The long view · La visión a largo plazo
Every playground. Every neighborhood. Long-term.
Delano-Hitch is one chapter. The book is bigger.
Delano-Hitch es un capítulo. El libro es más grande.
The inventory · El inventario
What the 2022 Scenic Hudson Inventory found.
In 2022, Scenic Hudson, the regional environmental nonprofit that has shaped Hudson Valley parks for 60 years, published a 158-page parks and open space inventory and assessment for the City of Newburgh. They walked every site. They photographed every play structure. They rated each one Maintain, Renew, or Re-Envision.
Eight of our sites landed in the highest priority Re-Envision tier. Most of the rest landed in Renew. The system, taken as a whole, is built from one good asset (Delano-Hitch's acreage), several stretched neighborhood parks, and gaps where there should be parks. We are using their inventory as our starting point because it is the only honest one.
Underserved neighborhoods · Vecindarios desatendidos
Who is underserved, and where.
Underserved is a planning term. It means more than a quarter mile from a park. In Newburgh, that is the South End between Lake Street and the river, the blocks east of Robinson Avenue between Broadway and Washington, and stretches of the West End north of Hasbrouck. These are the neighborhoods where new playgrounds matter most. They are also, not by accident, the neighborhoods where median household income is lowest, where a higher share of households are renters, and where the population skews younger.
The City has tools. CDBG funds new neighborhood improvements every year. The State has dozens of grant programs that fund park construction. The County has open-space funds. We are organizing the parents and the data to make sure those tools land here.
The master plan · El plan maestro
Newburgh needs a citywide playground master plan.
The City has identified the need and is working toward a master plan for Delano-Hitch's 26.7 acres, and has engaged a design firm to help shape it. That is one park. The City does not yet have a master plan for the playground system as a whole. It should. We are pushing for one.
A citywide playground master plan would do what the 2022 Scenic Hudson Inventory could not: prioritize the order, sequence the funding, name the standards, and lock in the maintenance commitments that keep good playgrounds good. Without it, every playground project is a one-off scramble. With it, we can chase the right grants on the right timeline and stop watching opportunities pass.
The active campaign · La campaña activa
Delano-Hitch is the first park.
Highest-priority site per the 2022 inventory, first NY PLAYS application for Newburgh, due June 15, 2026. The flagship has its own deep-dive page.