Sgt. William Dougherty Playground

A state-of-the-art playground next to the BQE

Overall Score

Five stars out of fiveFour stars out of fiveThree stars out of fiveTwo Stars out of fiveOne Star out of five

Rat-O-Meter

Rat-o-meter: five rats out of fiveRat-o-meter: four rats out of fiveRat-o-meter: three rats out of fiveRat-o-meter: two rats out of fiveRat-o-meter: one rat out of five
Official NYC Parks Website
Brooklyn
Meeker and Vandervoort Ave

Features

Neighborhood
Bathrooms
No
Yes
, But NEARBY
Shade:
No
Yes
Water feature:
No
Yes
Sandbox:
No
Yes
Drinking Fountain
No
Yes
Additional DETAILS BELOW

Reviews

Not Your Nanny's Review

Playground Papa's Review

This is a beautiful playground that is in an absolutely horrible location. 

It’s a total waste of funding to have built this playground here, and maintaining it will take resources away from other parks that better serve the community. 

The land next to the BQE is an asthma-inducing hell-hole that would have better served the community as a stand of trees, a bit of open space with minimal maintenance costs. It’s a shameful waste of resources that everyone involved in this project should feel bad about, but no doubt they have patted themselves on the back bragging how they’ve given the community something really important. All they have done is ensured another generation endures choking diesel soot. 

This is such a marginalized location, it’s not even used by skateboarders despite a huge skate park. 

The equipment here is absolutely beautiful. It's brand new and laid out in a way that is fun and easy. The splash pad is beautiful too with lots of different water jets. Even with the water running though, the hum of heavy traffic driving on the BQE on ramp and the Kosciuszko Bridge is overwhelming.

We played here for a few minutes, and unsurprisingly were the only child in the playground. 

Getting here is a game of frogger. It requires crossing a truck route with large heavy trucks, and lots of angry drivers stuck at red lights. The surrounding streets have terrible sidewalks covered in broken glass and huge gaps, plus lots of cars using the sidewalk as a parking lot. 

We'll probably never be coming back here. 

Bruno's Review

About the Playground

The city spent $12m renovating this playground in the middle of a toxic industrial park. And its dead center in a superfund site.

This park was first created in 1924, and named for Sergeant William Dougherty, a World War II veteran and Purple Heart recipient.

Additional Features

Equipment

Slides:
Yes
No
Tic Tac Toe:
No
Yes
Toddler Swings:
No
Yes
Belt Swings:
No
Yes
CHIMES / Drums:
No
Yes
Tunnel:
No
Yes
PicNic Tables:
No
Yes
Suspension Bridge:
No
Yes

Climbing equipment

LaDDERS:
No
Yes
CLIMBING WALL:
No
Yes
ROPE:
No
Yes
STAIRS:
No
Yes
RAMP:
No
Yes
Monkey Bars:
No
Yes
Chain Ladder:
No
Yes
Weird Climbing Thing:
No
Yes

Accessibility

Sensory Panels:
No
Yes
Other Sensory Equipment:
No
Yes
Accessible Swing:
No
Yes
Balance Beam:
No
Yes
RAMP:
No
Yes
Last updated:
November 3, 2023

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