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.
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.”
When I road by on my bike last night, I took in fresh country air and I heard crickets chirping – in Brooklyn. We need parks, but we also need natural habitat for birds and other wildlife, who have so little as it is.
Part of the plan is wetland preserves, but where there is currently undisturbed wilderness for water fowl, a boat launch is proposed.
Have you been to the No. 6th pier on a Saturday Smorgasburg afternoon? You can’t even see the lawn. It’s covered with people, lots of people. People tend to do that, take over every single crevice.
On our Greenpointers Bird Walk in December, we saw many species of migratory birds using the inlet as a peaceful respite from the rough currents of the East River. And the best part about it, there was a big ugly fence protecting the birds from us.
I agree that we need more open spaces, but we also need more wild spaces. The actual inlet of Bushwick Inlet is a perfectly wild place that should stay that way and be protected from picnics, sod, hot pavement, gravel, park benches, lights and people.
Take down those ugly gas tanks and buildings, please! Finish off that awesome athletic field. But why not leave that fenced off area – fenced off? The birds need an advocate, too.
That was the dumbest thing I ever read. If there was a way that I could put an IQ lien on this website, i most certainly would.
Yes, let’s have a bird sanctuary in one of the most developed places in the world, while an entire community barely has any open space.
Please – continue to sell ad space and write about art and food. Leave the politics and policy to others.
This isn’t political. It’s asking that wildlife in NY to be considered when making parks and it’s asking that a tiny area of the large proposed space is left as is.
I’m going to agree. I love going by that space as it is now. I love having that wild space there.
Unbelievable up there is, well, unbelievable. Yes, let’s keep out all dissenting opinions out of political and policy discourse and if someone dares to disagree, let’s call them stupid! What an idiot.
And Jen, maybe you should make it political. I’m sure we’re not the only ones who would like to preserve some wild space in the city.
Thanks Dee. Let’s start a petition!