Grant holdup delays playground construction

The Park Avenue Elementary School PTA is seeking new playground equipment for the school after being told one year ago by an insurance company that renovations had to be made to maintain playground safety. But the PTA’s request for county grant money has hit a yearlong stall as the money winds its way through the legislative process.

“We were told that one of the play sets had reached its life expectancy,” said Angela Bennett, the PTA co-president. She said the insurance company said the playground was not yet a danger, but officials preferred that it be taken down.

Bennett also said that the area around the swing set flooded every time it rained. The PTA raised funds to replace the set and have since had a new one installed. The PTA also raised enough funds to purchase climbing rock walls and basketball hoops, but did not have the money to replace the large play set.

“This whole area would have been decimated,” she said. “We’d feel so bad that the kids would have come back and there’d be nothing there.”

Bennett said that the PTA decided to seek outside help and sent letters to all 19 Nassau County legislators. According to Bennett, the PTA quickly received positive feedback from Legislator Dave Denenberg, a Democrat from Merrick who represents the 19th District.

Park Avenue, which serves parts of North Merrick and North Bellmore, is one of six elementary schools in the North Bellmore School District. The school falls in the 13th Legislative District, which is represented by Norma Gonsalves, a Republican from East Meadow. But children from both the 13th and 19th districts attend the school.

Denenberg filed for a $15,000 CRP grant from the county Legislature last year to purchase and install playground equipment at Park Avenue. The grant was given an item number of 108-11.

CRPs, known as Community Revitalization Projects, are grants from local governments that support neighborhood stability and quality of life. The money comes from the Nassau County capital budget, and according to Denenberg, about $3.8 million in CRP funds is bonded annually. Item numbers for the grants typically designate the order in which they must be put to a vote by the Legislature.