Friday, February 8, 2008

Binghamton and Tobey Park visit

Yesterday we (family et al) took a tour of these two parks. Both parks are excellent locations for a skate park

Tobey Park
Tobey park is big and looks like it's well used during baseball or softball season. I am not sure where the skate park would be located since a lot of the space is dedicated to baseball fields. There looked like some space was available nearest the Avery side of the park ( north side). The park is very open and accessible. I think a larger sized regional park that has lighting would work well here since the park is not too close to neighborhoods that would be affected by the strong lighting. I think the baseball fields have night lighting. It also seems like a great place for having a derby rink next to it.

Binghamton park
This has been my favorite neighborhood park so far. It's well situated near the new school ( by Sam Cooper) so I am thinking it would be well used. With the houses surrounding the park it felt like the park was a miniature town square. Also, the Binghampton development corporation (BDC) has put a lot of effort into this area and a collaborative effort with them would be a build on their work. Binghamton is what Rozelle Park could be like if there was a major push by a community Development corporation backing its revitalization. Binghamton is definitely a neighborhood with a lot of charm. A skate park could be an exclamation point for the efforts that have already been poured into the area.

One concern
The soccer field at Binghamton looks like it's a cherished part of the community. The major issue that must be addressed is how well
utilized is the baseball field? I don't want to mess with the soccer field. It seems like a lot of baseball fields are poorly used these days what about this one? The skate park would replace the baseball field. Does anyone have some insight into this?

2 comments:

Stacey Greenberg said...

glad binghampton is topping the list :)

i'm not sure about the baseball field. maybe someone at the cdc, community center, or police station would know?

have you heard of caritas house? it's on harvard and merton in binghampton. they do a lot of outreach with neighborhood kids. could be a good tie in for the community building part of your plan. onie johns is the director.

also, the derby is moving to the fairgrounds! so that's nice and close to tobey park. the two could be tied in as midtown's ultimate skating destination. or something!

Aaron said...

Congrats on getting a dirby home.
I went to the two year dirby birthday bash at the Cove. That was fun plus I got to take the smoky residue on my clothes home for free!

I should check into the Caritas house. They could definitely be a great community partner and a potential place to channel funds to.

Where is the community center?

If we go with a bigger park I think Tobey would be the natural choice for certain.