By ARIELLA MONTI
The deal requires that the city match this amount and use it toward improving local parkland.
The city’s $750,000 will be earmarked to repair the Clark Street bulkheads in the canals section of northeast Long Beach. The funds are a portion of the $1 million allotted to fix all city-owned bulkheads in the canals as part of the $8 million bond approved by the city council on Aug. 19.
“It is in a disgraceful stage of disrepair,” said City Manager Charles Theofan of the portion of the park along the water. “The bulkhead that has long since failed has caused about half of that park to be fenced off and is unusable.”
While the park has recently undergone improvements thanks to private funding, Theofan said that it is the most rundown of any of the city’s playgrounds.
“It’s been in such terrible shape for so long we need to concentrate our resources and try to make it up to the community,” said Theofan. He noted that there have been generations of children, who are now grown, that had no use of the park as youngsters because it has long been in such poor condition. The money from Nassau County and its matched equivalent will be used solely for the upgrade of the playground on Clark Street. The city will use funds from the community development block grant to upgrade the rest of the parks in Long Beach.
With the exception of the bulkhead repair, the exact plans for the park upgrade are still in a preliminary stage.
“You can really run the gamut from all age groups and all parts of the community to have something available to fit everybody’s needs and everybody’s activities,” said City Councilman Lenny Remo. “Nothing has been finalized about the facilitation, but there’s a couple different directions we can go in.”
Both the city manager and Remo have said they are considering everything from a tennis court to shuffleboard to make the park accessible to residents of all ages. Theofan said they are also considering an area for residents to walk and sit along the water.
Residents of the area have been voicing their suggestions about what new features they would like to see to improve the park. One resident who attended the Sept. 16 city council meeting suggested a kayak launch for those who want to set out into Reynolds Channel. Joan Mancuso, who runs I Care 4 Kids daycare out of her home on nearby Boyd Street, often takes her children to the park during the summer. “I love the park, but what’s really needed is a bathroom,” she laughed. “As soon as you get there, someone has to go and you have to leave!”
Mancuso can bring up to eight children to the park between the ages of six weeks and 12 years and would love to see something for the older children who usually wind up in the rubble of the unused portion of the park. She also suggests a blacktop area for basketball and for children to ride their bikes.
“A sprinkler park would be awesome!” she added. “It gets really hot there in the summer.”
While residents seem to agree that the bulkhead repair on Clark Street is necessary, they are wary about how the money will be spent on the rest of the improvements.
“I do feel the bulkhead and the area by the bulkhead should be repaired and used,” said Karen Adamo, who has lived on Forester with her husband Matthew since 1999. “Do I think they should be spending 1.5 million [dollars] on the project? I don’t know if I agree with that.”
The Adamos have had their own bulkhead issues that originated prior to moving into their home and hope that with the remaining $250 million allotted toward bulkhead improvement, the area of State Street and Forester will finally be repaired, too.
“It’s a lovely park now,” she said, adding that she is more concerned with the dangerous holes forming by her home near the canal. “If we could fix the basketball courts, put up some lights and fix the bulkhead, I think that would be enough.”
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
