Brooklyn Bridge Park to be a waterfront dream

The future of the Brooklyn waterfront will be the most significant park development in Brooklyn since Prospect Park's construction 135 years ago.

During the first half of the 20th Century, this site was once a popular public harbor, once hosting a ferry that traveled between Brooklyn and Manhattan. In the 1950s The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey built and operated six piers as active rig bulk carriers through 1983. Due to generating poor revenue, however, they sold the piers for commercial development.

Brooklyn Bridge Park will replace these six abandoned piers with lush lawns, playgrounds, restored habitats, recreational fields and water access.

The waterfront is estimated for completion in spring 2012. The Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation (BBPDC) proposed the idea for this Brooklyn waterfront transformation over a decade ago.

A board of directors, appointed by the Governor of New York State and the Mayor of New York City, governs this company.

BBPDC still has not marked the official opening for Piers 1 and 6, which was already scheduled to open in fall 2009 and winter 2010.

Pier 1 will be complete with river steps, a playground and a salt marsh. Athletic fields, lush marshes and a café will be on Pier 6. Eventually, Pier 4 is intended to open a beach and spiral pool during summer 2011. Piers 2, 3 and 5 are prospective athletic fields complete with a unique picnic peninsula predicted to open during the summer of 2012.

After 20 years of debate, the plan for the park won final government approval in 2006. "Citizens of Brooklyn have been dreaming about this and working hard to create a park on the waterfront for over 20 years," Executive Director of Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, Nancy Webster said.

The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy is an independent citizen's organization that has been successful in ensuring the creation, funding, proper maintenance, public support and citizen enjoyment of Brooklyn Bridge Park through working with the government promoting the parks construction.

The Brooklyn Bridge Park is going to be a recreational dream. It will be complete with playing fields (for soccer, softball and lacrosse), three tennis courts, ten handball courts, six basketball courts, two volleyball courts, three playgrounds and a seasonal ice skating rink.

The majority of this park is dedicated to open space for active and passive recreation. The Park plan is going to create access to the water through four miles of fixed walkways and boardwalks, beach areas and 12 acres of safe water for kayaking and canoeing. A bike and in-line skating path will run throughout the full park.

On Jan. 30, 2009, BBPDC held a public meeting in which they focused on maintenance and operations costs. It was discussed at the meeting that the grand budget for the entire park is estimated to be approximately $350 million, of which $230 million is currently available. New York City and Port Authority have funded the grand sum of money that is already provided.

There is a lot of money going into this project, therefore hotels, cafes, small retailers and apartment buildings will be built to keep the Brooklyn Bridge Park area financially running. The revenue generated by these developments will cover yearly operations and maintenance, which are estimated to be $15.2 million per year.

"The current park plan calls for the park to be self sustaining for maintenance. It visions residential housing as a way to generate a revenue stream.

Convergences have been supportive of that plan because we believe that it gives us essentially the most dollars for the least amount of foot prints," Webster said. These commercial developments of the park will only cover 8.2 acres out of 85 acres.

The new Brooklyn Bridge Park will help prosper historical Brooklyn Heights and the borough as a whole, "Brooklyn Bridge Park is going to introduce all of Brooklyn, not just the surrounding neighborhoods to the joy and wonder of the waterfront.

People often think of New York City as the concrete jungle, but in reality we are a city of islands and this park will connect all of Brooklyn to the waterfront in new and exciting ways," Webster said. New Yorkers who love lush nature but yet can't live without the city skyline, will truly feel at home on this future Brooklyn urban coast.