Brooklyn, NY – December 27, 2021 – In response to the recent publication of the NYC Adopted FY 2022 Capital Budget, Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park (FBIP) cheered as the City has allocated $75 million towards the completion of Bushwick Inlet Park. FBIP commends Mayor de Blasio on following up his historic securing of the park’s final piece with this milestone investment that will create significant progress towards the park’s completion.
FBIP commends a mighty coalition of local elected officials, local organizations, Brooklyn Community Board #1 and immense swathes of local residents who put intense pressure on the Mayor to come through with this long overdue funding. This includes Senator Chuck Schumer, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, State Senator Brian Kavanagh, State Senator Julia Salazar, Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, Comptroller Scott Stringer, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Councilmember Steve Levin, Councilmember Antonio Reynoso and incoming Councilmember Lincoln Restler. Supporting coalition organizations include Greenpoint Williamsburg Youth Soccer League, North Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, North Brooklyn Neighbors, North Brooklyn Parks Alliance, Sustainable Williamsburg, and Triboro United Soccer Club.
Bushwick Inlet Park was a commitment made by the City during the 2005 Greenpoint-Williamsburg Waterfront Rezoning for 27 acres of open space to accompany the massive rezoning of the North Brooklyn Waterfront. To date, less than half the park has been built and funded.
The $75 million in new funds combined with $17 million in previously allocated funds and $1 million in discretionary funding from the City Council brings the funding available for the park to more than $90 million. These funds will go toward demolition (of the former CitiStorage warehouse on the site), remediation, design and construction of the next phases of the multi-phase build-out of the park.
Councilmember Steve Levin: “What better function of government than to build a world-class park such as Bushwick Inlet Park. With the funds committed in the November Capital Plan, the de Blasio Administration has taken a major step towards seeing this long-promised park come to fruition. Over 16 years ago we were promised Bushwick Inlet Park as part of the 2005 rezoning. When I came into office in 2010 we still had no park. But through the hard work of the community advocates, along with my office and my fellow local elected officials, Mayor de Blasio has gotten us closer than ever to giving Brooklyn the park it deserves. There are still years of work ahead, and I urge our community, and our incoming Council Member Lincoln Restler, to keep pushing and holding the next Administration accountable so that one day soon all of New York can enjoy the beauty of the Brooklyn waterfront.”
FBIP Co-Chair Katherine Thompson: “This is a big step towards actually building this long-promised and intensely-needed new public open space. We are thrilled to see the City acknowledge both the promise it made 16 years ago in the rezoning and the way the pandemic has underscored that adequate park space is essential to the health of our communities.”
Media Contact:
Steve Chesler, Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park
(917) 804-1313
info@bushwickinletpark.org
