Parks Dept. Increases Beach & Pool Access For People With Disabilities

Park workers installed a Mobi-Matt at B.73rd Street in Rockaway Beach before the beach season opened in May.  The mats are made of polyester from recycled bottles and are anchored into the sand by 20-inch heavy-duty staples made from bi-chromated steel.  The newer mats are 6 1/2’ wide versus the older mats which are 5’ wide.  (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on images to enlarge

City-Wide

By Geoffrey Croft

For beach and pool goers who are mobility challenged or impaired help is coming.

Access to the city's beaches, pools and even the ocean will be dramatically increased this summer for people with disabilities, NYC Park Advocates has learned.

The Parks Department increased the number of mobi-mats by more than fifty percent. 

The popular light blue mats allow people in wheel chairs access to the beach and near the water. The mats are also popular with beach goers with strollers and coolers.

In total the city has purchased 112 new mobi-mats, 5,600 feet.  The new mats are also a foot and a half wider, going from 5 feet to 6 and a half feet wide. 

An elderly woman and her aid utilize the Mobi-Mat on Coney Island.

The city has also purchased a number of ADA beach wheelchairs which allows access on to beach and into the water itself, more than doubling the previous number of accessible wheelchairs. 

They have also purchased a number of pool lifts to replace outdated models. 

In total, 16 Hydraulic ADA Pool Lifts,16 ADA Beach Wheelchairs and 5 Pool wheelchairs were purchased.  All of the Parks Department's adult outdoor and indoor pools now have an ADA pool lift according to the agency.   

Before the new arrivals the city had 220 mats, 7 beach wheelchairs and 3 pool chairs.  

Rockaway Beach is seeing the largest increase of matts by far.  The beach,  currently undergoing a massive restoration after being battered by Hurricane Sandy, is receiving 4,200 feet of mats.  The city has also placed mats over sand berms.

Beaches:              Beach Mats Ordered:                             Beach Wheelchairs Ordered:    

Bronx:                   500’ (10- 50’ rolls)                                                          2

Brooklyn:             500’ (10- 50’ rolls                                                            6

Queens:               4,200 (84- 50’ rolls)                                                         5

Staten Island:       400’ (8-50’rolls)                                                               3

 

Totals:                 5,600’ Mats (112- 50’ rolls)                                           16 ADA Beach Wheelchairs

 

Pools:         Pool Lifts Ordered:                                              Pool Wheelchairs Ordered:

Bronx:                 3                                                                                          2

Brooklyn:            9                                                                                         2

Manhattan:         0                                                                                         0

Queens:              2                                                                                         0

Staten Island:     2                                                                                         1

Totals:                 16 Hydraulic ADA Pool Lifts                                           5 Pool Wheelchairs

Source: NYC Parks 

The pool wheelchairs - The AquaTrek Aquatic Wheel Chair is a submersible mobility aid. The chairs will be located at pools in the Queens, Bronx, Faber Pool in Staten Island and Sunset Park in Brooklyn.   

The city is spending close to a hundred and eighty-thousand dollars for the new equipment.

“NYC Parks looks forward to significantly increase accessibility at beaches and outdoor pools across the city with these new mobi-mats, beach wheelchairs and pool chairs,” the Parks Department said in a statement. 

Before installing a Mobi-Mat near the lifeguard station in Brighton Beach,  lifeguard Miguel Castro had to place his son Vencel Castro onto a stretcher. His colleagues helped transport him to the shoreline.  Vencel has Cerebral Palsy and Seizure Disorder. 

Miguel's colleagues helped carry his son Vencel to the water.

Miguel enters the surf with his son Vencel where he practices swimming.  

Miguel Castro, 57, has worked as a lifeguard for the Parks Department for the past 42 years,  for the past 21 years as Chief Lifeguard for section 3 in Brighton Beach near Coney Island.

He knows first hand the enormous challenges of providing access to the beach for people with disabilities.

His son Vencel Castro, 24, has Cerebral Palsy and Seizure Disorder. 

For years Miguel had to carry his 120 pound son, sometimes with the help of his colleagues, three hundred feet from the boardwalk to the ocean.

Last year the city finally installed a mobi-mat at Beach at  2nd Street near lifeguard station which he says made the world of difference.  

"It's vital for him.  It's made life so much easier,"  said the proud father and single dad.  

"So many people use it. It makes the beach so much more accessible not just for people with disabilities but for older people,  mothers, people with children and carriages. It's such an important thing to have."

Castro also stressed the need for land chairs which allow access to the water.

"Everywhere else you go around the country they have them."

We hope they put one over here, there are a lot of people who can use it over here," he said.

