NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver and elected officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony on the newly renovated Hugh J. Grant Circle and Virginia Park through the Parks Without Borders (PWB) Initiative, funded by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Silver was joined by Senator Luis Sepúlveda, Assembly Member Karines Reyes, Community Board 9 District Manager William Rivera, Founder and Director of Loving the Bronx Nilka Martel, representatives from the Morris Park Business Improvement District, members of the Friends of Soundview Park and community members.
The project is one of more than 800 completed under Silver’s leadership, advancing the City’s mission to build a more equitable 21st century park system.
As part of the renovation, the park entrances have been redesigned and new pavements, curbs, and fences have been installed to redefine this public space. Benches, drinking fountains and plantings have also been added, enhancing the overall appearance of the site. New safety lighting at the site also serves to create a safer, more welcoming passage.
“Hugh J. Grant Circle and Virginia Park have undergone a tremendous transformation, and I’m so proud to have completed this project on time and under budget despite an ongoing pandemic,” Silver said. “Thanks to a $10.3 million investment from Mayor Bill de Blasio, these improvements through the Parks Without Borders initiative have made this area a more open, accessible, and seamless part of the community, which will benefit the residents and commuters alike well into the future.”
Parks Without Borders, part of OneNYC, was announced in November 2015 with a call for community involvement. NYC Parks asked New Yorkers to nominate the sites that would benefit the most from a PWB improvement project. Utilizing an online survey and 37 conferences with citizens, Parks received more than 6,000 nominations for 691 parks—approximately 30 percent of our parks. The eight selected showcase projects, sharing $40 million in funding from Mayor de Blasio, were revealed in May 2016; and an additional $10 million has been applied to another 40 capital projects in progress.
The other PWB projects are: Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, Van Cortlandt Park , Jackie Robinson Park and Seward Park, Manhattan, Faber Park, Staten Island and Flushing Meadows Corona Park, (Queens).
