Chairman of Housing, Building and Community Development Committee

The Public Land Trust, in collaboration with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Mayor’s Office of Climate Recovery, the New York Road Runner (NYRR) and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), today unveiled the newly renovated PS 2M The Meyer London School campus.  

“Access to outdoor space is critical to our health and well-being, especially in crowded communities like Chinatown that don’t have a lot of open space,” said Carter Strickland, vice president of Mid-Atlantic and New York State. Trust in public land. "Thanks to our public and private partners, this new playground will not only provide students with new classrooms and play equipment, but also provide beautiful green spaces for the entire surrounding community." 

The new campus is jointly designed by teachers and students and will include artificial turf grounds, basketball practice fields, volleyball courts, trees, table tennis tables, stages, outdoor classrooms, new play equipment, learning gardens, pavilions, game tables, benches and running tracks. The campus will be open to the community during non-school hours and will serve 50,473 residents who live within a 10-minute walk of the park.  

The green infrastructure elements will collect 1,100,000 gallons of rainwater each year, helping to improve the health of the surrounding waterways and reduce the flood risk for residents. Part of the funding for the campus comes from DEP's green infrastructure program. 

DEP Commissioner Vincent Sapienza said: "DEP proudly joins the Public Land Trust, New York Road Runners, elected officials and the PS 2 school community to officially cut the ribbon for this gorgeous'green' playground today." "Thanks to the student designers for creating it. An amazing space featuring green infrastructure will absorb approximately 1.1 million gallons of rainwater each year, helping to reduce community flooding and the amount of untreated water entering the East River at the same time." 

Without the support and funding of New York Road Runners and DEP, as well as local elected leaders, Manhattan District Chairman Gale A. Brewer, and Congressman Margaret S. Chin, this project would not be possible. The Mayor’s Office of Resilience also provided funding for the playground through the HUD Community Development Block Grant National Disaster Resilience Competition. The green playground will complement New York City's ongoing Lower Manhattan Coastal Disaster Prevention (LMCR) project, which will adapt the Lower Manhattan area to the long-term effects of climate change. 

"This playground demonstrates how resilience projects can enhance public spaces in New York City while strengthening our communities to cope with a hotter and wetter future," said Jainey Bavishi, director of the Mayor's Office of Climate Resilience. "We are proud to work closely with the PS 2M Community and Public Land Trust Fund to provide this accessible modern leisure space with cutting-edge flexible design elements such as green infrastructure that can collect rainfall and protect the environment in hot summer areas ." 

“Since 2016, NYRR has been honored to partner with the Public Land Trust to fund the design and construction of school playgrounds in the five boroughs of New York City,” said NYRR CEO Kerin Hempel. "With the common goal of creating a better tomorrow for New Yorkers, we are proud to help transform the PS 2M campus, create an oasis in the Manhattan Chinatown community, and at the same time help and inspire the community to stay active." 

PS 2M serves the diverse population of Manhattan, 66% of which are Asian and 16% are Hispanic. Most families in the community (53%) are below the federal poverty line, almost all 2M students (90.6%) are below the economic need index, and 21.9% of them live in temporary housing. 

"Public space is one of the most important resources that our city must provide, and our outdoor playground is an important part of it," said Gale A. Brewer, chairman of Manhattan. "I am very pleased to be able to support and welcome a newly refurbished barrier-free campus that serves thousands of Chinatown residents and at the same time strengthens the green infrastructure of our city." 

"PS 2M's newly renovated campus is a big improvement for our community-it is a dream place for students at Meyer London School and nearby residents," said state Senator Brian Kavanagh. "This is also a good example of our efforts to rethink the way we build to address the growing need for resilience in the face of climate change and severe weather. I commend Carter Strickland and the Public Land Trust , The Mayor’s Office of Climate Restoration and the City Department of Environmental Protection, borough mayor Gale Brewer and Congressman Margaret Chin, New York road runners, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and teachers, students and community residents who provided advice, and all participating in the creation People in this wonderful space."  

 For nearly 25 years, the Public Land Trust Fund has guided thousands of students and parents to make the most of campuses, placing 214 community campuses where they are most needed. According to the New York Parks Equity Plan of the Public Land Trust Fund, TPL plans to build 100 more parks in crowded communities; our data shows that the per capita park space in New York City's colored communities has been reduced by 33%. 

Across the country, the Public Land Trust Fund has transformed more than 300 underutilized campuses into natural resource-rich parks to address inequalities in education, health, and climate impact. Every renovation of our community campus includes an agreement between the school district and other local agencies to allow the community to use the space when the school is closed. According to the latest research by The Trust for Public Land, passages that are open to all public campuses across the country during non-school hours will allow more than 19.6 million people, including 5.2 million children, to reach the park within a 10-minute walk, who currently lack the right to use it.