By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Local fans of Washington Heights’ Bennett Park met this week to discuss how they could help the Parks Department bring improvements to the popular public space.
The Bennett Park Community Alliance, made up of local women with a strong vision for the Fort Washington Avenue park, only recently discovered that many of their dreams for the park — including water features for kids and better pathways for seniors — were already in the works thanks to a $1.2 million capital improvement project financed by the offices of City Councilman Robert Jackson and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.
The Alliance met Wednesday near a rock at the center of the 1.8-acre park, which is the highest point in Manhattan, and handed out information to passersby in the hopes of gathering volunteers to help the Parks Department beautify and improve the space.
“We love this park and want to find ways to use it that better utilizes the community,” said Kelly Evans, who formed the Alliance.
The Parks Department’s “Master Plan for Bennett Park” has two phases.
The first, which is still under review and proposed to begin next year, includes new green space for families to picnic, water features, better pathways for seniors to walk along, increased separation between play areas for younger and older children and an enhancement of the park’s historical significance — Bennett Park is the site of a Revolutionary War battle.
Phase two, a more extensive but still unfunded $3.5 million project, would expand existing playgrounds in the park, make the entrance to the park ADA accessible and add a "green" comfort station with storage for the Parks Department.
Most of the residents who attended Wednesday’s meeting to support the park’s renovations have small children and spend a lot of time in Bennett Park.
“One of the special things about this park is that it’s one of the places where all communities come together,” said Washington Heights resident and mother of one-year-old twins Sabrina Smith-Sweeney.
“It’s nice to see everyone here in one place. That doesn’t usually happen.”
