Kensington Kids Most Playground-Deprived In NYC, Study Finds

KENSINGTON, BROOKLYN — Kensington kids are the most playground-deprived in all of New York City, a new report says.

Brooklyn's Community District 12 — which encompasses Kensington and Borough Park — has just two playgrounds for every 10,000 children that live in the neighborhoods, according to a new report from City Comptroller Scott Stringer's office.

Kensington and Borough Park's community district tops a list of 15 with fewer than seven playgrounds for every 10,000 kids, the office says.

Kings County kids have the toughest time finding a place to play, according to the report.

Brooklyn has just eight playgrounds for every 10,000 children younger than 10 years old and nine of its community district made the list of areas with fewest parks, the comptroller's office found.

The city is also struggling to maintain its playgrounds, as more than 500 overseen by the Parks Department posed some risk of injury to people using them, the report released Saturday says.

The city is home to 2,067 playgrounds, about half of which are run by the Parks Department, the report says. That number amounts to just 2.4 playgrounds per 10,000 residents, placing the Big Apple 48th among the 100 biggest U.S. cities in terms of playgrounds per capita, according to the report.

There's a fair chance the playgrounds those neighborhoods do have are dangerous, according to the comptroller's office.

The latest round of Parks Department inspections in 2018 found "unacceptable" conditions in 24% of Brooklyn playgrounds, nearly triple the rate of 9% in Staten Island, the report shows.

Stringer called on the city to increase the Parks Department's budget for playground maintenance and operations to address those dangers.

He also wants the city to build 100 playgrounds in the next five years on little-used city streets, similar to one that currently sits on St. Marks Avenue in Crown Heights.

The Parks Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Stringer's report.

Patch editor Noah Manskar contributed to this report.