New Castle Cuts Ribbon on New Basketball Court, Inclusive Playground
For more than 20 years, recreation advocates and officials in New Castle had discussed the possibility of building a municipal basketball court somewhere in town.
Last Thursday, more than two frustrating decades later, the task was finally completed as the Town Board, the Recreation and Parks Commission and a host of other officials celebrated a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the court and the new inclusive playground behind Town Hall in Chappaqua.
“That required commission members who long since passed their tenure, fighting that fight on an annual basis and finally the opportunity arose to get the support of last year’s Town Board and get some stakes in the ground, so it was an easy slam dunk,” said Commission Chairman Matthew Maloney.
Supervisor Ivy Pool recognized the effort of her predecessor, Robert Greenstein, who she said was the driving force for getting the project done.
“This project is a non-starter without Rob,” Pool said. “Without Rob it doesn’t happen.”
At the groundbreaking for the roughly $1.2 million project late last year, town officials indicated the facility would be open for use by summer. The work was completed about $30,000 under budget, money that will be used to install additional lighting in the Town Hall parking lot, said Town Administrator Jill Shapiro.
The playground, which features ramps, swings and slides, allows children of all abilities to participate. It is also wheelchair accessible. The groundbreaking came a week after the 30th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, something that was not lost on members of the town’s Every Person is Connected (EPIC) Committee, which advocates for people with special needs.
EPIC Committee member Jackie McCarthy, who attended last week’s ceremony with a son, Brady, said having children of all abilities able to use the playground is a critical step for the town.
“As one of the EPIC ambassadors, Brady wants to make sure that all of the children within our community know that they have a safe place to go and they could have fun with all of our friends and their peers,” McCarthy said.
The highly anticipated basketball court, however, will remain quiet for now because of regulations prohibiting game play due to COVID-19 precautions, said Superintendent of Recreation & Parks Ike Kuzio. But there will be town recreation instructional programs later this month for children, he said.
“We’re really excited about having the court so we want to try and use it,” Kuzio said.
The project received state grants from former state senator Terrence Murphy for $225,000 and Assemblyman David Buchwald for $125,000. It’s a project such as this that makes a community special, Buchwald said.“Although you might not have as many kids come to a playground right now, you can’t have a basketball court be open, this is a sense of what we’re investing in our youngsters and all youngsters,” he said.
Discussion of a town basketball court started in 1999 when officials considered the community center but the type of soil in that location would have made the project too expensive. Gedney Park and Amsterdam Park were also considered but were later found to be unsuitable for various reasons.
In 2014, town resident Jay Shapiro suggested the area behind Town Hall.
“It was a matter of finding the right location and we got it done,” said Greenstein, who attended last week’s ceremony.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/