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Read the press release here.

Locals Support 'Natural Playground' for District 34 Participatory Budgeting

By Serena Dai | November 17, 2014 6:53pm
 An idea for a "natural playground" would use recycled and materials like logs, much like the Donald and Barbara Zucker Natural Exploration Area in Prospect Park.
An idea for a "natural playground" would use recycled and materials like logs, much like the Donald and Barbara Zucker Natural Exploration Area in Prospect Park.
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DNAinfo/Leslie Albrecht

EAST WILLIAMSBURG — An idea for a "natural playground" — made with recycled and all-natural materials — is among the most supported plans in East Williamsburg and Bushwick's first season of participatory budgeting.

The playground, pitched by local mother Lanny Cheuck, would be for students at P.S. 147, an environmental engineering-focused school at 325 Bushwick Ave. It would be made of products like tree trunks, leaves, mulch, logs and old tires, she said.

Cheuck said the largely industrial area is in dire need of a little green play space.

More than 120 people support the project, according to the city's participatory budget site — more than any other project in District 34 so far.

"The idea is to give a beautiful, natural playground to build, to imagine and to play," Cheuck said.

Councilman Antonio Reynoso's District 34, encompassing East Williamsburg, South Williamsburg and parts of Bushwick and Ridgewood, is doing participatory budgeting for the first time this year, where residents pitch ideas to use about $1 million in local capital projects.

Volunteer delegates will be transforming popular and practical ideas into proposals between now and February 2015, when the ideas will be formally presented to the community.

More than 70 ideas have been submitted for the district, from adding bike lanes and crosswalks to adding security cameras at various intersections.

Residents will vote on the ideas between March and April.

Cheuck said her idea was inspired by her and several other parents' involvement at P.S. 147. None of them wanted to send their kids to private or charter schools, and many were anxious that popular existing public schools would fill up quickly.

Instead, they decided to invest time into P.S. 147 and a Japanese Dual Language program, which is set to launch next year.

Investing in play space at the school goes hand-in-hand with the desire "to keep our community thriving," she said.

A "natural playground" encourages imaginations by allowing play with objects in a variety of ways, she added. She pointed to the natural play area in Prospect Park, where boulders and uprooted trees were turned into a play area, as an example.

"They could create structures with sticks or play with water," she said. "It stimulates children with play space."