Promised Williamsburg Park Slow to Materialize

The Times takes a look at the Finger building’s “18,000-square-foot expanse of velvety green lawn complete with a set of raised beds that will be available for residents to plant, creating a kind of private community garden in the air,” and contrasts it with the very slow progress on public parkland in Williamsburg that was promised as part of the 2005 rezoning of the area. At present only a soccer field has been built at Bushwick Inlet Park, which is supposed to eventually span 28 acres, while a park building and playground are under construction. The article examines the enormously high cost of buying land for the park: So far the city has spent $125 million on two parcels, and has entered an agreement to buy another for $80 million within a few years. Another large parcel is expected to cost $120 million. “The city is investing in excess of $315 million in this one community, which is a quarter of our total capital budget for 20 years in the borough of Brooklyn,” says Adrian Benepe, the New York City parks commissioner. Still, community members are eager to have the park space promised to them in exchange for the rezoning. “Without the new open space, we’re adding people and just making a bad situation in terms of open space ratio even worse,” says Ward Dennis of Neighbors Allied for Good Growth.
Tower Has Its Own Lawn, but Neighbors Still Look for Their Open Space [NY Times]
Photo by ryanlachica