Before installing the matts the city forced parents and caregivers to drag wheelchairs through the sand. For most people that was not even an option.   (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on images to enlarge

 The city has come a long way since it first installed the first four mobi-mats in 2007 which enabled disabled access close to the water’s edge for the first time in the city's history. 

Before the city began installing the mats parents and caregivers were forced to drag wheelchairs through the sand. For most people that was not even an option.

Disabled advocates have long complained about the lack of access to basic facilities in the park system including to the city's 14 miles of beaches.   

On June 19, 2007 several disabled people in wheelchairs accompanied by NYC Park Advocates attended a press conference announcing the pilot program at Brighten Beach. 

While acknowledging the significance of the day advocates discussed the city's terrible track record providing access and noted that a width of just 25 feet was now available after providing zero accommodations for more than a century.  (They also questioned the rational of installing a mat where the closest subway station was not ADA accessible)  

Then Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe wasted no time in embarrassing himself and the city. 

Benepe shot back when asked to comment on the criticisms telling a New York Times reporter that advocates for the disabled, “should be ashamed of themselves for complaining about this on this great day.”

"Strike that from the record,  strike that from the record,"  he ordered the reporter waving his hands dismissively.

The paper did not comply.

Read More:

The Way Smoothing the Way for Those Seeking a Day at the Beach

New York Times - June 20, 2007 - By David K. Randall

City Installs Beach Mats for the Disabled

New York Times - June 19, 2007 -  By Sewell Chan 

Parks' Taps Top New School Flak To Head Press Office

Sam Biederman, 31, has been hired to head up the Parks Department's press office. The previous one allegedly said reporters were illiterate and they lie. (Image: Crain's New York Business)

Manhattan

by Geoffrey Croft

The director of communications for The New School has been hired to head up the Parks Department's press office, NYC Park Advocates has learned.

Sam Biederman, 31, begins today as the Assistant Commissioner for Communications after spending the last five years at the Greenwich Village school. 

Biederman replaces Arthur Pincus, who was abruptly terminated three weeks ago after offensive remarks regarding the media allegedly made during a meeting with union officials were brought to the attention of Parks Commissioner Silver. 

"The sooner Adrain's (former Parks Commissioner Benepe) legacy is extinguished the better," said an attendee of the meeting.  

During the Bloomberg/Benepe years, the press office was routinely criticized by reporters for a general lack of professionalism, including its well deserved reputation for being defensive, unhelpful, and giving out misleading information. 

Read More:

Parks' Top Flack Out After Offensive Remarks - Calls Reporters "Illiterate"

A Walk In The Park  - November 7, 2014 - By Geoffrey Croft

Cries of "Part-Time" Parks Commissioner Grow As Silver Travels The Globe

Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver is a busy man. The globe-trotting Parks Commissioner  was presented with an honorary member lifetime award at Oxford University in London on September 20, 2014.  Over the last five months he racked up more than fifty-thousand frequent flyer miles while also presiding over the country's largest urban park system. 

City-Wide

Where's Mitch-Waldo.

That's the question that is being asked with increasing frequency. 

The globe-trotting new Parks Commissioner has racked up more than fifty-thousand frequent flyer miles not counting his weekly trips to Boston over the last five months NYC Park Advocates has learned.

International destinations include South Africa, Singapore, Spain, London and domestic travel included Kentucky and  Raleigh N.C. for previous commitments which were not cancelled when he became parks commissioner.

Some park employees say they keep track of the whereabouts and views commissioner by his twitter account.

One day a week he travels up to Boston to teach a graduate planning course - Friday afternoon - 2:00- 5:00 at Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Office Hours: Friday 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

In between his personal traveling, teaching and lecturing gigs he presides over the largest urban park system in the country.

For the first time in the city's history a new parks commissioner began his job more than four months after a new mayor was sworn in.  Although he technically began his job on May 12,  he didn't move back to the city till June after packing up and selling his house in Raleigh, N.C. while his wife - a teacher - and daughter finished the school year. 

Parks insiders note that with the exception some high profile patronage jobs appointed by Mayor Bloomberg including Betsy Smith and Larry Scott Blackmon who have departed senior management has remained virtually unchanged in the new administration which is not a good sign for an agency that is widely regarded as being in desperate need of reform.

The grumblings have gotten louder within the agency among some long-time park employees who are frustrated that he has not made personnel changes and that he is not further up to speed on the inner workings of the Parks Department. 

"He keeps saying,  ''I don't know' and 'I'll have to get back to you on that,' said a long-time parks employee. 

"He can't be expected to know everything at this stage but certainly being away so much has impacted things here."

At least one long-time parks employee said they saw a silver lining in Silver's responses and even finds them refreshing compared to the previous administration.

