We spoke with Greenpoint’s Eco-Hero Steve Chesler about his work on Transmitter Park and Bushwick Inlet Park, the years that went into these initiatives and what we can expect in the future.
50 Kent Design: an overhead view
What were your biggest challenges with WNYC Transmitter Park?
Transmitter Park is already an existing park, while Bushwick Inlet Park is a park in progress. Friends of Transmitter and the local conservancy in North Brooklyn, NBPA (formerly OSA) helped revive Friends of Transmitter Park. We are still growing this friends group around Transmitter Park, hoping that people will be the eyes and ears of the parks, setting up programming and doing gardening and weeding, like planting daffodil bulbs this weekend so they bloom in the spring. One of the most threatening challenges to the park is the residential tower development happening at the park border. It will have a severe impact on the park regarding people and shadows. Originally, there was going to be no separation between the building and the park. So our organization, the Friends of Transmitter, pushed back and insisted on a border wall.
Transmitter Park came into existence because radio station WNYC used to have their transmission towers and facility on that property. They donated the land to New York City after relocating the towers to New Jersey. The building is just kind of there, in a post-Hurricane-Sandy state. Parks and Recreation wanted to turn the building into a cafe and bar, but it would make more sense to do that at a bigger park, like Bushwick Inlet. Those are our advocacy challenges, and the stewardship involved in supplementing the maintenance of the park. Funding, resources, volunteers. It’s a bit of a challenge.
A sunny day in Transmitter Park. To the right, the abandoned radio building is seen.
What about Bushwick Inlet Park?
It was a 27 acre mapping that was promised to be a park in the 2005 rezoning. By 2015, only 20% of the park had been developed– basically just the soccer field and park headquarters. There was a huge fire on the Citistorage site. Unfortunately, the City then chose to not do anything after the fire, and the owner subsequently put the property up for sale. That’s when the community mobilized to get the government to follow through. It’s been a huge political struggle for environmental justice, public trust…broken promises. It’s been an incredible community effort. Fortunately, the park is moving forward with development. In 2017 the mayor announced that $17M would go towards developing the 50 Kent Site and Motiva Site. The 50 Kent site is going through a public vetting meeting now. They’re presenting the designs to the community board this Tuesday. Ensuring that park development is moving forward.
We want a world-class park. Within 2 years after the rezoning, the local organizations, elected officials, and NYC Parks & Recreation created a waterfront masterplan covering the design of open spaces from along Newtown Creek in Greenpoint down south along the East River to northern Williamsburg. Bushwick Inlet Park’s design was part of that framework. We can only move forward with development when money is budgeted, so we knew it would be developed in phases. Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park are advocating for adherence to that framework. It’s a lot less challenging now than getting the Citistorage site and saving the park. Overall the total acquisition cost was $384M. The Bloomberg Administration budgeted $100M for the entire park and blew it all on the soccer field. Land acquisition alone was $93M. The City had budgeted $12M.
One of the struggles for both parks on the maintenance side is that the Parks Department is tremendously under-resourced. The national average is 2% of the total budget. Cities that do a great job (Philadelphia, Minneapolis) get up to 4% or even 6%, NYC is at .6%. There’s only 150 gardeners for all 5 boroughs. That’s where the friends groups step in– until that injustice is remedied.
Fighting for the park at a City Hall rally: Ward Dennis, NYS Assemblyman Joe Lentol, Stephen Chesler (front, l-r)
It’s been about two years since all of Bushwick Inlet Park was saved. How do you feel now?
I don’t think I will ever get over the elated feeling about the final section of Bushwick Inlet Park being saved by the City, and that a whole 27-acre public waterfront park can now be created. Every time I walk by or visit the park, I am energized thinking about what the community has accomplished and what the future entails for the park’s manifestation.
A moment of victory for the Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park!Stream Painting, one of the cool programs that has come to Brooklyn through Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park.
What are your hopes for both parks in the next year?
For Transmitter, we are looking to have more programming and increase our stewardship role in the park, helping maintain the gardens. We also want to come up with a concept for renovating the building . There’s no bathrooms in the park and that makes it hard to hire a full-time maintenance person. Getting ADA compliant bathrooms is at the top of the list. There’s also a part of the shore that needs to be repaired. With Bushwick Inlet Park, it’s really advocating for an innovative, high-level design for the park. We want the City to create a cultural destination and landmark, as it is stated in the waterfront master plan.
Storytime at Transmitter Park
What progress in the parks are you most excited about?
50 Kent evolving into usable park space! It’s better than a toxic wasteland. Seeing designs for trees and planting is very exciting. Also, there’s been some wonderful programming in Bushwick Inlet Park, like Stream Painting and A/D/O’s historical ecology event. With Transmitter, if we could get that building turned into something unique, and renovated with bathrooms, that would elevate an already amazing park.
To get more involved with the community:
Volunteer to plant daffodil bulbs this Saturday with Friends of Transmitter Park. RSVP here.
Support the Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park’s “Envisioning BIP” Events and follow their updates here.
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GoGreen BK’s Previous Posts on Transmitter Park & Bushwick Inlet Park:
