Trustco renovates Schenectady park

PHOTOGRAPHER: Marc Schultz

The TrustCo Bank Corp NY are renovating local area parks. Quackenbush Park located in Mont Pleasant Elementary is the first park (seen here, with employees and city workers cleaning up leaves on Wednesday afternoon) to be renovated. Trustco Bank has pa...

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Quackenbush Park has gotten a makeover thanks to TrustCo Bank.

After a couple months of hard work, nearly 20 volunteers from TrustCo recently finished renovations to the park. They raked some last-minute leaves with Schenectady officials on Wednesday ahead of its big unveiling.

The cleanup project is one of several TrustCo has planned for the city’s parks. TrustCo CEO Robert McCormick said the goal is to spruce up one park each year and continue to maintain them.

“We’ll come back in the spring to make sure it’s not destroyed in the winter,” McCormick said. “We would like to do one park a year. This project was very successful.”

It is unclear which park will be next on TrustCo’s list, but McCormick said the company will work closely with the city on future renovation projects.

Renovations to Quackenbush Park carried a $30,000 price tag picked up by TrustCo. Work included paving the basketball court, adding new benches and garbage cans, and putting up a park sign on Forest Road.

Although it was a bit chilly and windy Wednesday, some volunteers were just happy to be outside and get their hands dirty.

“Wherever they need help I’m always helping,” said Trinity Virola. “I like anything outdoors. I absolutely love this kind of stuff.”

Mont Pleasant Neighborhood Association President Patricia Ann Smith said the cleanup is “a big deal,” with more people visiting the park now compared to several months ago.

She said children in the area are enjoying the upgrades, and she has seen more families having picnics in the park lately during her walks around the neighborhood.

“I’m just so thrilled and thankful; we all are,” she said. “What TrustCo did was just phenomenal for us with the benches, tables and garbage cans. We just can’t do everything ourselves, and it was great to have them help to clean up.”

Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy praised the project as a step toward revitalization in Schenectady, beyond downtown. “TrustCo has been a great community partner for a long time and is putting more focus back on the local neighborhoods,” he said. “This adds greater value to the neighborhood.”