Brooklyn Bridge Park
The Brooklyn Bridge Park is under construction, largely (August 2016) completed a public green space in New York City and one of the ambitioniertesten farm projects in Brooklyn since the investment of Prospect Park .
location
The park is on the Brooklyn bank of the East River between Jay Street to the north and Atlantic Avenue to the south. It covers a total area of around 34 hectares and is a good two kilometers long. The park passes under the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges , which are in the northern third of the park, and borders the districts of Dumbo (short for the residential area around the bridge: Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass ), Fulton Ferry and Brooklyn Heights .
history
The area at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge is one of the longest-populated areas in Brooklyn. A first ferry connection existed between Fulton Street and Manhattan since 1642. In the period that followed, the bank area in which the park is located became an important trading point, and many businesses settled along the water. However, the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 resulted in the decline of ferry operations and surrounding operations, and new port facilities and warehouses were built at the instigation of the New York Dock Company . Port operations flourished during the first half of the 20th century, but after the Second World War the port facilities were no longer able to cope with the ever larger cargo ships and the advent of containers . The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, built in the 1950s, also cut off the shore area from the hinterland. In 1983 the Port Authority ceased operations on the Brooklyn side of the lower East River.
Although there were plans for a park soon after the closure of the port facilities, the construction was only in 2002 by a Memorandum of Understanding between the then Governor of the State of New York , George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg decided.
Construction work began in January 2009. In March 2010, the first construction phase was opened.
Seven years after the start of construction, the park is essentially complete (as of August 2016). The last work is being done on Pier 3, where the landside part, the Greenway Terrace, is currently finished, and on Pier 5, where a boathouse is still being built.
design
The landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates , which had already been responsible for other parks in New York City, was commissioned in 2004 to design the master plan for the park.
The park consists of a narrow strip of waterfront and, south of the Brooklyn Bridge, of six piers that protrude into the East River. The piers are numbered, with Pier 1 being the northernmost at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge and Pier 6 being the southernmost at the end of Atlantik Avenue. A continuous cycle and footpath runs along the entire north-south extension of the park.
The park is structured from north to south as follows:
North of the Manhattan Bridge:
- John Street Parkland (accessible) - lawn for sunbathing, brackish water marshland spanned by footbridges
Between Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge:
- Main Street Lawn (accessible) - an existing urban park with a lawn and playgrounds
- Empire Fulton Ferry Lawn (accessible) - an existing park with a lawn and Jane's carousel
- Brooklyn Bridge Plaza (accessible) - for events such as markets, concerts, ice skating
South of the Brooklyn Bridge:
- Fulton Ferry Landing (accessible) - pier with access to water taxi
- Pier 1 (accessible) - sunbathing area, playground and viewing hill with a view of the Manhattan skyline
- Pier 2 (accessible) - sports such as basketball, ice skating, bocce, ramp for boats.
- Pier 3 (mostly accessible, a section on the river side still under construction) - lawn and picnic
- Pier 4 - protected, inaccessible plant habitat
- Pier 5 (mostly accessible, a section on the river side still under construction) - playing fields for football, hockey etc. a., picnic
- Pier 6 (accessible) - playground, park and dock for water taxis
Financing and maintenance
The park is being built with funds from the City and New York State. The Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation (BBP), called the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation during the planning phase , is a subsidiary of the Empire State Development Corporation . An important condition for the provision of the funds for the construction was that the operation of the park should not be at the expense of the taxpayers. A small part of the maintenance funds come from concessions for restaurants and snack bars. The Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation generates the majority of its income from the fees paid by the operators of tourist attractions such as the aforementioned Jane's Carousel , as well as from the fees for the numerous open-air events on the park grounds.
literature
- Nancy Webster, David Shirley: A History of Brooklyn Bridge Park: How a Community Reclaimed and Transformed New York City's Waterfront. Columbia University Press, New York 2016, ISBN 978-0-231-17122-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Map of the park , accessed on August 26, 2016.
- ^ Fulton Ferry Landing , accessed August 26, 2016.
- ^ A Changing Waterfront Infrastructure on Brooklyn Waterfront History , accessed August 26, 2016.
- ↑ a b Park Planning History on the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation website , accessed August 26, 2016.
- ↑ Nicolai Ouroussoff: The Greening of the Waterfront . In: The New York Times, April 1, 2010.
- ↑ Construction Update: Pier 3 Connectors on the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation website , accessed August 26, 2016.
- ↑ Construction Update: Pier 5 Uplands on the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation website , accessed August 26, 2016.
- ↑ About BBP on the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation website , accessed August 26, 2016.
- ↑ Permits on the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation website , accessed August 26, 2016.
- ↑ Jane's Carousel on the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation website , accessed August 26, 2016.
See also
Web links
Coordinates: 40 ° 42 ′ 13.7 " N , 73 ° 59 ′ 22.8" W.