Fun at the Beach

The southern end of Brooklyn Bridge Park got off to a smashing -- or should we say splashing - start this summer with the Floating Pool Lady swimming pool and beach. During July and August, more than 71,000 visitors, representing 175 different zip codes and twelve countries, enjoyed the unique pool, beach, volleyball and soccer facilities. While the Floating Pool Lady is destined for the Bronx next summer, we’re hoping that a permanent home can be found for it or a reasonable facsimile in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

The pool’s success just underscores how eagerly Brooklyn is awaiting the Park's construction, and what a citywide attraction it will be. We took great pleasure watching swimmers of all ages, beach towels in hand, walking through the neighborhood to and from the pool. Kudos to the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy for mobilizing the City, State and many others to see this through, despite an almost impossibly short timetable.

Joralemon Street

Initially, though, Joralemon Street bore the brunt of increased vehicular traffic and the unpleasant side effects of additional pedestrian traffic, such as overflowing garbage bins and noise. In response, the BHA worked with the Sanitation Department to immediately put out more corner trash baskets and empty them daily.

Fortunately, the free beach shuttle that ferried park-goers between the pool and local subway stops cut down on both car and people traffic. Over 10,000 beach visitors took the shuttle, demonstrating the importance of well-publicized bus or shuttle routes to the Park. This was a pilot project of the Park's Transportation and Access Study, funded by Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and Borough President Markowitz.

The BHA is committed to protecting the unique character of Joralemon Street, our neighborhood's last remaining cobblestone street. To that end, we recently met with the NYC Department of Transportation’s Deputy Commissioner for Planning & Sustainability to discuss how best to prevent vehicular access to the Park via Joralemon Street. As yet, no decisions are forthcoming but we remain encouraged by the open- mindedness evident in the office of the new DOT Commissioner, Janet Sadik-Khan, and the willingness of her planning staff to think ‘out of the box’.

Entering the Spitzer Era:

Over the past twelve months, there has been very little visible progress towards the Park's permanent construction. In fact, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation (BBPDC) has been leaderless since the April departure of its President, Wendy Leventer. We have been patient, recognizing that a change in Albany requires extensive reorganization within the Administration. We welcomed the State’s review of the General Project Plan for Brooklyn Bridge Park expecting that the Governor’s staff would soon put the park on track. It concerns us that in the current economic environment, each month's delay only makes the Park more expensive to complete - or less likely to be completed at the level of excellence that planners envision and the public expects.

The BHA has recently urged both the City and State to press ahead with the project, specifically to:

- appoint a new BBPDC President to provide leadership and to push the project forward,

- conduct public conversations about the recent internal review of the Park plan,
the construction timetable, the strategy to limit the amount of commercial development and the critical issue of Park governance,

- implement a conservation easement to protect the park land until it can be legally
dedicated as such,

- and, finally, to put shovels in the ground soon. "Soon" should be measured not in years, but in months!

While we understand that the State and City have held conversations about these complicated issues, we ask them to show Brooklyn that they are committed to creating this spectacular waterfront oasis by taking important and necessary steps forward now!

Announcement from the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy: The Conservancy is hosting a Public Meeting on Brooklyn Bridge Park from 6:30-9 PM on Monday, November 26, at the Congregation Mt. Sinai, 250 Cadman Plaza West. Discussion is to center on programming for the park. We recently sent BHA members an email containing agenda details. For more information, call the BHA office or log on to www.brooklynbridgepark.org.