New York City announced on the 2nd that it has finished renovating three basketball courts at Fish Playground in Brooklyn. The work is part of a $2.89 million project in which the Social Justice Fund of the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation is supporting 13 courts in five Brooklyn parks.
New York City announced on Monday, the 2nd, that renovation of three basketball courts at Fish Playground in Brooklyn is complete. Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura and Clara Wu Tsai, founder of the Social Justice Fund and owner of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets and the WNBA's New York Liberty, announced the completion together.
The work is part of a $2.89 million project in which the Social Justice Fund of the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation is renovating 13 basketball courts in five Brooklyn parks. The money was channeled through the NYC Parks Department's Adopt-a-Park program. The sites were chosen in consultation with the Parks Department from neighborhoods with especially high levels of gun violence.
At Fish Playground, the courts were repaved and finished in gray, black and teal. New backboards with nets, benches and drinking fountains were installed, and the chain-link fencing was replaced with new mesh so the park is visible from outside. The playground opened in 1965 and is jointly operated by the Parks Department and the Department of Education. Its name comes from the initials (F, S, H) of the surrounding streets: Fulton Street, Saratoga Avenue and Herkimer Street.
The Social Justice Fund has also supported courts at Jackie Robinson Playground in Crown Heights, Brooklyn Ballfield in East New York, Fox Playground in Flatlands and a court in Sunset Park. Mayor Mamdani said, "Play is a public good," adding that there will be more places for families to gather in parks.