Hoop Dreams And More
A New Life For St. Albans Park

By Shams Tarek

Twenty-one-year-old St. Albans resident Korey Hines dribbled a few times on his way to the three-point-line, threw one up and took a step back with his arm still in the air.

As the sun glistened off the just-painted asphalt of St. Albans Park and the commissioner in charge of New York City’s public parks prepared for a ceremony in a small grove nearby, a familiar sound echoed across the court.

Swish.

Hines and other park lovers in St. Albans were greeted with brand-new tennis and basketball courts and fresh-cut landscaping in that neighborhood’s namesake park last month; they celebrated during a ribbon-cutting ceremony there on May 20.

“This is a beautiful park,” said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.  “One of the most beautiful parks in all of New York City.”

The park, on Merrick Boulevard just north of Linden, features two full-length basketball courts and two full-length tennis courts, complete with fresh nets and new paint demarcating every regulation line needed for serious play.

The renovation cost $900,000 and took eight months since August to complete.  It includes new fitness equipment, benches, water fountains, steps and drainage systems.

Lobbying for the money for the park started several years ago with former Councilman Archie Spigner; his successor, Leroy Comrie, saw the project to completion.

Comrie, a nearby resident whose own two children use the park, said that he has also secured $2.5 million for other Southeast Queens park projects, including those at Roy Wilkins, Haggerty, Wayanda and Liberty Parks.

St. Albans Memorial Park was dubbed so by the Parks Department in 1932, but its roots are older and more distant than that.

Left to right Congressman Gregory Meeks, chief of staff Patrick Jenkins, Brinkeroff Action Association Pres. Manuel Caughman, Assemblyman William Scarborough liason Timothy James, Comrie, park support Pat Ollison, Spigner, Benepe, a park supporter, and Lewis preside over the May 20 ceremony.

The park, like its surrounding neighborhood, takes the name of a city in the Hertfordshire county of England.  The Town of Jamaica acquired the property in 1861; the City of New York took over after the 1898 consolidation of the five boroughs.

Parks finally acquired the land in 1914.

The park is a recreational, cultural and even political focal point for a neighborhood with no shortage of resources in any of those areas.

Besides its athletic facilities, the park also serves as place to have memorial ceremonies, like the Sept. 11 vigil held there last year.

But what makes St. Albans Park most special is the people who call it home.

There’s Parks Assistant Commissioner Edward Lewis, who has jurisdiction over every park in New York City but happens to live nearby this one.

“It’s a pleasure when you come to your home neighborhood,” Lewis said, “and you see a park like this.”

Fifty-two-year-old St. Albans resident Al Warthen, who comes to the park every day to play tennis, said the park “used to be a really run down area” and had good words for the renovation.

“Wonderful,” Warthen said breathlessly between serves.  “We waited.  It’s bright.  Easy to see.  Looks good.”

Pat and Ben Ollison, who have lived across the street from the park for 31 years, are known as unofficial keepers of the park.  The retired couple walks in the park every morning, and keeps an eye on it when they’re not in it.

“I think it’s a beautiful addition,” said Mrs. Ollison, who had no complaints about the park.  “As long as the grass grows, it’s fine.”

Despite the recent renovations, the park needs more.

Much of the park is sunken like a bowl below street level—a feature that adds to its privacy and bucolic appeal but can also cause bad flooding.  A renovation completed last year took care of much of that problem, but local residents like Ollison are concerned that constant attention will be needed to stop the problem from resurfacing.

The need for consistent attention in the future, in fact, was the main concern of many of the people at the recent ceremony.

Benepe himself got in the act, calling on continued civic engagement for the park.

“If we had all the money in the world,” Benepe said, “we would still want to have civic involvement.”

Spigner called for the creation of a “Friends of St. Albans Park” group.

“Our work is never done,” Spigner said.  “We need to establish a real committee.  We need to maintain it as a resource you can count on.”