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In October 2006, Parks & Recreation cut the ribbon on a new playground on Lexington Avenue at 123 Street.
Three...two... one... cut!
The playground was dedicated in memory of Doctor Ronald E. McNair,
an astronaut who died in the Challenger Space Shuttle tragedy, and whose father lived in the neighborhood.
This park is very important to me, because it'll be a tangible reminder of him, and what he had accomplished in his short life.
Ronald was a bit of a Renaissance person. Not only science, but he was an accomplished musician.
He played jazz saxophone. In fact, he took a saxophone up into orbit with him on his first mission, and played in outer space.
I know the father, Mr. McNair, from when he had his garage here, and we used to bring the children down here.
My daughter, who's named Venus, she would come down here every day and talk to Mr. McNair, and play with his dog. He had a little dog.
I can't think of a better legacy than to have a playground named after you.
You know, some people have schools, and streets, and libraries, and Ron certainly has those too,
but I think he'd be very proud of this playground, because this is where the next generation of explorers is going to play and have fun.
And if you learn one thing in space, at zero G, it's that it's about fun.
It's about excitement. It's about seeing our world in a totally different light.
We really went with the theme of space science.
You can find all the planets, in their proportional size to each other, within the pavement of the park.
The big circle in the center is Saturn, and then there's a granite disc on this side that's Earth.
That's only about this big, so you can see the proportional difference, and you can see how small our Earth is.
I presently teach Earth Science at a Manhattan high school. Education can be a fun experience.
I look at this park as fun, but there's information here. I think that this is a perfect meshing of the two: education and recreation.
Honestly it's great, because there's not really a park around here with all these toys like this, and these games.
My son gets to run around and get himself tired. The schools bring their kids here in the morning, he gets time with other kids.
McNair was a physicist, so when we looked at the play equipment, we wanted to get some sense of that science.
So we have some equipment that if you lean in and out, it spins at a different rate.
I am just happy and overjoyed to see this park today for the children in the neighborhood.
Older years, it was just like abandoned. It had garbage in it, and it was really run down.
And now it's beautiful. It's beautiful.
We wanted to make this park really green, because there's not a lot of green in this neighborhood.
We wanted to bring a lot of plants, and a lot of green, and a lot of trees.
Ronald McNair was from South Carolina, so we picked plants that are typical of South Carolina,
but that also grow well in this environment, and in this climate.
We have been waiting a long time for a decent park for the children to come play.
And that Dr. Ronald McNair, that they are honoring him with this park, this community, I'm just overjoyed.
This park can remind the children that whatever you dream, you can do the work and accomplish it,
and reach the high heights of your field.
For an out-of-this-world experience, visit Ronald McNair playground.