On a mild Friday afternoon, January 10, 2020,  NYC Parks & Recreation held a public scoping meeting for the Reading Garden at the Bellerose Playground.  Landscape Architect James Mituzas ran the meeting, along with assigned designer Amber Betances.  Senator John Liu, Councilman Barry Grodenchik, and Community Board 13Q District Manager Mark McMillan were present.   Roseann Reinhardt, who proposed the Reading Garden over six years ago when she was a P.S.133 staffer and BCCA member, returned to Bellerose to see her dream come closer to fruition.

Lourdes Hartrick, BCCA President, and other BCCA members and local residents made known their suggestions for seating, landscaping, fencing and other improvements to accommodate adults and children.  P.S.133 Principal, Nicole Colon, presented a list of suggestions prepared by the Student Council for the proposed Reading Garden.

Parks and Recreation will consider all the suggestions and come up with a design which Mr. Mituzas said would be presented at a Community Board 13 Parks Committee meeting in about four months.  He agreed to a request by CB13 Parks Committee member and BCCA Board member Jim Delaney for a progress report on the design.