Photo: QueensPost
May 17, 2013 By Christian Murray
It’s almost time to let the dogs out.
Lou Lodati/Tornsey Park, which has been undergoing renovation for the past year, is expected to reopen in early June.
The revamp is finishing well ahead of schedule. The Parks Department broke ground in September and anticipated at the time that it would take a year to complete.
The upgraded park will now include a dog run—for both big and small dogs—as well as new planting beds throughout the site.
The Parks Department has also resurfaced the existing asphalt which will contain separate areas for a softball/baseball field, volleyball/ecuavolley and basketball courts.
The renovation was largely the result of a grass-roots campaign by the Sunnyside United Dog Society (SUDS)—and its leader Rick Duro—who pushed for nearly a decade for a dog run and park upgrades. The group’s goal became one of Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer’s campaign promises when he ran for office three and a half years ago.
“I keep on my desk a list of things that I pledged during my campaign,” the councilman said last year.
“When SUDS first approached me… it spurred in me the desire to fix the entire park,” he said, adding that the revamp will be a great asset to the community.
The dog-run advocates, who formed SUDS in 2001, have had many setbacks in pursuit of their dream over the years. Their initial design plans were voted down by the community board, and then when the amended plans were finally approved and the funds allocated in 2007—-the city budget cuts railroaded them.
The revamp comes at a cost of $1.4 million and was funded through allocations from Van Bramer and Queens Borough President Helen Marshall.
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39 Comments
For what it’s worth, it’s Calvary Cemetery. Not Cavalry. Re: Oppressed Masses, he is useless (agree with Lucky Lu) and doesn’t understand about giving back to his own community…
There IS a gigantic green space in the area, the New Cavalry cemetery south of Queens Blvd. On its eastern side is a very large green area that has only very few marked grave sites, and some mausoleums. This area could be opened and improved to be an asphalt-less green space for our area. The area is owned/managed by the Catholic church. There must be a way to get this done.
I am thrilled both that the park has been revamped and that there is now a sorely needed dog run. I agree with the comments re OM. He is useless and probably offers nothing in the way of community participation or improvement. Describing him as selfish and lazy pretty much sums it up.
Money well spent! Kudos to SUDS!
I guess we’re BOTH ‘counters’ OM. Me w/ cig butts and you with piles of shit.
We will ALL be smiling upon the opening of the run. I will laugh quite a bit knowing that you, Troll Boy, will get to look down upon our new beautiful park. Pull up a chair next to your cave entrance, get a cup of coffee, your morning bowl of nails and tacks and watch what good, hard work & determination can do for a ‘hood.
The more you type the creepier and weirder you get.
My guess is that this board is the only attention you get. Maybe you can volunteer as SUDS official pooper scooper? We can get a picture of your face and place it on all our scoopers.
RD
Hoove, I am all for the park. Its the racist haters I cannot stand. They post their bile everywhere while hiding like cowards behind false names.
Finally, some new remarks, so different from the ones used the last time an article on this park appeared on Sunnyside Post. Very refreshing to see how constructive this sharing of our thoughts and feelings has been.
I’ve never heard of Queen of Angles, but I have heard of Queen of Angels. More boring commentary from Oppressed Masses. So very disappointed…
Queen of Angles? Did Pythagoras assist in the cure?
Native, is it true there will be a grotto created at the far corner of the dog area to memorialize the miracle cure of your pup at Sunday Mass at Queen of Angles? I heard a statute replicating the erect Rick the Wonder Dog created by Sophia surrounded by flowers will be placed there to remind all of the astounding phenomena.
He won’t show up in person because he won’t be living in Sunnyside once they realize he doesn’t have papers.
