Brooklyn Bridge Park: Private-Public Pros and Cons
Brooklyn Bridge Park [is] perched atop a ribbon of piers, and already hailed for its design and scope. But the park is taking shape only in fits and starts, and even opening the small part that is complete has been delayed until spring as the city and state hash out questions of money and control….
Brooklyn Bridge Park [is] perched atop a ribbon of piers, and already hailed for its design and scope. But the park is taking shape only in fits and starts, and even opening the small part that is complete has been delayed until spring as the city and state hash out questions of money and control. Despite 20 years of planning, work has barely begun on the bulk of the project. The $350 million construction budget is still short $125 million, and no one is sure who will come up with the $16 million needed each year for operations and maintenance — New York Times
Pier 6 Rendering from BBP Conservancy.
The Big Lie is not about the park or the waterfront, it is about xenophobia -fear of outsiders-. The idea that there are people in willowtown and in cobble hill who would actually want to kill the construction of a beautiful waterfront park because they don’t want people of color, or people who speak foreign languages, to walk near their homes to access the park is a depressing thing indeed. The rest of us should stop being polite and start speaking out against this nonsense. There is no substance to the claims of privatization of public parkland. This was never parkland. It was a working waaterfron zoned for heavy industrial use. Let’s put an end to the ridiculous notion that because the park is not a half acre bigger, it should not be built.
Are we allowed to throw the dog poop in the water? Do two things useful. Keep the park clean and feed the fish!
Minard – thanks for calling out bklyn20 on his continuing attempts to spread those “condo with some landscaping” lies. I’m having a similar debate with him over on the broolyn heights blog. Boerum hill is right that there’s definitely a different feel between Battery Park and Riverside, but I think that has more to do with the huge elevation change between riverside drive and the park that makes the park feel more separate. Also Battery Park City was SUPPOSED to be a condo (and office) development with some park around the edges, and I think it succeeded admirably. if you look at the BBP plan, the ratio of park to buildings is nothing like that at BPC. Also – anyone who has seen what Pier 1 looks like (it’s pretty much finished) will attest to the fact that it’s far more than just some landscaping around a condo. it’s a bonafide park with plenty of greenscape and lush lawns.
I am hearing the usual thing: sex and drugs galore. even the state troopers in charge of his safety are at their wits end.
If you compare Riverside Park and Battery Park I think you see a difference. One is much more what you think of as a “Park”, i.e. lots of open recreation space. More trees than buildings. More grass than concrete. Battery Park was a great addition to the City, but it still feels like a big sidewalk rimming apartment and office buidlings than it does a park. And one other thing, why does a park have to pay for itself while a privately owned sports arena is eligible for subsidies.
That’s quite a teaser, Minard. What are you hearing and where (about the guv and the NYT, I mean)?
Historically, apartments were slow to develop adjacent to parks because developers thought people wouldn’t want to live near them – as when Central Park still had shanty towns & livestock. Guess it’s full circle w/ short-sighted residents focusing on the NIMBY factor instead of the aesthetics.
bkyl20:
City parks traditionally have residential development at their edges. Why the Big Lie about an “apartment complex with landscaping in the middle?” How many blocks from the edge of a public park would you like the “no build zone” to extend?
I wish that argument would die already, it’s so disingenous and stupid. Opponents of the park should just admit they don’t want a new park or the crowds it will attract.
It will be great to get both of those parks finished — but Mr. Mayor like to build things, and Battery Park City East with an island across the harbor is not what we need. Sure, the city will build it faster — but will they build a park or an apartment complex with expensive landscaping in the middle?
I would cross my fingers, but I’m too busy biting my nails.