Joseph F Mafera Park

I take my pet turtle here for walks during the summer.

I’m glad this park exists, but it doesn’t offer much in the way of what I am looking for in a park: a shady place to sit on a bench, picnic, or lounge in the shade. That said, for those in search of active recreational opportunities, sports facilities and playgrounds abound here.

The previous reviewer said it all. The playground is very overcrowded. This is due to the fact that it is the best park in the nighborhood. But even with it all it is very unkept. Its why I stopped going there. It is also very puzzling to me since the rest of the park just went under a major renovation just a couple of years ago. Why is the playground coming apart?

This should be categorized under PARKS, but the menu did not allow that.
Mafera Park is located just a few blocks from the Fresh Pond Road station of the M Line. It is the best park in this part of Ridgewood, and is only steps away from the Police Precient.
It is equipped with softball fields, racket ball courts, a basketball court, and possibly a roller-​hockey field. (Although I’m not sure if it is still in place after the renovation.)
The softball field recently has a major renovation which turned the grass into astroturf. I’m not sure if that is an improvement, but I know it makes for very uncomfortable picnicking.
The softball field is very actively used by the community.
My review here will focus on the playground, which is what I use the most.
This playground is extremely active and often very crowded, except in the very early morning hours. It can often be too crowded which is why we exclusively go when it is less crowded. This community has a LOT of children, more than MANY neighborhoods.
The playground has two distint areas, one for toddlers, and the other for grade-​school kids.
The toddler area is equipped with baby swings, and a jungle gym featuring two slides, a bridge, a fireman pole, a tick-​tac toe and various other features on this kind of equipment.
The grade-​school kids area has larger swings, and a jungle gym area featuring a bridge, various levels of height, a double slide, and a twisty curvy slide. It also has many ladders and a various fireman poles and a some monkey bars.
Lastly there is another piece of equipment detached from the other areas that features a double slide and a few levels.
The middle of the park has a sprinkler area in the shape of round balls with a central area for getting wet.
Now that the description is out of the way…
I go to this park nearly every weekend with my daughter. In the summertime, the sprinklers aren’t open till around 10:00 — 10:30. The Park Dept generally comes around 9 and opens the bathrooms that are typical park bathrooms, stinky and «clean enough if you have no where else to go».
There is also one water fountain that is usually clogged with leaves, debris and water balloons.
I find the equipment adequate for it’s purposes by am dismayed by the lack of attention this well used park gets in terms of maintenance.
The double-​slide in the grade-​school area has had a sharp ding on the right slide for over six months. If a kid is going down this slide fast, they can easily cut their hands on this ding. After repeated complaints, the city has not fixed it. All it takes is a metal file to file it down. Why it still hasn’t been fixed is beyond me.
An area near the toddler swings, just short of the sprinklers has indentations in the cement where it has sunk. As a result this area is always filled with water and leaves. Why hasn’t the city flattened this area out?
The playground itself is open to the rest of the park without a fence seperating it from the rest of the park. Almost all decent playgrounds have some sort of containing fence to contain the kids who WILL wander off. I don’t understand why this park does not.
On the weekends, this park gets very dirty. I wish it was cleaned more often.
There are rubber tiles on the ground of the park in only a few areas that are coming apart. Toddlers learning to walk easily trip on this thing.
My basic complaint is the lack of resources this park has.
Comparing this park to other parks around the city.
–3^rd Street Playground in Prospect Park. It has triple the number of features and equipment for a larger variety of age groups. It is particular important for the really young babies, where there is a large learning curve between 12 months and 24 months. It was cordoned off, like most playgrounds.
— 9^th Street Playground in Prospect Park. Features a sand pit, two sets of sprinklers, and two extra large jungle gyms, and a staff that is on duty during the day. And wow, what nice bathrooms for the public.
— Hecksler Playground — The biggest sandpit I have ever seen in a park. A mote on various levels. The asphault on the ground is very soft so when kids fall they don’t get hurt.
— Union Square Park — Again much nicer.
— 23^rd Street Park (Manhattan) — Again much nicer.
So the elephant in the room is…
How come parks in Ridgewood aren’t this well equipped?
We are one city where resources are allocated equally… I think not… We know the truth.