Tale Of Old Park Brooms

Old Carroll Park Broom

Old And New Broom

For those who know me personally, you know that my husband and I have been very active in the community all throughout our 22 years as residents. For about 18 of those years, we have been members of the Committee To Improve Carroll Park. Countless are the Saturdays that we spent cleaning and gardening in the park. I have always enjoyed. volunteering my time. It was a way for us to give back to the community while our kids ran around the sprinkler area or climbed the play equipment. In short, we have given many hours to make the park into a neighborhood oasis that we as parents could be proud of. Now that my two kids are almost grown, you can still find me there regularly pulling weeds.
Not only do Committee members work hard and donate their time, as a group we spent money on plants and garden equipment. We also help buy art supplies for Kathleen, our very own parks recreation person. Its wonderful that we can help.
At our September meeting just a few days ago, we found out that the parks workers have been trying for a while to get new brooms and dust pans from the district office to keep the park clean. Since new tools did not materialize, they asked the Committee. No problem! We took some funds and bought new brooms two days later. The Park workers are delighted. But pardon me for asking? Why is the Parks Department not providing adequate tools for their employees? Why is it so difficult for them to get some decent brooms? The Committee has even had to buy trash bags from time to time.
To see how bad the old ones were, I took a little walk to the park and took some pictures. The old brooms look absolutely horrific. And Parks is not only rationing brooms. It seems that Carroll Park is constantly in need of bleach and toilet paper.
What exactly does Parks provide? I am just asking!
If you care to let Parks & Recreation Brooklyn Borough Commissioner Julius Spiegel know that you want your park workers adequately equipped, here is his email: julius.spiegel@parks.nyc.gov