Local Group Petitions For New Turf Field In Astoria Park

ASTORIA, QUEENS -- One local group claims Astoria Park lacks a safe grassy area for the neighborhood's thousands of children to play in, and they want the city to do something about it.

Astoria Park Improvements is petitioning the New York City Parks and Recreation Department to add a turf field to the neighborhood's riverfront park underneath Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, despite the agency saying plans to do just that are already underway.

The local group launched a Change.org petition titled "Yield to the Public: Make a New Field" in May, and it appears to be gaining traction. As of Monday, the open letter to NYC Parks was backed by more than 60 signatures.

Citing NYC Health Department statistics, the petition's author, identified as Laylla Rashtika, claims more than 32,000 children live in Astoria and Long Island City that would benefit from a safe place to play.

"Despite this, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation has neglected the care of these children by not building a safe and nurturing park area for them," Rashtika wrote.

An NYC Parks spokeswoman said the agency is already in the midst of a multimillion dollar overhaul to Astoria Park's track and field.

"The project began in November 2016, and we’re looking forward to breaking ground this fall," the spokeswoman told Patch.

Rashtika and Astoria Park Improvements did not immediately return Patch's requests for comment to clarify the group's demands.

The petition cites NYC Health data that says over 200,000 people living in Astoria and Long Island City, and more than three-fourths of them are physically active.

"The turf field would provide a grassy area for the 77 (percent) of physically active people in Astoria," Rashtika wrote.

She argued that as one of the neighborhood's largest parks, Astoria Park has become a hot spot for people of all ages to exercise, making the turf field and other repairs more crucial than ever.

"Currently there is a only a cement area in which to play games such as soccer and American football," the petition reads. "Playing on cement leads to injuries such as scraped knees and many cuts and bruises (in) a game that can result in multiple injuries such as sprained ankles."

Several of the petition's dozens of signors expressed similar concerns in comments to the Change.org page.

"I have 3 boys of my own and would very much love to bring them to a safer Astoria Park to play soccer at a turf field and not concrete," wrote Maria Kavvadias, of Whitestone.

Another signor, identified as Kayla, agreed: "It's really scary to play soccer on concrete."

Astoria Park Improvements offered an update on the petition in a post to their website last week, thanking signors for supporting and sharing the page.

"It has gotten us to so many views and it’s amazing to see our cause spread so far," organizers wrote.

(Lead image via Shutterstock)