It’s official, McCarren Park Pool is opening on Thursday June 28, 2012! For real! This weekend, a park employee named Guy (as in Gaetano) told me in the best Brooklyn accent you’ve ever heard, “make sure ya have a lock and a bathin’ suit, or ya ain’t gettin’ in.” Word. Blogs are teasing that you can pay $150 for a sneak peek the night before on Wednesday 6/27 during The Big Splash! or just wait 24 hrs and get in FREE on opening day when it opens at 11am. (Better start camping out now!)
But the $150 ticket price isn’t just for premium Instagram bragging, even though that is going to be sweet. It is an important fundraising event for Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn, a non-profit thats serves our community by raising funds to expand and improve our local parks. I can get behind that. Parks rule! And so will the pool.
The ticket will also get you cocktails, a fancy dinner, entertainment, a silent auction, a toast to honoree Adrian Benepe, Commissioner of NYC Dept of Parks & Recreation and the chance to see someone christen the pool. Because you know once one person jumps in, everyone jumps in.
You know you BLOW your money on ridiculous things. I’m sure you’ve spent more on a bathing suit or a pair of sunglasses that you’ve already lost. Make it count and buy your tickets to The Big Splash! for a beautiful Brookyln evening you won’t forget.
Proceeds from this event will supplement the Parks Department’s programming in McCarren Play Center and maintenance for the park.
Have you seen the giant “Where’s Our Park?” banner on Franklin St on a fenced off piece of grassy shoreline near No. 14th St? Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park are pretty pissed off because Mayor Bloomberg promised a park there but has not followed through, according to DNAinfo. There was a rally downtown yesterday demanding answers.
Satellite of Bushwick Inlet Now
I say, “Where Is Our Nature?” It’s actually right there behind that fence. And we should leave it alone. The best thing we can do on an industrial shoreline with high rises going up at an incredible rate is leave Bushwick Inlet, that little spot behind the banner, for the birds – literally.
According to: Where’s Our Park? “The community vision for the park includes a boat launch, a museum dedicated to the Civil War era battleship USS Monitor, picnic grounds, athletic fields, volleyball courts, wetland preserves, gardens, performance spaces, a dog run and a two-mile bicycle and pedestrian path.” Continue reading →
At the Greenpointers we are all for MORE GREEN OPEN SPACES! There is a vacant lot at 59 Java St, which is managed by Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), that a few neighbors and rallying to make into a community garden. Sounds like a great idea! They are making a presentation to the Parks and Waterfront subcommittee of Community Board 1 on November 16th at 6:30pm at 435 Graham Ave. Let’s go and hear their plans and support this project to make Greenpoint more green. Visit their website: http://javastgarden.blogspot.com/
Do you like to breathe? Then forget about stopping to smell roses and take a minute to admire the 100s of types of trees growing in Brooklyn. Jon Pywell, Deputy Director of Forestry in Brooklyn takes Greenpointers on a tree tour of the neighborhood to teach us how to identify and take care of our beloved trees.
This tour includes: honey locust, ash tree, zelkova, kentucky coffee tree, chinese scholar tree, the tree of heaven and schubert cherry.
Jon tells us four ways to take care of our trees: 1. water 2. add mulch 3. don’t let your dog pee on them 4. don’t build a tree box around them.
