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Difficulty of Work Blamed for Delays Replacing Park Space Lost to Yankee Stadium

A parks department official, called before the City Council to explain why an effort to replace recreation space lost to construction of the new Yankee Stadium has been plagued by delays and cost overruns, said on Tuesday that the department’s inexperience with such complex projects was partly to blame.

The city was required to build new parks in the Bronx after Macombs Dam Park and a portion of John Mullaly Park were chosen as the site of the new stadium. State and federal law dictate that a similar amount of parkland of equal or greater fair market value replace the old parks.

The Parks and Recreation Department originally said that seven of the eight replacement parks would be completed by April 2009, in time for opening day at the new stadium. The eighth, Heritage Field, planned for the site of the current stadium, had been scheduled to open in December 2010, after the stadium is demolished, but that date has been pushed back to 2011.

Earlier this year, the agency said the completion of some of the parks would be delayed for as long as two years and cost $174 million, up from an earlier estimate of $95.5 million. The new figures prompted the City Council’s Parks and Recreation Committee to call for a hearing.

On Tuesday, council members asked Liam Kavanagh, the parks department’s first deputy commissioner, a series of pointed questions, including whether the agency had been dishonest about its original cost estimates.

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All-Out Effort For A Greener Bronx

All around the borough, Bronxites were thinking green and doing their part Tuesday for Earth Day.

In the South Bronx, more than 200 volunteers celebrated by planting trees, shrubs and perennials in five community areas.

The event was in support of PlaNYC’s goal of planting one million trees throughout the five boroughs by 2017, and officially kicked off the Timberland Company’s plan to “green” 300 communities worldwide.

The effort will help “create the first truly sustainable 21st century city - what we call a greener, greater New York,” said Liam Kavanagh of the city Department of Parks & Recreation.

At Middle School 391 in Tremont, the celebration will last all week long.

Together with the Bronx Overall Development Council, more than 30 students, parents and school officials showed up at the school at 2225 Webster Ave. to blanket the concrete rooftop with 20 pine trees and plants.

“We are the first in the community to do this,” said Middle School 391 teacher Vic Madho. “It’s very avant-garde.”

The school’s Eco-Green team will take care of the garden, and the project will be incorporated into science lessons.

Later this week, with the help of the nonprofit PHIPPS, students will paint the school foyer and redecorate selected bathrooms in the building. Read more..

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14th Annual Bronx Speak Up at Lehman College

Around the City, the Parks Department is listening to communities “Speak Up” about their parks. Today, First Deputy Commissioner Liam Kavanagh and Bronx Borough Commissioner Hector Aponte joined elected officials, community members, volunteer groups, educators and students at the 14th Annual Bronx Speak Up at Lehman College, a free forum dedicated to generating public discussion about open space in the Bronx.

The Bronx Speak Up is a community-led, annual event that has been in existence for 14 years.

This year, the Bronx forum’s theme was “Greening the Bronx” and featured presentations by senior Parks officials, participant workshops, and a panel discussion. Gary Axelbank, host of BronxTalk Ch 67, emceed the event, which was sponsored by Con Edison and hosted by the Bronx Coalition for Parks & Green Spaces.

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