Our City Councilperson Steve Levin has confirmed that, In the aftermath of the fire at CitiStorage, one thing has become very clear:  if our neighborhood does not raise its voice – loud and unified – there is almost zero chance that the City will move to fulfill the promises for this park space made in the 2005 Waterfront Rezoning Agreement.

And the situation couldn’t be more dire.  The 11 acre CitiStorage property – the center and essential core of the promised 28 acre Bushwick Inlet Park –  could be sold for private development as-of-right (M31 commercial zoning) tomorrow.

The options appear limited:

  • The City pays market rate for the Citistorage property (unlikely because the asking price is in the hundreds of millions)
  • The City takes the property through Eminent Domain (less likely since that strategy backfired on the City on the contiguous lot)
  • The City negotiates with the owner to develop part of the property in return for open space on the rest (reneges on the 2005 WRZA promise and shortchanges the community on desperately needed open space)
  • Owner “gives” the property (or accepts a much-reduced price) as a legacy gift to the community

Without this promised park space, the per capita open space for our fast-filling community will be one of, if not, THE lowest in the entire city.  That is not just a number, that is a palpable sense of claustrophobia,  a health hazard and an irreversible decline in our quality of life – for us and, even more tangibly, for our kids.

We have no choice but to organize and rally for the future of north Brooklyn.

Help plan the action and get the word out, please come to the OSA Community Committee meeting:

Meet this Thursday, February 12th, 7pm at El Puente, 211 South 4th St. (at Roebling)

If you can’t make this meeting, there will be follow-up meetings to be announced soon.