Cadman Park Turf Replacement Update: Looking Good!

By on August 27, 2023 11:19 am in 11201, Brooklyn Heights, Cadman Park, Cadman Plaza Park, Fun

Work started just two weeks ago to replace the 16 year old, worn-and-torn Astroturf at Cadman Park, and impressive progress can be seen already. The new turf is much more plush. Gone are the thousands of crumb rubber bits that your kids dragged home in the crevices of their shoe bottoms, their socks, their hair, their nostrils. One neighborhood kid got a crumb stuck in his ear and needed a doctor to fish it out. We’re sure there are other stories out there. No more of that.

CadmanTurf2

There’s been a lot of controversy over the years about this field. But, once the turf wars piped down, the park has been a mostly harmonious refuge for nannies to gather with children in their care, immigrants from all over the world to play futbol together, parents to let their toddlers run free, and local students to recess.

But wait, there’s one controversy that’s been stubbornly ongoing….

NoDogsCadman

 

 

Share this Story:
  • Nomcebo Manzini

    I wish I shared your optimism and all that.

    To me, it looks like a bunch of accidents waiting to happen. I’m no carpet expert, but we’ve also seen SEAMS. That’s where there are often “gaps” after a while, and

    (a) NYC’s procurements process has always been subject to pay-to-play and worse; and
    (b) This “turf” will get punishment that would put even the best material and installation to tests almost beyond belief.

    I hope I’m wrong, but I *was* among the many who thought that closing Clark St. for 6 months, so the NYCTA could “get it right” after umpty-ump years was B.S. (Turned out to be very much BAU – and BAD!)

  • Like dogs- hate entitled owner

    Get rid of the dogs!!! They can go to a real dog park. The owners are the worst!

  • Like dogs- hate entitled owner

    Please keep the dogs away!! The owners are the worst and don’t actually take care of the park

  • Adam

    Although I’m a Dog Walker in the area dog definitely should not be allowed on that turf, old or new. It’s a place for children and adults to play without the worry of rolling around in dog pee or poop residue. Plenty of other places to take them, but some people are just very selfish.

  • Mary Kim

    Mary Frost has a lot more detail about the new turf in her Daily Eagle article.

    https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2023/08/27/the-making-of-cadman-plaza/

  • Andrew Porter

    My comment there:

    A long time ago there was grass growing there, but so many people used the park that it usually turned to dust in mid-Summer. The area is bowl-shaped, and there was actually a drain in the middle. So the Parks Dept. dumped a load of sand on it, which made everything worse. The drain clogged, and after a heavy rain, there was a several inches deep lake in the center.

    The astroturf was supposed to fix the problem. It worked, sort of.

    I won’t even mention the bronze stanchions and linking chains around the periphery, which were stolen in the 1970s. There were also bushes around the edges.

    Here, BTW, is Robert Moses’s plan for the park, which was going to be a bunch of off-ramps from the Brooklyn Bridge, with little space for actual people:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3eb65d01d6f1a007030e05eb7d41deefd36b3f8631910770d074d7f5fd1aaead.jpg

  • JmhL

    Large white bags on the turf edges this morning labeled “Synfill 3000″. A quick Google suggests that this is fine sand (in 3000 lb bags) that will presumably replace the nasty black rubber crumbs (“caterpillar poop”, we called it in our house) that got everywhere, and stained clothing, shoes and soccer balls.

  • Tk1234

    I have put in many complaints over the years about the dogs on the turf. They come, issue a warning and nothing more. The No Pets sign is also very small. Even if the dog owners wanted to follow the rules – it’s not very visible. Parks sept needs to get this tackled or this nearly million dollar turf will degrade quickly.

  • TrainedDogLover

    can we put a large sign saying NO DRAINAGE? dog owners should be severely fined. its just a concrete slab where the pee and poop sit. The amount of dog feces that is found on it is absurd. I think its time to do more than warn. BBP has turf and no dogs go there because they are highly monitored. Ban All Dogs from Park if they can’t stay off the turf.

  • HgtsShpr

    Honestly, I’d much rather have dogs than the soccer players, who descend on the turf, claim large portions of it without any permit/signup/reservation process, and send balls flying out into the paths where they can brain passersby, whether adult, child, or canine. Let them go to the athletic fields on BBP which are designated for sports and fenced-in.