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Three Terrific Open Space Updates

1. Bushwick Inlet (or at least, what we're allowed to claim of it thus far) got a facelift thanks to a really wonderful new program. From Friend's of Bushwick Inlet Park's Laura T... "the folks from NYC Community Cleanup showed up today and collected 15 bags of garbage and leaves after cleaning up our lovely stretch of public sidewalk alongside the inlet this morning... here's a snapshot of them in action."
Now you can walk or run without getting papers stuck on your shoe or tripping over a bottle of pee. Thanks to NYC Community Cleanup! (And to Laura for making the call!)

2. This sunday, March 21, there will be a Beers in the Office meeting regarding Greenpoint Community Gardening. Curious? Good. Come to the meeting at the NAG Office, 110 Kent Avenue, at 7:30.

3. On April 8th, the comprehensive Waterfront Plan Update public meeting is on April 8th from 6:00-8:30 pm at Murry Bergtraum High School at 411 Pearl Street, Manhattan. This will be a great opportunity to share our opinions and ideas regarding new open spaces in North Brooklyn. We'd love to bring some impassioned parkies to speak out for Transmitter Park, Commercial Street, Bushwick Inlet and the Williamsburg Bridge DOT site. Here's the Waterfront Plan's official link. If you'd like to get involved in this but want some assistance or further information, let us know.


HAPPY SPRING!!!

Where's My Park?!?

Working with our friends GWAPP, Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park Barge Park Pals, Friends of Transmitter Park, Park Moms, the People's Firehouse, the Rude Mechanical Orchestra and our friends at Assemblymember Joe Lentol and a Representative from Council Member David Yassky's office, we asked the City "Where's My Park?!?" yesterday.

Because of the public attention that was brought to the promises from the 2005 rezoning going unfulfilled, the City has made a new round of committments to speed up access to waterfront parks. These commitments were made to the community by the Parks Department in an email from North Brooklyn Parks Administrator Stephanie Thayer:

- Manhattan Avenue Street end greening is open to the public as of today.
- Northside Piers (at North 5th St/Kent Ave.) will be open 7 days per week within the next two weeks.
- Transmitter Park will be opened for use this summer, with interior fencing that provides as much safe site access as possible.
- We are working to improve Newton Barge Terminal Park to provide waterfront views this summer.
- Mayor's office will proceed with an independent study to further the relocation of the MTA.
- Parks Dept. will hold regular public listening sessions about the parks commitments of the rezoning.
- We will break ground on the first phase of Bushwick Inlet Park, a soccer field, between North 9th and North 10th, in June.

More images of the event:

Phantom children playing in the phantom Bushwick Inlet Park



Phantom children in the phantom Transmitter Park @ Greenpoint Ave.


Christine Holowacz & Emily Gallagher at 65 Commercial Street A/K/A the MTA Site




Assembly Member Joe Lentol and Phil Depaolo



The Rude Mechanical Orchestra





Michelle & Jim Rodecker bearing the NAG Banner

Photos by Rachelle House and JD Fox

May 16th: Where's My Park?!? Day

Remember the 2005 Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning? In it, we were told that in exchange for enormous buildings along the water front we would recieve a number of parks and open spaces to relax in, to get up by the water, to play soccer, to do whatever we please!

Not one park has been completed, not one has been opened.

So while the rest of New York City is celebrating "It's My Park Day!" on May 16th, NAG and GWAPP will be instead asking, "Where's My Park?!?" in an act of community awareness and civic action.

Bring your kids and your grandmas to the NAG Office (N 8th and Kent) at 12:30p to make some pro-park crafts and picket signs, and then join us at 2:00p at Bushwick Inlet (N 14th and Kent) as we march down past several of the promised parks' locked gates. The day will end with a block party full of music, games, refreshments, and community... in a parking lot.

Come help us make a scene! It's the only way we'll unplug the City's deaf ears across the river.

