MOTT HAVEN — A small South Bronx park should have a new playground and turf field by the end of the year.
Ranaqua Park, located on E. 136th Street between Brown Place and Willis Avenue, will receive upgrades including a new spray shower, bike rack and seating plaza, along with new swings, game tables, lighting and drinking fountains. The upgrades should be finished by December, according to the Parks Department.
The upgrades are part of the city's Community Parks Initiative, a program that focuses on improving public parks throughout New York in neighborhoods with high concentrations of poverty.
The mayor's office has provided $3.5 million for the renovations at Ranaqua Park, while the overall initiative will pour $285 million into more than 60 city parks through 2019, according to the Parks Department.
Cedric Loftin, district manager of Bronx Community Board 1, said he was extremely happy that his neighborhood would finally be seeing so much needed upgrades to one of its parks.
"It’s been a long time coming," he said. "The infrastructure needs of the district and the improvements to our parks really have lagged over the years."
