Walt Whitman Park Slated for Renovation
The long-ignored green space between the city’s Office of Emergency Management and the Federal Courthouse on Cadman Plaza East known as Walt Whitman Park is due to get a big make-over next year. According to a statement by Parks Commish Adrian Benepe at yesterday’s Brooklyn Real Estate Roundtable, a $4.5 million renovation, which will include…
The long-ignored green space between the city’s Office of Emergency Management and the Federal Courthouse on Cadman Plaza East known as Walt Whitman Park is due to get a big make-over next year. According to a statement by Parks Commish Adrian Benepe at yesterday’s Brooklyn Real Estate Roundtable, a $4.5 million renovation, which will include the addition of an “ornamental fountain,” is set to begin next winter. (The Brooklyn Paper had a mention of this reno last year.) Nice!
Hey slopefarm, I used to play in those law clerk ultimate games — 1996 or so? The park was great for that purpose.
If they want this park to get more use, they need to take down the jersey barriers and better connect to Cadman Plaza across the street. I take my dog over there sometimes (since nobody’s ever in it, it’s a nice place to flout leash laws and play some frisbee). Because of the barriers and the alignment of the fences on both sides, it feels a lot further away than it really is.
oh ringo, the smell of burning tires in the summer! where did you get that one?
The picure makes the place look very green. doesn’t look like a parking lot to me.
I say that any money spent improving and beautifying parkland is money well spent.
I’m all for it. Altho I would like to note that after telling everyone that the turf on cadman was 100% PERFECTLY FINE STOP ASKING US ABOUT IT, it turns out maybe it’s not so great afterall — the smell of burning tires in the summer maybe tipped them off — and they won’t ever use that stuff again. Same as it ever was…
also Council member Tish James attended the meeting as did a rep from Council member Yassky’s office.
There is a large open area for frisbee in Cadman Plaza Park-which is across the street. There are always people against anything. There was a vocal group against the faux turf field in Cadman Plaza park when it was redone. Now its one of the most used parks in the area. The big complaint is its used too much. The idea of the fountain was to make this more friendly for smaller children. The Department of Parks has drawings of the new park. They are also redoing at the same time the Park between Jay Street and Flatbush north of Tillery Street. The Parks department has been renovating parks all over the city. They get the money from special grants from the City Council when people ask the city council person who covers their area to work on the parks. Almost every park has gotten new child friendly equipment and many of the parks have redone the fields with field turf. There was a presentation made about both these CB2 parks at a recent meeting with the residents of Cadman Plaza—I know I attended it. It was attended by about 30 residents from Cadman plaza and some from the area as well.
It was a park. It became a parking lot when they built the new courthouse and had to relocate various parking functions from the underground parking garage during dfemo and construction. The idea, I think, is to turn it back into a park. Back when I clerked in that court, we had a great ultimate frisbee game in the park. A fountain would eliminate the possibility if placed in teh middle.
“The money is not transferable because it is explicitly for the restoration of the park used during construction.”
If thats true then I withdraw my previous post….spend away 🙂
Wait, that’s a park? The satellite map makes it look like a parking lot.