Prior to park revamp (Photo: QueensPost)
May 26, 2011 Staff Report
The grand plan for the $1.4 million redesign of Lou Lodati Park will be unveiled next Thursday, which will include a dog run, 2 volley ball courts, 2 half basketball courts and a softball field.
The rehabilitation of the park, particularly putting in a dog run, was a major campaign promise of Jimmy Van Bramer when he was seeking office. “To achieve this means a lot to me,” he said.
Van Bramer said that the dog run will include a separate space for large dogs and for small dogs—and that the dog run area will be cordoned off from the rest of the park by trees and shrubbery. The dog run will go where the half-basketball courts are today.
Van Bramer said the park will be resurfaced–since the concrete is currently uneven and could cause injuries. He said once the new surface is put down, lines will be painted to demarcate each of the sports fields. These include lines for the softball field, 2 volley ball courts and 2 half basketball courts. At this time, there are no lines planned for soccer.
He said the plan is almost ready to go out for bid. Once the bids are in, he said his office will be in a better position to gauge when it will be completed.
The Torsney Playground, which is adjacent to the Lou Lodati park, will remain unchanged, having been upgraded in recent years. The handball courts, too, will remain the same.
The unveiling of the redesign is likely to take place at Lou Lodati Park next Thursday at 1pm.
This video was produced before the redesign of the park was announced on June 30. It illustrates the desire of dog owners to have a dog run at Lou Lodati Park
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15 Comments
So there building a dog walk… for dogs this is really crazy our children are losing programs cause there ain’t enough funding but yet they have money to build things for dogs.. this is ridiculous
Greg, you really think the city’s fiscal crisis is rooted in owners not licensing their dogs?
I’m surprised to read that the area is going to be sectioned off for everything BUT soccer – currently the main activity. Why is it being excluded? There are already several (at least 4) half basketball courts across the blvd at Noonan/Rainbow Park and 1 behind PS 150.
I don’t want to play basketball. I want to picnic. And don’t be rude.
you cant play basketball on grass.
that’s why no one likes it. shut up
I hope the dog run helps reduce the amount of dog poo on the sidewalks. JVB..try focusing on that too please!
I agree about the grass. Concrete parks aren’t parks.
I have noticed for years and years how the concrete part of that park has attracted mainly children who happen to be boys, with only a few girls, and they’re hanging out on the sidelines. It would be wonderful to have an environment that is attractive to all.
Oh, come on. Be reasonable.
That park has been crying out for a dog run for years. It’s a good thing for the neighborhood.
I guess we can’t do enough for dogs. If there’s a dog run I hope some authority (EPA, Parks Dept., Sanitation, ASPCA?) will check to see that the dog owners have licensed their dogs. I think the fiscal crisis could be alleviated if dog license fees reflected the real cost of dogs to the city, in terms of their waste disposal. “If dogs run free, why not we” said the poet.
Can we get some grass? Not of the “doper” kind just a small patch to sit on and let kids see what grass is. The patch in front of Wendys just won’t do.
I hope the police do surveillance on the teen aged (and adult) dopers who go to that park.
The plans look terrific for the park. We have been fighting for this dog run for 8 years. The lower part of the park will have about 4000 sq feet of dog run sectioned off. Finally we are going to have Sunnyside a dog friendly community! Thank you to Jimmy for pushing this thru, can’t wait until it’s done!
It’s a welcome change.
Nice job JVB.
Im confused i was born here in Sunnyside the park on skillman ave runs from 41st street to 43 street the whole park honors George F. Torsney (1896-1942), World War I veteran
in later years Walter Wendell introduced a local law to name the Lou Lodati Playground within Torsney Playground in 1999. Lou Lodati (1908-1996) earned the nickname “Mayor of Sunnyside”
.formally the children’s area at 41 street was renamed after Lou Lodati
The Lou Lodati Playground holds play equipment with safety surfacing, a comfort station, swings for tots and kids, benches, and a flagpole with a yardarm.
Torsney Playground is located on the northwest corner of Skillman Avenue and 43rd Street, near the Sunnyside Yard of the Long Island Railroad. The City of New York acquired this site on July 19, 1951, and when the playground was completed it featured handball courts, a softball field, basketball courts, seesaws, a comfort station, a wading pool, play equipment, benches, drinking fountains, a sand box, and a kindergarten apparatus. This playground was named by a local law in 1952.
A 1985 reconstruction of the playground provided new play units, floodlights, safety surfacing, Belgian block tree pits, and replaced the wading pool with a spray shower. In 1995, Council Member Walter McCaffrey funded a $678,780 renovation.
And a few years later a new park was built in the PS 150 lower school yard up the street from the park on skillman i wonder how much that cost ?
So basically they are redoing the ball field area an adding a dog walk there for $1.4m
Just it seems like the city have spent a lot and not much bang for the bucks spent