Wow, Oppressed Masses isn’t even slightly comical any more. At least some things that he used to post were whimsical, albeit crazy. He is just a curmudgeon who continuously posts negative things & refuses to go to the community board meetings because he has no real value add to our neighborhood / community. Now it just appears like we are witnessing the diary of a mad man…
Dear Fans,
Thanks for your kind words! Please remember to smile while in the park with your pup. My video cameras will be rolling and pretty soon there will be live streaming on Ustream on channel “Dog Crap City”. Thankfully, space has been set aside on the Duro pee wall for the weekly photo contest “The Biggest Turd of the Week”, and no, pictures of Rick will not qualify. Joe, you must be new here: two rules you need to learn. Don’t say anything bad about SUDS and Don’t say anything bad about Sunnyside Gardens Park. And yes, Rick is a big blowhard who spends his day counting cigarette butts on the sidewalk and observing the driving habits of the principal of PS 150.
Cheerio!
Joe. Don’t worry about Brooklyn people if they are rubbing it in your face they aren’t you friends didn’t your parents teach u that ! Also have u been one neighbourhood away LIC has a lot of green space by the water where ur kid can run free .
Yay! Go SUDS!
PS that should be :” laying OFF of Rick Duro and SUDS” I apologize for the typo
Dear Oppressed Masses,
Have you thought about trying some AlkaSeltzer or Pepto Bismo to help your very sour attitude on life. You know, if you smile, you might feel better`. And while you’re at it, how about laying of Rick Duro and SUDS . I’m a SUDS member and I don’t take kindly to what you’re saying. If you have a valid opinion, that’s fine. Taking shots at people is not what this board is about.
Take care and feel better real soon
OM, it’s funny how ‘brave’ you are hiding behind your misnomer. I bet if you were to meet me on the street you be whistling a different tune. There are words to describe people like you, but, this is a family paper, so I will leave it to everyone’s imagination.
The Internet has created this breed of chickensh*ts that loooooove talking smack because they can hide. Stop talking and DO something, but that’s not in their nature because they are selfish and lazy.
Talk minus Action = NOTHING.
As for the cost of the entire project, yes, $1.4mm is quite a bit, but look up any City project and check out the costs, it’s in the same ballpark. The playground area that was redone 4-5 years back was, I believe, in between $700K -$900K. Much smaller area than the lower park and was half of a decade ago…
Yes, there will be a surfacing applied to the dog run to keep the temps down. It’s a ‘cool-pavement’-like treatment.
We’d all love and appreciate more greenspaces, but, Sunnyside just doesn’t have that much park space to begin with. Kids have PS 150, the Lodati Playground, a new lower field too. Ballplayers have their area and dogs have their spot. A win for everyone. If you want major green expanses you are in the wrong part of Queens. I’d say move near Flushing-Corona park, but with that new soccer stadium planned they’re gonna eat up a lot of greenspace.
Your very welcome, OM!! So glad you get to look out the window from your troll cave each day and enjoy our creation.
Regarding the water fountain by the ramp that hasn’t been replaced. SUDS did mention this to parks months ago, hopefully they get it done.
Cheers!
Rick
nobody and QueenBee,
You both make great points and for those who reside in the Gardens, please don’t let my attempt at humor discourage what you have done with Sunnyside Gardens Park. That place is great, but I just find it a shame that other people in the neighborhood don’t get access to that type of green space.
I will keep all posted on my endeavors. Now please go enjoy our neighborhood and Lou Lodati Park.
Where do I sign up Joe?! 🙂 The problem with NY in general is the definition of a park seems to be CONCRETE and METAL BARS. If there’s grass who will mow it? If there are flowers… who will plant, water and weed them? The city has better things to do, but, it’s up to the community of volunteers.
Hooray for the Dog Park!! it’s a longtime coming and badly needed. Kids can play in tons of parks in the surrounding areas. But, dogs and their owners have been held captive to sidewalks and apartments for too long.
You don’t have to “curb” your kid and people don’t cross the road when junior is walking towards them and I bet you don’t have any trouble boarding the 7 train!?! 🙂
There needs to be shared space for 2 legged as well as our 4 legged neighbors.
thanks and congrats to all who helped make this happen. as a member of one of the oldest co ops in sunnyside, i can say we are all thrilled…”we” being people who have lived here for 30+ years
joe: you should check out flushing meadows…it’s the second largest park in all of NYC, outranking prospect park. it needs more support and love from the people of queens.
that said, without knocking down buildings in sunnyside, we’re not going to get greenspace. i, for one, volunteer oppressed masses’ home.
