Athletic field reopens in West Harlem

A football and soccer field that has been closed since January 2012 has now reopened in Riverbank State Park in West Harlem over the weekend.

“Riverbank State Park is a vital recreational and cultural anchor of West Harlem, visited by more than 3 million people a year, and I’m grateful that Governor Cuomo and the State Legislature are giving us the tools to keep it that way,” said Rose Harvey, the commissior of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. ”Currently, 83 percent of state parks are deteriorating. The New York Works fund is reversing years of decline at state parks like Riverbank, while providing desperately-needed recreational facilities in the communities they serve.”

Riverbank State Park is the first completed revitalization project taking place in the park as a part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s New York Works initiative.

Workers are also making irmprovements to the park’s deteriorating track, the gyumnasium floor, hot water system, and shade structures at the skating rink.

Riverbank features a 25-yard lap pool, a wading pool, four tennis courts, four basketball courts, a softball field, four hand/paddleball courts, two playgrounds, a water splashing area, and picnic areas.

Riverbank, which is built on the Hudson River, features views the river, the Palisades, and the George Washington Bridge.