Greenway plan gets big boost

Tuesday, March 29th, 2005

BY ELIZABETH HAYS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

A long-held dream to create a 14-mile greenway along Brooklyn's underused waterfront is finally picking up some speed.

The Brooklyn Greenway Initiative got a "monumental" boost this month from $18.25 million in federal transportation funds that were earmarked for the project by Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Sunset Park).

"It's monumental," said Brian McCormick, chairman and co-founder of the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, which has been fighting for the project since 1998. "This is the biggest thing to happen to the greenway."

Supporters said the federal money is the first major stand-alone funding for the project - which they envision as similar to the Hudson River path and stretching from the banks of the Newtown Creek in Greenpoint to the existing pathway along the Shore Parkway in Bay Ridge.

Plans for portions of the greenway have been included in the upcoming Brooklyn Bridge Park and several city street reconstruction projects, but this is the first money specifically earmarked for a continuous waterfront path.

"This is our vision validated in the biggest way yet," said Greenway co-chairman Milton Puryear. "It means that people will see the project as something that is going to happen instead of just an idea or a plan."

The funds are part of a six-year federal transportation bill passed by the House of Representatives. The bill must still be passed by the Senate and signed by the President to become law, but Velazquez said she was optimistic.

"We are very fortunate to have one of the most beautiful waterfronts in the country right here in our community," said Velazquez, adding that the greenway will create much-need public access as well as "enhance recreational, health and environmental benefits for the surrounding communities."

Under the bill, $10 million will go to the Sunset Park waterfront toward a 22-acre park between 45th and 51st Sts. It also will go toward building a greenway through the park that will run from the Red Hook waterfront to the Shore Parkway path.

"This will give the community access to this amazing waterfront," said Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director of UPROSE, a community advocacy group that has been pushing for waterfront open space in Sunset Park.

The remaining $8.25 million included in the bill is earmarked for portions of the greenway in Red Hook, Greenpoint and around the Navy Yard.

McCormick said he is confident that once several portions of the greenway are built, it will create a demand to link each spot and create the full 14-mile stretch.

"Many parts of the waterfront have been in a derelict state for so long that it's hard to imagine a greenway being there," said McCormick. "Once we have something tangible and real, public support will just build."