via Councilmember Van Bramer’s office
April 18, 2018 By Nathaly Pesantez
Renovations for a playground and basketball courts at the Queensbridge Houses are in the works, with Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer holding a ground breaking ceremony for one of multiple courts there yesterday.
The repairs to the basketballs courts at the Queensbridge Houses stem from the 2016 participatory budgeting cycle, where close to 900 people in the district voted for the project to come about.
The ground breaking ceremony yesterday made way for renovations to the basketball court and playground at Queens Bridge North, each set to cost $500,000.
Another basketball court at Queensbridge South will also be renovated once work at the Queensbridge North court is done, according to Van Bramer’s office. The basketball court there will cost $350,000 to renovate.
“The basketball courts in Queensbridge are central to this community,” said Van Bramer in a statement. “I am thrilled to have allocated funding to renovate and restore the courts and nearby playground. These basketball courts have helped generations of Queensbridge residents develop their talents and leadership skills. I am proud to ensure that future leaders have a place to gather, grow and build community.”
Featured Events
4 Comments
JVB and other officials need to fix up the softball fields.
$350,000 for one basketball court and no one asks where the money is going? You could build an entire house for less money.
I have this same question for everything that is on the participatory budgeting ballot sheet. The trash cans they installed last year were like 500k a piece. Clearly there is no rfp process, just selection of vendors who have the politicians best interests at heart. need more transparency in how they build out the budgets for these projects.
No doubt there is corrupt at some level throughout the process but there is also the bureaucracy itself that drives the cost. Mandating unnecessary or excessive criteria, bidding out to special interests, checking off all the politically correct add ons to appease everyone, and simply the fact that government regulations cost and that drives everything up.