The evening’s wish lists included getting rid of the Department of Transportation’s salt mountain on the west side of the park, constructing a skate park, converting the golf house and the Van Cortlandt Stadium into community space, removing the gas stations along the Deegan, fixing up the trails to turn Vannie into a hiking destination, repairing the Croton Woods trails for use by mountain bikers, creating a rest room at West 251st Street near the Parade Ground and improving the drainage at the dog run near Broadway.

At the end of the meeting, attendees were asked to write a few ideas on index cards and place them under categories posted on the wall to see which ideas had garnered the most attention. 

Programming, orientation and park operation had the most cards. Not a single card hung under “Economic Development.”

The category “Threats” was also empty, until Friends of Jerome Park Reservoir’s Jane Sokolow wrote “DEP” on a card and taped it to the wall, taking a jab at the department responsible for the controversial Croton Filtration Plant being constructed in the park.

Parks will create an advisory council composed of citizens and officials to work on the master plan. The plans will be posted on www.vcpark.org and residents will also be able to submit their suggestions to the site.

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