This photo is an example of all the city does right and all it does wrong. What you're looking at is the inside of the Park Slope Armory which is on 8th Avenue and 14th Street in Brooklyn.
The city has spent $16 million to convert the inside of the humongous shelter into this wondrous sports facility. It is supposed to be an adult fitness center, and also an after-school center for children. Right now, the rest of the armory (the part not shown) remains what it's been for years now -- a shelter for homeless women.
It was a great idea to convert the empty space to what is pictured above. The only problem is that this state of the arts sports facility has been finished since 2007 and it's still not open! It's been sitting there, looking real purdy like this, for nearly two years, waiting for someone, anyone, to run around that track.
Negotiations between the city and the YMCA -- the only vendor the city could find to operate the center -- has been mired in minute details. The promised opening is now May but I can't help wondering if the center will remain what it's been since it was finished -- a mirage.
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