, in a way which would enable the removal of trailers at PS 179. The DOE is moving forward with plans for two new schools in the Kensington area--another item that Councilmember Lander made a big issue of during the Culver El rezoning, so we are very pleased that these plans are moving forward. However, those schools are in Districts 15 and 22, but because three districts come together in Kensington, at PS 179 is in District 20, we do not yet have an answer on whether this additional capacity (which, in any case, will not be ready for another couple of years, until the schools are built) would enable a removal of some of the trailers. We are still hopeful about this as a longer-term possibility.

Tree Plantings Requested by the Borough President: As Councilmember Lander indicated in his testimony during the Culver El rezoning, last summer Borough President Markowitz requested that the Parks Department do some street tree planting throughout Kensington. The Parks Department has confirmed those trees are definitely still in their plan and the trees are scheduled to be planted this spring. Parks expect to be planting about 300 trees in that neighborhood over the next 6 weeks.

Additional Green Space near Culver El Site: We have asked the Parks Department to examine the possibility of creating some additional green space in the vicinity of the Culver El rezoning. Parks has been out there to look at a few sites in order to create an initial report, and they have asked the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) to appraise some spaces so that we know how much it would cost the city. Parks has not yet completed this process, so obviously there are a lot of steps before any spaces could become available for community use, but we are excited to be starting this process.

Dog Run at Greenwood Playground: We are exploring the possibility of a dog run at Greenwood Playground, in the area under the pedestrian bridge. This is something we have heard a request for from many Kensington residents, and especially from Sean Casey Animal Rescue. While this is in Windsor Terrace, and would not add new green space, it would provide a new open space amenity for Kensington (especially northern Kensington) dog owners.

Youth Market: While it does not directly speak to the need for open space, we are very excited about the “green” program that will be coming to the Kensington/Windsor Terrace border this summer through the Youth Market. This program will not only bring farm-fresh produce to the area, it will also be an empowering experience for many area kids. While it does not add new green space, it certainly enlivens existing open/plaza-type space.