Williamsburg State Park Opens to Little Fanfare
After several years of anticipation, the as-yet-unnamed State Park at North 9th Street on the Williamsburg waterfront opened on Saturday to little fanfare. There were no picnic tables, no jungle gyms and (much to our chagrin when we stopped by on Sunday) not even a tree to seek shade under, but Williamsburg inhabitants still seemed…
After several years of anticipation, the as-yet-unnamed State Park at North 9th Street on the Williamsburg waterfront opened on Saturday to little fanfare. There were no picnic tables, no jungle gyms and (much to our chagrin when we stopped by on Sunday) not even a tree to seek shade under, but Williamsburg inhabitants still seemed pleased (if slightly underwhelmed) to have an alternative to Grand Ferry Park for accessing the East River. It’s nice, said Paul Jenkins, a musician, told The New York Times. But it looks a little parched, like an afterthought, or that they didn’t put much love into it. The 7.5-acre park (which the state bought for $7.3 million) is said to have “recreational facilities” and longer hours in its future, but for now it remains accessible (to only the dog-less and bike-less) from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends. Did any readers stop by this weekend? What did you think?
Modest Space, but It Does Have a View [NY Times]
New Williamsburg Park’s Opening Day! [Gowanus Lounge]
Yes, We’re Open! [I’m Not Sayin’]
Those same lazy-asses who only get their exercise walking the dog are the same lazy-asses who let their dogs crap the lawn and are too much of a lazy-ass to clean it up
I think the no dog rule is a little sadistic. A lot of people get their outdoor exercize walking their dogs. Making parks off-limits to these folks is just mean-spirited. Thank you New York State I hope someone in Albany is getting pleasure from turning people away from a public park because they are walking a dog.
I can’t wait for the proposed park at One Brooklyn Bridge to come about.
Despite the no-dog rule, I think the park is a really nice addition to the neighborhood. We were turned away on Saturday because of our dog, but we were able to have an awesome BBQ cookout yesterday afternoon.
I think this park has a lot of potential.
no bikes either, right? silly rules!
The no dog rule applies to all State Parks, no? I think this is a big issue in the Dumbo State park as well.
As for this park – its definitely nice to have a substantial open space on the waterfront. But they sure didn’t go to much trouble, huh? As 11:18 notes, hopefully this will be like Dumbo, which is an awesome park. But the state is going to have to spring for sprinklers first – or start posting brush-fire warning signs.
the grand ferry park is full of dog doo, at least you can sit on the grass here. Many dog-owners are not as responsible as the dog-owners reading this site.
I live in the burg and am incredibly happy to have had some space spared in the development boom.
That said, I stopped by but couldn’t go in because I had my dog, which is especially funny (yes 11:11) considering how the space is quite unifinished. I suppose state parks can impose that rule, but hopefully it will change.
From the outside, the park appears to have had very little $ thrown its way, aside from the fences to keep visitors out during the week. Let’s hope some of these things change since the space is large and has HUGE potential.
Would be great if they made it similar to the fulton ferry park in DUMBO. That’s an awesome park…