Bill Brown Park Getting Pumped With $2.6 Million For New Bathroom
The Parks Department will be spending $2.6 million to fix the bathroom in Bill Brown Playground in Sheepshead Bay. The money is just for the bathroom – not the whole park – which raises the question of whether or not that’s too much money for one bathroom.
While Sheepshead Bay and the surrounding areas can sometimes have their domestic eccentricities, many residents are questioning the need for a seemingly large amount of money, according to a Daily News article.
Parkgoers were relieved to hear about the restoration, though a few held their nose when told how much it costs.
“The place is a wreck, but that’s a lot of money,” said Serena Schallenberg, 33, as she watched her two kids frolic in the park on Thursday.
But at the same time, the Daily News describes a bathroom that is severely deteriorating”
The red brick, beach-style comfort station, which includes a basement, is falling apart.
Many of the windows and lights are shattered, the roof leaks and the sewer line backs up.
It generally costs about $1 million to repair or install a new park bathroom, park insiders said.
Still, parks officials downplayed what some suggest will be the most expensive public bathroom in Brooklyn.
“There is no standard repair cost,” said Parks spokeswoman Meghan Lalor. “Everything depends on what the scope of repair is.”
But a question that wasn’t addressed why hadn’t repairs been made earlier, when the price of fixing it would’ve been cheaper to do?
This isn’t the first time a recreational space with the namesake of World War I veteran Bill Brown has been the site of an overhaul. We reported in January that the Square near Sheepshead Bay Road had lost all its green grass. Sheepshead Bites contacted the Parks Department at the time for comment.
According to a Parks Department employee, the greenstreet was flooded during Superstorm Sandy, killing the spruce tree and several shrubs at the site. The agency told Sheepshead Bites that they plan to replant the area in the spring, using salt tolerant shrubs.
