"Ball Fields Approved for Randalls Island" NY Times 2/15/07

"...privatizing parkland..." Sound familiar???


"Ball Fields Approved for Randalls Island"

by Timothy Williams, New York Times, February 15, 2007, Metro Briefing section

A city panel approved a plan yesterday in which 20 private schools will pay to renovate and build new ball fields on Randalls Island in return for control over two-thirds of the fields from 3 to 6 p.m. on school days. The 5-to-1 vote by the city Franchise and Concession Review Committee is the final legislative hurdle for the $70 million plan. The dissenting vote was cast by Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, who said he was concerned that the arrangement paved the way for privatizing public parkland and did not include sufficient transportation options for children in public schools to get to the new fields. Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr., who had originally opposed the proposal for similar reasons, voted in favor after changes were made, including a guarantee that the city would provide shuttle bus service to Randalls Island for some public school children.