Greenpoint’s beloved McGolrick Park has been serving the community since 1891, when it was originally known as Winthrop Park (it was renamed in 1941). Residents have enjoyed decades filled with shady trees, farmer’s markets, and playground memories, but what might the next century have in store for us? A new town hall will consider that question.
“The Next 100 Years of McGolrick Park” will be a three-year long initiative, kicking off with a town hall on October 26, followed by a community visioning session on November 10.
We recently reported that the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund (founded in part with money from an ExxonMobil settlement) started to wrap up after nearly 15 years of good deeds, but there’s still one last stream of funding. NBK Parks Alliance announced that the fund’s final grant allocation would go towards McGolrick Park, capping off more than $600,000 of investment that supported community programming, gardening, maintenance, and so much more.
“The Town Hall will launch a community-driven collaboration featuring surveys and a visioning session led by partners like the Friends of McGolrick Park,” NBK Parks Alliance wrote. “This process will result in the development of a comprehensive work plan and recommendations for future investment in the park.”
The events are presented in partnership with the Office of the New York State Attorney General, the Department of Environmental Conservation, and the offices of Greenpoint’s local elected officials.
More details are still to come, but be sure to mark your calendars!
Ban dogs from the park entirely, since dog owners cannot follow simple leash laws. This will also reduce the piss smell.
Need more nice grass! Doggies don’t need to be everywhere. Live them but can we have a picnic lawn or two.
build a greenhouse in mcgolrick! partner with local ‘green’ companies to agree on long term funding strategies, invite members of the community to apply to become apprentices in a functioning greenhouse each season, give produce away at each farmers market, partner with local schools to host field trips , and reimagine urban farming for the next generation
please share the location of the town hall on oct 26 when it’s available!
Dogs need to be banned so families can sit and have civilized picnics on actual grass without sitting on mud field with a coating of urine and fecal matter.
Very few places where there is grass left to grow in peace and not plowed over by dogs running back and forth. I think around Williamsburg it’s only the Marsha P Johnson Park.
But same goes for pretty much every park in NY including Central Park.
I would prefer the dogs over the parties with alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs around the kids that for some reason nobody has an issue with and accepts it like it’s the new norm after the pandemic while the park department doesn’t see or ticket.
When will the 2 grass fields open finally. It’s been over 2 years.
What a waste of money the other 2 grass fields were. Turned to dust in 2 years.
I quietly observed what had been happening at McGolrick Park over the last few years. I have lived in Greenpoint for sixteen years and have profited from the beauty of the old-lined trees and my beloved park. What has been happening this year is absolutely atrocious, and that’s not because of dogs but rather large groups of ignorant parents with their children.
Examples? I sat on the grass on Sunday a week ago to watch squirrels, listen to the birds, and relax. I had to run away after a group of about 20 families with strollers gathered in the middle of the grass lawn (btw, not much grass left after 1000 kids played soccer or dug with sticks in the ground ) around a lady with a microphone (!), singing some childish songs. Nobody wants to listen to that!
The other week, I observed at least seven really large birthday parties with balloons (1, 2, 5, 7, 4, etc.). There was no place to sit and relax. A little girl was running around and screaming into her portable karaoke microphone, “Partyyyy, Partyyyy,” right in front of other people’s faces. Parents thought it was cute and funny (no, it wasn’t).
Later that day, I saw the same balloons sadly hanging off the trees, leftover pizza pieces thrown on the ground (bad for birds, great for rats), quite a few beer bottles that the “cool” and “hip” parents were sipping on.
A quarter of McGorrlick Park is dedicated to the children’s playground, and I bet the recent renovation of that area was the most expensive. Go and play there with your kids. Stop letting children over the fence surrounding the playground and break the branches of that unusual tree everyone loves, and stop letting your kids pick flowers for Mommy (yes, I’ve seen that happen on many occasions).
I like children—they are fun and inspiring, but unfortunately, parents’ privileged attitude spills over to their kids and destroys this little treasure of Greenpoint.
I finally said that. Amen.