Light Up Red Hook: Extend Access to the Newly Renovated Red Hook Athletic Fields

Red Hook has newly renovated athletic fields—but without lights, thousands of children and adults cannot use them after sunset. We are asking NYC Parks, City Council District 38, and Community Board 6 to make permanent sports lighting a capital budget priority and extend access to these public fields for youth sports, adult leagues, families, and community recreation.

The City has made a major investment in transforming the fields into modern, high-quality public recreation facilities. We are asking the City to take the next step: install appropriate sports lighting so the fields can be used safely and effectively during evening hours.

Why Red Hook Needs Lights
For much of the year, the sun sets before many children and working adults have the opportunity to use the fields.

In the fall and winter, sunset can occur around 4:30–5:00 PM. Even in early spring and late fall, daylight disappears soon after the school and work day ends. Without lighting, the usable window for organized sports and recreation is limited.

This is especially problematic in a city where there is significant demand for the fields from:

• Youth soccer teams and other youth sports programs
• School-age children who need places to play after school
• Adult recreational and organized sports leagues
• Families who want safe, convenient places for active recreation
• Residents who simply want to use their neighborhood fields for exercise and play

The Red Hook Recreation Area contains multiple athletic fields and serves children, adults, families, and recreational organizations.

The fields are there. The community wants to use them. Lighting is the missing piece.

More Access to Sports Means More Opportunity for Everyone
Public athletic fields are one of the City's most important forms of accessible recreation.

Unlike many private sports facilities and gyms, NYC Parks facilities are public resources. They allow children and adults to participate in organized sports and recreation without requiring families to pay expensive membership or facility fees.

Additional evening access would mean:

• More physical activity
  Children and adults would have more opportunities to run, play, train, exercise, and participate in organized sports.
• Less screen time
  For young people in particular, accessible outdoor recreation provides a compelling alternative to spending additional hours on phones, computers, and video games.
• More community connection
  Sports bring together children, parents, coaches, neighbors, and community organizations. Public fields are places where people from different backgrounds can interact and build community.
• Greater equity
  Access to quality athletic facilities should not depend on whether a family can afford a private sports complex, indoor facility, or expensive club. Public parks should provide meaningful recreation opportunities for everyone.

This Is Consistent With the City's Own Priorities
The request for lighting is directly aligned with the City's current emphasis on extending access to public athletic facilities.

In 2026, the Mayor's NYC Open Play initiative used lighting to keep public soccer fields available late into the evening. The City subsequently announced that the program would continue through September 2027, specifically citing the demand for opportunities to play beyond traditional recreation hours.

The city needs more fields and more fields with lights.

Other Brooklyn Fields Already Demonstrate What Is Possible
The Pier 5 athletic fields at Brooklyn Bridge Park provide a useful example. The fields are equipped for multiple sports, including soccer, rugby, lacrosse and flag football, and the facility provides lighting for evening play. Pier 5's turf is available for public use until 11 PM when it is not reserved for permitted activities.

Red Hook should not be left with a modern athletic facility that becomes effectively unavailable to much of the community once daylight disappears.

A Smart Investment in an Existing Public Asset
The City has already invested millions of dollars in rebuilding the Red Hook athletic fields. Adding appropriate lighting would increase the utility of that investment by expanding the hours during which the community can actually use the fields. This is not a request to build a new sports complex. It is a request to maximize the value of a public facility that has already been built.

Complete Construction on the Remaining Fields which Do Have Lights

A couple of the fields are still under construction, and one of these, Field 3 already has lights installed. Unfortunately, the contractor on the project was declared in default and construction on the project has stopped. The City should establish a new, expedited timeline for completion of this project, which presumably has already been budgeted and approved, and which would add at least one more field with lighting to the Recreation Area.

We therefore respectfully ask:

NYC Parks, City Council District 38, and Brooklyn Community Board 6 to work together to make sports lighting at the Red Hook Recreation Area athletic fields a capital budget priority. Complete work on the remaining fields, particularly those that have lights and support a capital project to add lighting to all of the fields.

Sign This Petition!
If you believe that Red Hook's public athletic fields should be available to the community after sunset, please sign this petition.

Whether you are a parent, athlete, coach, league participant, nearby resident, recreational player, or simply someone who believes NYC should maximize access to its public parks, your voice matters.

The City has built the fields.

Now let's make sure the community can use them.

Please sign and ask NYC Parks, City Council District 38, and Brooklyn Community Board 6 to fund and install lights at the Red Hook athletic fields.