Boro Park Flashback: 18th Avenue Park

By Yehudit Garmaise

   Some people say that few trees grow in Brooklyn, but ever since August 2016, when the newly renovated 18th Avenue Park was first opened to the public, Boro Parkers have been enjoying its hundreds of new trees, lush greenery, walkways, and four large playgrounds that serve the neighborhood's many children.

    A 6.3-acre park that stretches from 55th to 58th Street, the 18th Street Park serves thousands of Brooklynites who hail from not just Boro Park, but also Gravesend and Bensonhurst.

    The improvements to the park, which not only took 7.5 years to complete, but cost $7.5 million, included two swing set areas, two baseball fields, two basketball courts, four handball courts, 50 benches, seven water fountains, and the largest park playground in Brooklyn.

     “The whole area had been under-utilized,” said David G. Greenfield, who was a City Council member at the time and later finished the project by adding new bathrooms. “We literally created a park from nothing. Previously, [the area had] basically bleachers, [and nothing else.] The idea that we knocked it down and created a brand-new playground for kids is really unbelievable.”

     Greenfield, who now serves as CEO of the Met Council, which fights poverty, has said that the park was an important project for him because the park was not a great resource when he was growing up in Boro Park.

    “I spent years playing at this park when I was a kid,” said Greenfield. “Unfortunately, I spent much of my time waiting for the play equipment to be available because the park was so poorly designed.”

   Another Boro Parker who grew up in the neighborhood also remembers playing at the 18th Avenue park, years before it had much play equipment.

     “The park didn’t have swings or slides, but we still played catch and Elimination,” said one long-time Boro Park resident, who is now happy to take his 2 and 3 and ½-year-old kids to the much-improved park, which is just a 15-minute walk from his house. “The girls played Ching Chang.”

    “My kids like that they can run around in the fresh air,” said the Boro Parker, who added, “The park is now excellent: It really could not be better. The park has beautiful equipment for toddlers, and it also features baseball and basketball fields for older kids and adults.”

   Plus, in contrast to the atmosphere in the park before the renovations, parents now feel assured that their kids are playing in a safe and wholesome environment.

    “Parents like it that we don't have to be worry, chas v’shalom, that something can happen,” the Boro Park resident said. 

      “There is nothing better than a park to represent a place that everybody, young and old, can come to and have a good time,” State Sen. Simcha Felder told the Brooklyn Reporter at the time. “The beauty of this park is that is safe, clean, and open to everyone.”

   Readers who would like to contribute ideas for Boro Park Flashback can write ygarmaise@boropark24.com.