1/24/6, Ny1: "New Yankee Stadium throws parks in flux"

New Yankee Stadium Throws Parks In Flux

January 24, 2006

The Yankees will soon be building a new stadium next door to the old one, but the status of city parkland in the borough is still a major concern.

The Yankees want to move the stadium from the south side of 161st Street to the north, dropping it on top of Macombs Dam Park.

The New York City Parks Department says it will replace all the land. It's released designs of the replacement parks, complete with more courts and fields than are currently on the site, but park advocates are leery of the promise and worry about where the parkland will be located.

"We're promised replacement parks, which are really park features. These will be five years down the road once everything else is finished," says Joyce Hogi of Save Our Parks. "What is the community to do? What are the 40 some odd schools in the area who utilize these parks to do for all that time?"

"We'll be creating a new central park across the street from the existing park that is actually larger than what is being displaced by the stadium and the garage at its north end," says Joshua Laird of the Parks Department. "It will have, with the exception of the tennis courts, all of the replacement ball fields, the track, the soccer field, basketball, handball and some new elements, like two playgrounds."

For this deal to move forward, the city planning commission has to vote on the new Yankees Stadium plan in February. If they vote yes, it will go to the full city council.