Thank you for helping us make 2014 an incredible year for the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. Thanks to your ongoing support, this year saw countless milestones for the greenway.

Below are some of our favorite images and stories from this incredible year. Please help us keep up the momentum by making a 2014 tax deductible year end gift to Brooklyn Greenway Initiative. Our effectiveness as an organization hinges on your continued financial support.

DONATE TODAY!

Happy holidays and best wishes for the new year.

Spring Volunteer Planting on Columbia Street

After a long and treacherous winter, as soon as spring arrived we headed out on the greenway with over 200 volunteers and commenced the first phase of the Columbia Waterfront Park by planting a quarter acre of native grass and wildflower meadow. This was followed by a 20 foot setback of a fence along the greenway and new benches and bike racks will be coming in spring 2015. View more photos.

BGI Member Tour of the greenway

On a beautiful Spring day, BGI members rode from Redhook to Greenpoint at the annual members spring greenway bike tour where they learned about greenway developments and finished the day off at the Brooklyn Night Bazaar. View more photos.

Van Brunt Street Native Planting

Through our corporate volunteering program, Goldman Sachs joined us for a planting day on the Van Brunt St section of the greenway and planted 3,000 native plants, a landscape designed by One Nature. View more photos.

Who knows what you'll see on the greenway!

Now that that the northern Van Brunt St section of the Greenway is complete, anything is possible!

Funding Completed for the Naval Cemetery Landscape

We completed the funding for the Naval Cemetery Landscape and selected a contractor for the site. Construction will begin in early 2015. For more information, click here.

Rendering of the Naval Cemetery Landscape. Designed by Nelson Byrd Wolz Landscape Architects and Marvel Architects

The Green School at the Naval Cemetery Landscape

At the site of the Naval Cemetery Landscape, we worked with students of The Green School on researching the transformational power of nature in urban settings. We are hypothesizing that the restoration experienced in a natural setting empowers people to feel more power, more confidence, and a greater desire to thrive. For more information, click here.

Community and Corporate volunteer groups out on the greenway

We tripled the amount of community and corporate volunteer groups who planted along the greenway from 2013 to 2014! We had amazing groups of volunteers from Redhook Justice Community Center, Performics, and members of the community who helped us with the upkeep of our plantings along the greenway. View more photos.

West Street Greenway Additions

We secured a $5 million stormwater infrastructure addition to the West Street greenway capital project that will significantly reduce the release of raw sewage into the East River. For more information, click here. 

Turnstile Tours of the Navy Yard

We partnered with Turnstile Tours on a season of bike tours of the Brooklyn Navy Yard where participants learned about sustainable practices and urban ecology inside the yard.

Williamsburg Bridge Park Developments

We completed an economic and financial prospectus for the proposed Williamsburg Bridge Park, a community-driven project located at a site along the East River from Broadway to South 5th Street.

New Views: Brooklyn Surf & Turf & Earth

Our annual summer benefit New Views: Brooklyn Surf & Turf & Earth brought hundreds of supporters and partners together over delicious food and drinks from Brooklyn’s most distinctive restaurants and distilleries and everyone danced the night away to a live salsa band! The event was held at the spectacular Duggal Greenhouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  View more photos.

Flushing Ave user counts show great progress

A report on traffic counts on Flushing Ave was released showing that bikes and pedestrians have grown to 30-41% of traffic in anticipation of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. The rendering above shows the major greenway capital project breaking ground in 2015. For more information, click here.

Rendering of Flushing Ave Greenway designed by Parsons Brinckerhoff

The Epic Ride

The Epic Ride, a 40 mile ride from Greenpoint to Rockaway Beach had a record number of participants and became Brooklyn’s first certified sustainable event through the Council for Responsible Sport. After a few showers along the way, the sun came out at the beach where participants enjoyed live music and swim in the sea! View more photos.

BGI Gallery

The BGI gallery featured artworks year round from five talented artists; Thomas Hagen, Allen F. Beck, Ellie Winberg, and Mauricio Morillas.

Brooklyn Greenway Half + 5K

The 2^nd annual Brooklyn Greenway Half + 5K doubled in size this year. We were excited to host the first ever event at the site of the future Columbia Waterfront Park! View more photos.

Stormwater Infrastructure Design Guidelines

We published Stormwater Infrastructure Design Guidelines for the next 15 greenway capital projects.

Greenway + Industry

Our annual fall benefit Greenway + Industry held at Liberty View industrial Plaza in Sunset Park brought together major business centers along the Brooklyn waterfront for an evening of live music, food, drinks and networking. View more photos.

Holiday Party!

And we finished the year off with a bang with our members, volunteers and supporters at the BGI Holiday Party at The Hop Shop!