Southern Brooklyn lawmakers yesterday slammed the de Blasio Administration for his much publicized $100 million allocation to expand the Bushwick Inlet Park property in Williamsburg while ignoring the City’s promise of committing $40 million to transform Gravesend’s Calvert Vaux Park into a regional park.
The lawmakers including City Council Member Mark Treyger, Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, Senator Diane J. Savino , and Assemblymembers William Colton and Pamela Harris reminded City officials that in 2007, the administration of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg promised residents of Southern Brooklyn that the 77-acre green space located at the meeting point of Gravesend Bay and Coney Island Creek would receive a full renovation.
The planned renovations included three baseball fields, six soccer fields, picnic areas, bicycle paths, nature trails, an amphitheater, a playground and recreational center, as well as a central lawn, a pavilion, and kayak launches. To date, only two soccer fields and a parking lot have been added to the park.
De Blasio last week used social media to publicize a letter sent by his administration regarding the City’s $100 million offer to buy a piece of property in Williamsburg as part of a plan to fulfill the City’s obligation to complete Bushwick Inlet Park, which the City committed to build as part of the 2005 rezoning of Williamsburg and Greenpoint. The City has already spent more than $200 million working on Bushwick Inlet Park. The property owner has since rejected the Mayor’s offer.
“How often should Southern Brooklyn residents be made to feel as if their needs are less important than those of our neighbors in other parts of the City? Calvert Vaux Park is a large space in great need of environmental remediation. This is a park that has the potential to make a huge difference for residents of Coney Island, Gravesend, Bensonhurst, and other neighborhoods nearby,” said Treyger, noting Calvert Vaux Park is easily the largest park in Southwest Brooklyn, but residents in this community can’t enjoy it because the park is in a dilapidated condition.
“Open space is not a luxury for the few; it is a prerequisite for ensuring every corner of Brooklyn is a safe place to raise healthy children and families. The City has a responsibility to fulfill the promise made a decade ago to renovate Calvert Vaux Park into a gem that Gravesend can value for decades to come. I ask the de Blasio administration to work with local elected officials and community stakeholders on a plan that outlines the steps forward to transforming Calvert Vaux Park into the open space that residents of southern Brooklyn deserve,” said Adams.
A Parks Department spokesperson responded that as part of the OneNYC initiative, Calvert Vaux has continued to become a destination for athletics, relaxation, and enjoying nature.
“In addition to two completed synthetic turf fields, landscaping and lighting, an entry garden, and waterfront restoration, Parks is also currently in the design phase of building a new field house, which will include a comfort station and which received an award from the Public Design Commission this year (http://www1.nyc.gov/site/designcommission/awards/design-awards-33-slideshow.page).
For more information, visit our capital tracker: http://www.nycgovparks.org/planning-and-building/capital-project-tracker/project/1038.
