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.