Brooklyn Bridge Park Progress Report
Wow, things are really coming together in Brooklyn Bridge Park! Click on the images above to expand.
Wow, things are really coming together in Brooklyn Bridge Park! Click on the images above to expand.
When they get around to bridges over Furman, why not run one from the Squibb Park side of Furman directly over to whatever building(s) they decide to keep and/or build on the river side of Furman? That way, universal accessibility can by taken care of with an elevator that does double duty serving the building as well as the bridge.
(The refrigerated warehouse there now is slated to be replaced by residential development, but if they reconfigure the park financing, maybe they can keep what’s left of the warehouse as well. Though aren’t they already cannibalizing it for lumber to recycle into benches?)
maybe a big slide from promenade would make easy access to the park. That could be handicap accessible too.
It’s great the park is finally happening. It’s unfortunate that we’re getting a flashy showplace park at the price of more green open space. Regarding Furman Street, I believe that the nearly the entire west side of Furman Street is lined with a 20+ foot tall berm, further blocking access to the park, in an attempt to block BQE noise from. Granted the BQE IS noisy, but a berm takes up a lot of horizontal as well as vertical space. We need the level space for active recreation (as seen by the conflicts over the astroturf space in Cadman Park.) I also pray that the ESDC starts considering the PIRC plan advanced by State Senator Daniel Squadron (as well as by recent City Council candiate Evan Thies) so we can avoid adding 2 more luxury condos (c. 16 and 30 stories high.) Why is the ESDC spending money on expensive marsh landscapes? Why not build what we can afford for now, use the PIRC plan (google it, please) and avoid more empty buildings? Let’s put a glass tower in Fort Green Park and Prospect Park instead and keep those PILOT payments — how would that fly? Clawbacks for park budgets, anyone?
I wonder if the piers we have in Red Hook will be enough accommodate all the super-sized ships being built. These new ships all require deep water ports. I think the park is nice although it doesn’t really help to put this country back to work like docks would. I just hope this doesn’t turn out to be a big waste of time/money if they’re just going to have to tear it up in 20 years.
“BBP will be hard to reach on foot”
Right. Either Fulton Landing or Atlantic/Joralemon. The entire Furman Street side of the park could be wide open, but you’d still only be able to reach it through one of those two bottlenecks. (I’m far less concerned with bus and car traffic than foot traffic.)
There is a plan to connect Squibb to the park in the manner described by Minard. It is currently unfunded (as are a coupl eof other portion of the park) but it is definitely still in the design. The hope is that once the portions of the park that are currently under constrcuction open up, then there will be a groundswell of support for the city to provide the funding to finsih the park, inlcuding this pedestrian bridge.
BBP will be hard to reach on foot and it won’t have much parking for cars or buses. That will be a problem they will need to deal with as they go along.
I read in the local paper that Squibb park will be used as a playground for PS8 for the next year or so while the school’s extension is under construction.
I hope they change their minds and connect Squibb Park. Not only will it provide access to the new park from near the end of the Promenade, but it opens up Squibb Park (currently closed) for more people to use it. Otherwise, unless I’m mistaken, the only access to the new park is either via Fulton Landing or Atlantic/Joralemon Streets.
An entrance from Squibb Park would be a good short cut to the new park for folks in the north heights. But it would be tricky involving a bridge across Furman Street. It would be expensive. You probably could not do it unless it was handicap accessible so that would mean elevators or a really long ramp leading down, down, down to the level of the park. Once they finish demolishing the warehouses it will become easier to visualize how the connection can be made. It’s no big deal, just that in the boros any project like this is considered a frivolity and subject to budget scrutiny it would not receive in Manhattan. They don’t even have the money yet to build the middle of the park itself.