RVC gets $100,000 for West End

By the end of the summer, children who frequent the Reverend Morgan Days Park will be able to look forward to a brand new playground.

Every year, the village of Rockville Centre applies for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for improvements to the village. This year, the village received nearly $100,000 to improve the playground at the Reverend Morgan Days Park, as well as to do some plantings at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Center.

“[The renovation is] going to be the safety matting that needs to be in place, and safe, age-appropriate equipment,” said Rockville Centre Mayor Mary Bossart. “It will be available for everyone in the Housing Authority, the Martin Luther King Center and for the children in the Head Start program and, if they wish to use it , the Rosa Lee Young Childhood Center, and any of the other community groups that use the park.”

The money the village is receiving is actually from a previous year’s CDBG application. “Sometimes the approvals are lagging,” said Bossart. “This [application] is from the 35th program year, and I believe we’re in 37th year. Certainly we’re in the 36th, at the very least.”

There are benefits to the village in applying for CDBG project funds. The materials will come from a state-approved supplier, which brings a level of confidence in the contractor that the village might not have had if it had to bid for the materials itself. It also helps the village get the materials at a slight discount.

“And it saves us on the whole bidding process,” Bossart said. “We don’t have to do that work in-house because there’s a New York State contractor available to do the work.”

According to Robert A.U. Hogan, director of the center, the plantings were scheduled to take place April 25 and playground work should begin at the end of May and take approximately six or seven weeks to complete.

“This summer,” he said, “there will be a brand new playground.”

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