Fence upgrade at Cobble Hill Park

If you’ve noticed that the iron fence around Cobble Hill Park is looking better and brighter, you’re seeing correctly! With the collaboration of The Friends of Cobble Hill Park, local businesses, the Cobble Hill Association, and private donations, a major rehabilitation and painting of the perimeter fence is currently underway. Much of the labor is being supplied by The Friends of Cobble Hill Park, the volunteer group that has tended the half-acre park for nearly 30 years.

In conjunction with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and supported by the Cobble Hill Association, the volunteers of FCHP regularly plant, water, weed, clean, and repair the park’s greenery and grounds. They also spearhead special improvement projects, like last year’s tree survey, which involved the surveying, pruning, and protecting of the park’s forty trees, an endeavor funded by the Cobble Hill Association and the Cobble Hill Tree Fund.

This year’s special assignment is the fence upgrade, organized by longtime resident Barbara Krongel, in which several hundred feet of fencing are being scraped, primed, and painted. "That fence is a major feature," Krongel said, "and when it's shabby, the entire place is affected." John Parker, owner of JP Interiors, arranged for a Benjamin Moore representative to inspect the site and make recommendations. "I know many of my customers love the park and I wanted to contribute," he said. And JP Interiors’ staffers contributed as well, by helping with scraping and prep work. They aren’t the only generous friends of the park: Matt Mazzone of Mazzone's Ace Hardware donated paint and supplies, while store manager Liz Civiletti and staff answered endless questions from the willing but inexperienced volunteers. The local NYC Parks Department district office has provided logistical support.

Because the job is so enormous, other organizations are also pitching in. Hannah Gall and Jaimie Beddoe of Partnership for Parks, a joint program of City Parks Foundation and the NYC Parks Department, recently fielded a crew of over seventy fence-painting volunteers from Viacom. And new Cobble Hill resident, Liz Ott, an operations manager with YouTube, is recruiting colleagues from her office for a June 30th volunteer day at the park.