Walt Whitman Park Slated for Renovation

If I understood correctly at the meeting I attended about the renovation of this park (as well as that of the playground area of McLaughlin park at the corner of Tillary and Jay Streets), the money for this park's renovation is coming from fees the federal government pays related to the courthouse building next door -- maybe the feds lease the building from the city or state? I can't remember the details now? Anyone else know? But I think the money is specifically dedicated for this park. Again, anyone know better here?

And frsq, I don't agree that the park is inaccessible. If it's done right, it could make Cadman Plaza park feel a bit bigger, and with a fountain that kids could play in in the summer, there would certainly be a reason for families to walk across closed-off Washington Street to Whitman. More generally, it's reasonably easy for DUMBO families to walk up Washington Street to get to the park -- also for families living in Concord Village directly across the Brooklyn Bridge on-ramp, because they can cross under the bridge using the A/C subway stop (no need to pay). Finally, the design for the area was very nice and I think could make an underused bit of open space a much more inviting and better used space. I was a little skeptical about plans to engrave excerpts from Whitman poems at different locations on the new plaza, with the idea of reflecting what Whitman might have thought/said had he been standing on the Plaza looking out (at the Brooklyn Bridge, at the war memorial in the adjacent park, at the emergency management building), but the excerpts seemed to me quite interesting, thoughtful even, and made me think how nice it can be to have thoughfully designed public spaces that seek to engage us in meaningful ways in the city in which we live. Certainly this is a kind of luxury, but if the money has to be spent in this area, from what I heard, it seemed like it was being well spent.

Posted by: slyone at May 6, 2009 10:24 AM