Gentile pitches in to help clean up Shore Road Park

Councilmember’s Efforts Help Beautify Popular Bay Ridge Walking Path

August 24, 2017 By John Alexander Brooklyn Daily Eagle

City Councilmember Vincent Gentile (center) with volunteers from the Workers Justice Project. Photos courtesy of Vincent Gentile

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City Councilmember Vincent Gentile is continuing to focus on cleaning up Shore Road Park. Following his recent efforts as a proponent of speeding up the long-delayed repair and construction work on the Shore Road Park ramp at 97th Street, on Saturday he held a beautification effort at the site.

The Shore Road Cleanup Project was held in response to concerns raised by nearby residents of weeds, vines and overgrowth near benches along a section of the park’s walking path.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Department provided rakes and shovels to Gentile and his staff, who worked alongside a volunteer from the Shore Road Parks Conservancy and several volunteers from the Worker’s Justice Project (WJP). Gentile provides funding for both organizations.

Gentile said he was especially pleased to see volunteers from WJP helping at the cleanup. WJP is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps immigrants with problems they experience in the workplace within their communities.

The team began at 90th Street and headed toward 95th Street, clearing and bagging pounds of leaves, weeds and debris. Other volunteers from the neighborhood came by as well to lend a helping hand in the effort.

“Throughout my tenure, I have successfully allocated $30 million for improvements to parks in the 43rd City Council District,” said Gentile. “So my cleanup project along Shore Road was yet another way in which I have shown my strong dedication to our local parkland.”

The volunteers worked from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Gentile’s office supplied extra garbage bags and bug spray along with water and cookies to the volunteers

“The Shore Road Parks Conservancy is just one of the many great organizations that I support and fund that strengthens and protects our community,” said Gentile. “My hope is that my cleanup project will inspire more members of the community to pick up a shovel and contribute.”

Gentile said his goal is to continue the Conservancy’s mission, to “maintain, improve, promote and protect the acres of parkland and waterfront of Bay Ridge.” Gentile said he believes that an investment in parks is an investment in the future.