Greenway Plans Are Unfurled

February 7, 2005

Carroll Gardens / Cobble Hill Courier

By Christy Goodman

The myriad of city waterfront developments will soon be intertwined by a meandering stretch of green from Queens all the way to the Shore Road Esplanade in Bay Ridge.

The Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, a 14-mile bicycle and walking path crossing through Community Boards 1, 2, 6 and 7, has been in the works since 1993, when the Department of City Planning identified the route as a priority in the “Greenway Plan for New York City.”

Recently, Regional Plan Association and the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative unveiled their nearly five-mile portion of the plan within Community Boards 2 and 6.

The last community working session on the project in November identified waterfront uses, historic areas and other important factors for the plan.

“We have taken those ideas, those thoughts, those visions and put it together in a single package,” said RPA’s Director of Environmental Programs Robert Pirani, who said an interim path with signage could be up in certain areas by next year.

From Sunset Park north to Greenpoint, there were few spots where the average resident was entitled to get to the water’s edge, said Milton Puryear, co-chairman and director of planning at the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative.

Puryear described the greenway as a “once-in-a-century opportunity” that “will close pretty quickly” as the Brooklyn waterfront continues to develop.

“The plan speaks for itself,” said Councilmember David Yassky, chair of the Waterfront Committee. “Brooklyn Greenway is an idea whose time has come and now we have to get it done.”

The majority of the estimated 30-foot wide path will now run along the waterfront and go inland in a few areas, such as the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the proposed cruise ship terminal, to allow for maritime uses.

“The Brooklyn waterfront is Congresswoman Velazquez’s Brooklyn district,” said Dan Wiley, a spokesperson for the congresswoman, who secured funding for greenway studies. “It runs the length of her district and will be the thread that connects all of her waterfront constituents. Currently, the dominant connecting thread is the auto-dependent BQE.”

An open-space plan including the greenway by the Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks and Planning and the Trust for Public Land has already been presented for Community Board 1.

UPROSE and Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development have just begun the process of developing a plan for the Sunset Park portion of the Greenway.

“We don’t want a Hudson River Park transplanted to Brooklyn. We have some very unique neighborhoods,” Puryear said. “We want to experience that uniqueness.”

The Brooklyn Navy Yard has agreed to move back their fences where they can to allow for the adjoining bike and walk path.

Avid biker and Brooklyn Heights resident Laurie Garrett asked how this path would ensure no hostile relationship between bikers and pedestrians that is found year-round at Hudson River Park.

“There is enough capacity in this greenway so there aren’t those kinds of conflicts,” said Pirani, who said that areas where people will stop and take in the scenery would be separated from the bike path, as well.

The path will allow pedestrians in the yard’s historic walls to see the old hospital and burial ground, which the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative would turn into a memorial to the naval war veterans. The yard is also considering cutting portholes of some sort into the walls to allow greenway visitors to see what goes on behind the walls, Puryear said.

“Obviously, there is a lot of interesting urban anthropology all along the waterfront,” he added.

Lining the path would be signage explaining the history of surrounding areas, including the Admiral’s Mansion in Vinegar Hill.

So bikers can maintain their speed, the path would separate in Vinegar Hill so walkers could take in the cobblestone streets.

A decking structure on DUMBO’s Con Ed site would allow greenway users to empty into Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation is in the middle of their build plan, and is responsible for identifying the exact route through the park until Atlantic Avenue.

Approaching Brooklyn Bridge Park from the south, Puryear said, “there is no gateway at this point, just a highway.”

Many community residents have been debating the BBPDC’s plan to add two residential buildings upland from Pier 6 at the end of the park on Atlantic Avenue.

Puryear said, “It has to be done differently.”

Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association’s Sandy Balboza said merchants would add bike racks to the commercial strip to make it more bike friendly.

“Coming from the south, you need to not see a neighborhood. You need to see a park,” she said.

Other major gateways to the greenway, and bike paths over the bridges, would intersect the path at various points, including, but not limited to, Washington Avenue, North Portland Street, Fulton Ferry Landing, Van Brunt Street and Smith Streets.

The skinniest part of the projected greenway path is within Red Hook, although the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative has been working with the container port to move their fences back.

The area also presents a dangerous traffic pattern due to delivery trucks and other vehicles heading onto the BQE, into the Brooklyn Marine Terminal or to the new cruise ship terminal, but pedestrians and bikers must be able to cross, as well.

Ann Link of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway Task Force said the widening of Van Brunt Street by DOT leaves only eight feet of sidewalk in the area.

“To cross the street is pretty close to the truck turn on Degraw and then on Van Brunt,” she said. “It is scary for kids or parents to have to cross the street on a bike in a truck route. It is just stupid.”

The Department of Transportation has been working with the organization to apply curb extensions throughout the route, as well as opening John Street, which was closed after September 11, to bikes and people.

Along Columbia Street, DOT said they would work with greenway organizers to create a larger space for benches and maybe a playground.

There are a lot of questions remaining about Van Brunt Street, as the New York City Economic Development Corporation is still trying to complete their plans for the piers.

Due to development, planners are trying to work with landowners for possible private and public partnerships to create green space and paths for the continuous park.

“We are having favorable discussion with [New York City] Parks [Department] as having Halleck Street as part of the greenway,” Puryear said, referring to the overgrown road behind Red Hook Park.

The greenway would then continue over the Gowanus to connect to the plan being developed by UPROSE and Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development.

Puryear then asked the crowd to let their elected officials know how important the Brooklyn Greenway was to them so they could continue to secure funds for the project.

“There is a great history of industry along the five-mile strip. How much is brownfields?” asked Howard Gottlieb of Brooklyn Heights, suggesting various government programs that could help fund the greenway.

Yassky, who pledged his ongoing support, added, “That has got to be the focus of the public: holding the mayor to see some action.”