Keep the Waterfront Promises

The 2005 Waterfront Rezoning plan has completely altered our community's environment with more than a dozen residential towers either built or in construction along the waterfront. The city promised that our neighborhood, having long suffered one of the lowest ratios of open space per capita and as well as a housing crisis, would receive -- in tandem with the onslaught of development -- new parks and affordable housing. Now, four years later, those needs are now more pressing than ever and the excuses for inaction by the city and the MTA have become completely unacceptable.

Please sign and mail this letter asking the City to create the park at 65 Commercial Street. The timing for this action is critical.

Reclaim Open Spaces With NAG Monday, February 9th

The NAG Open Space Community Committee Meeting has been rescheduled for Monday, February 9th at 7pm. The meeting will be at 179 Green Street between McGuinness and Manhattan in Greenpoint


Meeting agenda to include location and planning for future open spaces in South and East Williamsburg, seeding and gardening initiatives throughout North Brooklyn, further development of the open space website uniting park, park groups, programs, amenity lists and more!

Photo by mercurialn via flickr (creative commons license)

Make Lentol Garden Your Park

Friends of Lentol Garden

There's a new group called "Friends of Lentol Garden" which is stepping up to take care of the green space wedged in between houses on Bayard street and the McGuiness entrance ramp to the BQE (it's better than it sounds).

They are just getting started and group co-founder Isaac Sandlin asked us to draw your attention to an "It's My Park Day!" on November 8, 2008. More information about the group is available at their blog: http://lentolgarden.blogspot.com/

Open Space Alliance Community Committee Meeting Nov 3

For those of you that are more locally-inclined than nationally and will be twiddling your thumbs on election eve, the much-anticipated "community committee" meeting of the Open Space Alliance will be held this coming Monday, Nov 3rd at 6:30pm at the Brooklyn Brewery (North 11th and Wythe Ave).

OSA is improving our existing parks and helping to develop new parks in Williamsburg and Greenpoint. We accomplish this by raising funds, linking community volunteers, and working in partnership with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

We are very excited to announce this meeting to form the Community Committee for the Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn! The purpose of this meeting is to formally introduce OSA to all interested community organizations and residents, and to hear your feedback about how to improve our parks through our partnership with the NYC Parks Department.

The meeting will be hosted by representatives from the GWAPP and NAG Boards. Tupper Thomas from the Prospect Park Alliance will provide insight from the 25 years of their Community Committee's operation. Steve Hindy will answer questions on behalf of the OSA Board. A beer reception will follow for the community to meet the rest of the Board Members of OSA.

More information is available at OSA's website.

Northside Piers Esplanade to Open in October?

Brooklyn Papers reports that Northside Piers' esplanade is going to open this week or next.

As we previously noted, the opening was held up supposedly for safety reasons, but needs to be open in order for the market-rate building to get its permanent C of O.

(Park)ing Day in Williamsburg

We were able to visit the three Park(ing) spaces on Bedford Ave in Williamsburg this past Friday. Passing pedestrians were pleasantly surprised to find available green space for impromptu rest stops and reveled in the creativity

The first was a dedication to Buckminster Fuller, where the Park(ing) attendants were constructing a geodesic dome.


The second space was a Meditation Garden, where pedestrians were welcomed into a grass-filled garden surrounded by sand and pools of water.



The third space was the Cadillac of (Park)ing Day parks with two combined spaces. The first half was a jungle gym for the kids while the second half, The Extended Chill Space Park, was perfect for lounging parents and adults.

Post & Photos by Alexandra Sweet

More Coverage
StreetsFilms visits Bedford Ave, among other places
Meditation Garden on 11211 and Gothamist
Other neighborhoods' (Park)ing Day spots on Streetsblog
Treehugger has a good overview of the whys and whats of (Park)ing Day

Park(ing) Day

One of the neat livable streets events that has popped up in the last year is Park(ing) Day, where people take over a metered parking space (paying their way, of course) and make it into a park. The park(ing) space idea in NYC was born on Bedford Ave in 2005 and today is (Park)ing Day!

Take a minute to stop by the four (park)ing spaces in the neighborhood today!

"Manhattan Ave Park" @ Manhattan Ave & Driggs
"Buckminster Fuller Park" @ N 10th and Bedford
"Meditation Garden" @ N 6th and Bedford
"Extended Chill Space Garden" @ N 5th and Bedford


Photo Credit: Laughing Squid (flickr) through a Creative Commons license.

