Artist Selected for Abolitionist-Inspired Installation at Downtown Brooklyn’s Willoughby Square Park
The city has selected borough artist Kameelah Janan Rasheed to erect a text-based public art installation at Downtown Brooklyn’s Willoughby Square Park.
Brooklyn Bridge Park Is Suing the Creator of Bouncy Squibb Bridge for $6 Million
Photo by Emily Nonko
It was supposed to be a mini modern marvel: an innovative zigzagging, bouncing wooden bridge spanning the BQE to connect Brooklyn Heights and Brooklyn Bridge Park. But less than two years after opening, the Squibb Park Bridge was abruptly closed because of structural instability. And it’s still closed.
Today, Brooklyn Bridge Park revealed that it is now suing the creators of the ultra-bouncy bridge — engineering firm HNTB, who are also building the new Kosciuszko Bridge — for $6 million over what it says is a faulty design.
Witnesses Promise $5.5 Million to Repair Dumbo Park. Enough to Fix Community Relationship?
Photo of Bridge Park II by Barbara Eldredge. Rendering of Bridge Park II skate park from the Jehovah’s Witnesses via Brooklyn Eagle
Talk about a quick turnaround. Just three weeks after local pols called for the Jehovah’s Witnesses to make once-promised repairs to Dumbo’s Bridge Park II, the religious organization pledged $5.5 million to overhaul the park.
Or is it a long-delayed turnaround?
Murals Painted at Two Once-Forgotten, Now-Controversial Parks in Dumbo
Photo of Bridge Park II by Barbara Eldredge
Not long ago, you couldn’t be faulted for confusing the asphalt-covered Bridge Park II for an empty parking lot. But last week, a large-scale activity mural began taking shape at the site, and at the nearby Bridge Park 3.
Regardless of the new paint, a controversy over who is responsible for larger fixes at the park has only just begun.
Brooklyn Politicians Pen Letter to Witnesses Calling for Local Improvements
On left: The local figures calling for a fixed-up park and subway station. On right: Photo of 85 Jay Street via Watchtower
A handful of local figures and politicians — including Steve Levin, Laurie Cumbo, and Letitia James — are calling for the Jehovah’s Witnesses to fulfill promises the group made in 2004 to fix a Dumbo park and subway station.
The politicians sent a letter to Richard Devine, spokesman of the Brooklyn-based religious group, on December 22. You can read the full letter below, but the gist of it closely echoes the call for improvements made by former New York City Council Member David Yassky.
Two Long-in-the-Works Brooklyn Parks Receive Funding
Renderings of the USS Monitor Park via the Greenpoint Monitor Museum
In the most recent development of the ExxonMobil pollution payout, remaining settlement money will be allocated to building Brooklyn parks. Separately, the Columbia Street Greenway expansion has also received a recent infusion of cash.
Photos: Joel Meyerowitz’s Brooklyn Wild — Capturing Untamed Nature in City Parks
Fort Greene Park, yoga class at the east end of the park, summer.
As Brooklyn bundles up in preparation for the winter, a look back at Joel Meyerowitz’s Legacy project reminds us of the greenery that will return, in time.
A native Bronxite and lifelong New Yorker, Meyerowitz has been capturing the city’s essence since 1962. From the still-burning hole of Ground Zero to Manhattan’s surreal street life, the photographer took a new direction with his 2006 book Legacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New York City Parks.
Cadman Park War Memorial to Be Renovated, Reopened
Photo: Barbara Eldredge
Closed for 25 years, Cadman Park’s War Memorial is finally being renovated back to life.
Meadow in the City: Brooklyn Bridge Park’s New Garden at Pier 6 Is Open and Gorgeous
A mention of Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6 might bring to mind the controversy surrounding two proposed residential towers. But those buildings — which would add 339 apartments to the area — aren’t actually on the pier itself.
While a playground and three volleyball courts opened at the base of Pier 6 in 2010, the vast majority of the pier’s 4 acres have been closed to the public. Until now.
Fort Greene Residents Don’t Hold Back at Monday’s Brooklyn Strand Workshop
They had to find more chairs. On Monday evening, a group of more than 70 people — architects, city representatives and Brooklyn residents — met at Fort Greene’s Willoughby Senior Center to talk about the future of the neighborhood’s public spaces.
Hosted by Community Board 2 and the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, the workshop was part of the Brooklyn Strand. The multi-year, multi-part effort is spearheaded by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and WXY Architecture, and seeks to improve public space around the Brooklyn Bridge and BQE from Borough Hall to Commodore Barry Park.
