Ribbon Cut On $4.5M Renovation Of Astoria's Chappetto Square

ASTORIA, QUEENS — On a sunny Thursday afternoon a group of elected officials and community members cut the $4.5 million ribbon on Chappetto Square.

“As the weather warms and people seek safe activities and recreation, beautiful spaces like reimagined Chappetto Square are vital,” said City Council Member Costa Constantinides, who represents District 22, where the park is located.

The park’s multi-million dollar renovation began in 2019 and includes new pavement, greenery, pedestrian lighting, fencing, drinking fountains with bottle filters and shaded seating areas, according to parks department officials.

The project has also added four ecuavoley courts with net-less posts, where people can play the Ecuadorian version of volleyball or set up their own games — NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, and Constantinide all played a masked game on the court, according to a photo posted on Twitter by the NYC Parks Communications team.

The square is one of the seven play areas that make up what is known as the Triborough Bridge Playgrounds, which were first developed by the city’s power broker Robert Moses.

Like many of Moses’ polarizing infrastructure projects which have fallen into disrepair, Constantinide described the park as a long-time “popular but underfunded space,” adding that its current facelift is “worthy of the diverse community that uses it.”

Although Chappetto Square reopened last summer, this ribbon cutting ceremony comes at a time when New Yorkers are able to be outdoors again after winter and many are feeling hopeful about the city’s growing vaccination rate.

“With the COVID-19 pandemic hopefully in our rear view mirror, folks are beginning to re-discover their communities, and there is no better place for Astoria residents to start their re-discovery than by visiting this wonderful gem of a park,” said Borough President Richards.