"At least he says he doesn't know unlike the previous commissioner (Adrian Benepe) who would simply lie to your face… and smirk."

"He seems open and that he's listening but we'll see if that translates to any real change around here. That will be the proof." 

Several employees in interviews referred to Mr. Silver as a part-time parks commissioner.  

"Being in touch with Liam (Kavanagh First Deputy Commissioner)  and Kate (Spellman, chief of staff)  is not the same as being there running the agency that is what we need, true leadership not running around the world," said another long time employee who like the others spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

"That's great that he is traveling all around the world giving other places advice but our city needs planning."

On Friday the commissioner said that there was nothing to report for 2015 relating to any future travel and teaching plans and would share them as soon as he decides what his plans are and when they have been approved.  Approvals must come from the First Deputy Mayor and Conflict of Interest Board. 

"I have not made any decisions for 2015 and therefore nothing has been approved,"  Commissioner Silver said.

"Speculation at this point would not be productive."

The Parks Department’s controversial plan to continue to replace swaths of the historic Coney Island wooden boardwalk with concrete slabs has been met with fierce opposition.   

For six months area representatives Councilman Mark Treyger and Chaim Deutsch have been trying to get the De Blasio administration to address the environmental and public safety concerns to no avail.

On May 19th,  the council members along fellow member Deborah Rose and Parks Chair Mark Levine sent a letter to Bill De blasio urging the administration to place a moratorium on laying additional concrete slabs across on the boardwalk until adequate engineering and environmental studies can been done. 

"In October 2010... a Bloomberg-administered Parks Department began gutting wood from sections of the Coney Island Boardwalk and replacing them with concrete slabs through a series of “pilot studies,”  the letter stated.

"That designation enabled the replacements to circumvent environmental studies and regulatory oversight, as well as public scrutiny," it read.

"In addition to concerns about the aesthetics of the concrete slabs, there is potential evidence that the concrete may have exacerbated storm-surge damage during Hurricane Sandy."

   

The administration has blown off their concerns.

Treyger and Deutsch finally got a meeting scheduled with Silver in early September but the Parks Department canceled it at the last minute.

A former council member has fared no better. 

Former City Council member Carol Greiser has also been frustrated over not being able to secure a meeting.  

Since June she said she has contacted the commissioner's office close to a dozen times trying to get a meeting on behalf of The Union Square Community Coalition regarding the controversial Union Square Park restaurant issue.  

"They never got back to me, not once," said Ms. Greiser who represented the area around the park for twenty-one years. 

"They were passing the buck as to who was doing the scheduling," Greiser said. 

On Friday, after a reporter contacted the press office for comment, Ms. Greiser said she received a call offering her several potential dates in December, seven months after she first contacted the office.  

Parks Commissioner Silver returned to Raleigh N.C. to attend the Hopscotch Design Festival where he spoke on September 3, 2014.

He returns to his alma mater, The Pratt Institute on Wednesday, Nov 12, 2014 6:00 PM—8:00 PM  to present his vision of the future of NYC parks and public space under the new mayoral administration.  

Conference Destinations

•  Durban,  South Africa,  October 19- 22.  He was the International Keynote speaker at the Planning Africa 2014 conference. 

•   Lexington Kentucky - October 1-3 (which was announced on July 8th months after he was appointed) KeyNote Speaker at the American Planning Association organized  OKI Regional Planning Conference.

•  September 20.  The Royal Town Planning Institute presented Mitchell Silver with honorary member lifetime award at Oxford University,  in London.   

•  September 22. A few days later he scooted over to he University of Sheffield to give a lecture at the Department of Town and Regional Planning for students and the general public. 

•  Raleigh N.C.  September 3-4  Hopscotch Design Festival. 

•  Singapore - July 10-14.  World Cities Summit.   

•  Bilbao, Spain - June 11-14,  Bilbao Urban Innovation and Leadership Dialogues   

Teaching

•  He is a  John T. Dunlop Lecturer of Housing and Urbanization at Harvard University Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, Mass.  where he teaches a graduate planning course on Friday afternoons - 2:00- 5:00 during the fall semester called,   "Planning for the 21st Century: Emerging Trends, Challenges and Opportunities/Fall 2014"  

On March 21, 2014 Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the appointment of Mitchell Silver as the city’s next parks commissioner a press conference at Seward Park on the Lower East Side. Commissioner Silver, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and First Deputy Parks Commissioner Liam Kavanagh who has largely been running the agency this year confer moments before the announcemnt.  (Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on image to enlarge.

Read More:

Globe-Trotting Parks Dept. Head Too Busy to Meet, Community Groups Say

DNAinfo - November 3, 2014 -  By James Fanelli