By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
INWOOD — An ice-skating rink. A community garden. An outdoor movie projection area.
These are just some of the wishes Inwood residents voiced during a meeting with Parks officials last week on the future of Northern Manhattan parks.
Parks officials said they believe that people who use or work in a park know its needs and strengths best and hope to incorporate the residents' input into a 20-year development plan.
The plan will include improvements to all Parks-managed green spaces above 155th Street, including both medians as well as Highbridge, Fort Tryon, Isham and Inwood Hill parks.
Once completed, the plan will address community and park-keeper concerns ranging from traffic control and waterfront design to park access and security.
The Parks department will review concept plans with an advisory council before sharing a draft of its comprehensive plan at the executive meeting of Community Board 12 this October.
Charles McKinney, principal urban designer for the Parks department, said that he enjoyed the conversation with the community and found the audience to be knowledgeable and engaged.
McKinney said that he imagined the planning process will go smoothly, explaining that many of the needs expressed have been simple and generally agreed upon within the community.
“It’s more like, can you make it possible for a police car to pass through so that drug dealing here can stop?” he said, referring to plans that include widening paths to better facilitate NYPD patrols in parks areas that purportedly have a lot of drug-dealing activity.