Guest Post: Assm Joe Lentol Responds to Posting About MTA Site

We're heartened to see that all our posting at the NAG blog has not gone and wandered off unnoticed into virtual space. State Assembly Member Joe Lentol wrote in to respond to our post on the MTA site at 65 Commercial Street.

Dear NAG:
I am really excited to see people starting to talk about the 65 Commercial Street site. In recent months, I have been working hard to push the MTA and the city to do something about this issue and it is always helpful when you can go back to them and show that the community is becoming concerned as well. Below you can see my most recent letter to the Chairman Hemmerdinger. Since sending this letter, I hosted a meeting at my office for the MTA Director of Governmental Affairs and several members of our community.
Two important developments came out of that meeting. First, the MTA agreed that since they are unable to find one big site to move into, that they would divide their facility and look for two smaller sites for relocation. Their willingness to split their facility, gives them much more flexibility.
Since that meeting, the MTA has written me and told me that they have actually identified two smaller sites that look promising. They are currently doing a more in-depth analysis to see if these new site will allow the MTA to vacate the facility in Greenpoint. While I know better than to get my hopes up, I am cautiously optimistic that the flexibility established at the meeting in my office will pay off.

Post continues...

Regardless of whether these sites will work, I hope the MTA now understands just how committed this community is to having a park and not a storage facility at 65 Commercial Street. I look forward to working with them and this community to ensure that we get the open space we deserve. It was great to see the issue mentioned on your new blog and I will be sure to point out the community support in my next communication with the MTA about the park. Keep up the good work!

Sincerely
Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol
50th District, Brooklyn

---

May 6, 2008

Chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger
Metropolitan Transit Authority
347 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10017

Dear Chairman Hemmerdinger:

I am writing to you about an issue I consider to be of utmost importance. As you may know, when the city rezoned the Greenpoint waterfront, there was an agreement between the MTA and the New York City Parks Department regarding the MTA property at 65 Commercial Street. In April of 2005 the MTA committed to actively seek out an alternative site for their facility and to move from 65 Commercial Street. The plan for the space is to become a desperately needed park for the community. Enclosed, please find copies of letters regarding this, as well as the waterfront rezoning points of agreement between the MTA and New York City Parks Department.

Greenpoint is a rapidly growing neighborhood and according to NYC Parks Dept. there is no green space above Greenpoint Avenue and only one playground for parents to take their children. The community is anxiously awaiting this park and the youth soccer field which is planned for it. I am writing to request a status report on this search as it has now been over three years that the community is waiting for a park. I am hopeful that this will be a priority under your administration. I look forward to working with you to ensure that this community gets the much needed green space it was promised and so badly needs. If you have any questions, please feel free to call [XXXX].

Sincerely,
Joseph R. Lentol

Commercial Street Park Still On Hold

Does this look like a park to you? The NY Daily News has a piece today on the finger-pointing and general lack of progress for the park that is slated to be built at 65 Commercial St. in Greenpoint. The city says it's the MTA, the MTA says it's the city. NAG board member Evan Thies is quoted, saying, "The only open space here seems to be the one between the ears of the pencil pushers at the MTA and the city." Fellow NAG board member Christine Holowasz is also quoted in the piece,saying, "[The site is]not any closer to being a park than it was two years ago." (Which is when the above picture was taken.)

Christine told me in an email, "It is terrible. The MTA has increased its uses on the site in [the past] 5 years, and the city has to come up with a site to cover all the uses. Yesterday we had a Community Advisory Board meeting and the city said that they had given another site to the MTA and now we wait again." The Community Advisory Board is a group set up to oversee the promises made to the area during the rezoning.

Holawasz suggests those who want to take action contact Mayor Bloomberg, City Council Member David Yassky, State Assembly Member Joseph Lentol, State Senator Martin Malavé Dilan and MTA Chair H. Dale Hemmerdinger. Make your voice heard!

Photo by Dan, courtesy of a Creative Commons License.