Mike Novak is doing his best Nixon/McCarthy impression.
He’s making his enemies list and he needs names.
He can’t deal with ideas so he has to get personal.
I take my daughter to this park on a regular basis and am glad that Lodati Park is getting a facelift. However, with that being said, the travesty in all of this is that we now have a great space for dogs to run and don’t have any grassy areas for children to run around in our neighborhood. The only option is the elitist Sunnyside Gardens Park which is reserved for those folks who already live in a greener neighborhood. Totally backwards. I recognize it is a private park and blah blah blah. But come on folks! I am sick and tired of the hipster Brooklynites rubbing PUBLIC parks like Propsect Park and McCarren Park in our face — and we have nothing good to show for green space in our borough.
I have brought this complaint to the Councilman and he was receptive, but unfortunately, the plans for the felines was already in the works. I am in the process of organizing an initiative to increase green spaces in Sunnyside/Woodside and will keep you all informed. Who’s game for this? Good weekend all.
This park was long overdue a facelift with both dog friendly as well as kid friendly facilities. What can make this a safer environment for all will need neighborly cooperation to ensure all will keep it clean and discourage gang type riff raff from congregating and bullying residents from feeling comfortable using it. Report any incidences to the police. We need a better community watch system to keep our streets and parks safer.
Congratulations and appreciation to our local politicians and residents who have volunteered to make Sunnyside the greatest place to proudly call home! What other local projects can we get involved in to keep the momentum going? Love that groups like SUDS and Sunnyside Shines and the St Pats For All Parade and the Boulevard Bars events have brought such a positive shine to our neighborhood.
So excited so excited so excited! THANKS SUDS for helping put this together!
EA – I was just talking to another Sunnysider about your concerns yesterday – supposedly they are installing the type of ashpalt in teh dog run that doesn’t get too hot and it caused some delays.
I love how the dogs have a brand new water fountain and we’re left with the old crap one.. Great logic
I believe one of the few items left to accomplish is painting the targets on the duro pee wall which has been freshly painted along the perimeter of the new dog areas. I understand targets will be both traditional bull’s-eye as well as images of such SUDS notables as Rick Duro and local officials like Mr. Van Bramer. The weekly art contest sponsored by SUDS should generate a lot of excitement especially in the “What does this look like?” category as well as generate debate among local canine Hermann Rorschach enthusiasts.
Yuppie-hipster-dog-mom here; I am really disappointed at what $1.4 million will get you. Black asphalt… how are you supposed to play softball/baseball on it? It is bad for your bones both for people and dogs. In summer time the ground will become really hot for the dogs to pay on. Not happy about this at all.
I started bringing my 18 month old daughter to this park a couple of months ago. Its more spacious and not as crowed as the park on Greenpoint Ave. I also find it to be safer for her bc there are a lot of older kids that go to the Greenpoint Ave park who throw bottles of water at each other, then there’s the section on the side of 42nd street with the drunks hanging out and sleeping on the benches.
Unfortunately not Joe.
So will this dog run keep all the dog crap off of the sidewalk now?
more parks please!
What an amazing local effort! Great things are happening in our area. Imagine if every neighbor in Sunnyside and Woodside contributed in the positive way SUDS has done to make living here even better. I can’t wait to visit the park with my dogs. Thank You!
Please Mike, put away the “hate” card. You whip it out like Jesse James in a gunfight whenever someone disagrees with you.
Congratulations to all those who worked long and hard to get this eyesore of a park renovated and updated.
Shame on the racist haters who are too cowardly to post with their real names.
1.4 million for this is a joke … Im sure the volleyball players that use a soccer ball will be happy to make new holes in the asphalt as soon as it opens
“The revamp comes at a cost of $1.4 million and was funded through allocations from Van Bramer and Queens Borough President Helen Marshall.”
You mean funded by the taxpayers.
I’m looking forward to the opening! I don’t have a dog, but the revamp looks great and makes the whole park seem more inviting. My one complaint about Sunnyside is that there isn’t more public recreational space, so improving on what we have is essential. Congrats to everyone who’s worked on it!