Kristen V. Brown

All Signals Go at Transmitter Park

Hugging the North Brooklyn waterfront at the end of Greenpoint Avenue, Transmitter Park offers the magnificent Manhattan views — gated off to everyone except the Parks Department employees who use the space to park their cars.

Greenpoint locals have long dreamed of a park to call their own in the city-owned space, affectionately dubbing the area Transmitter Park for the now defunct WNYC transmitter on the property. In fact, talks about turning the space into a park first began in the 1970s and were more seriously revisited again in 2004.

But while plans may be severely behind schedule it looks like construction will soon be under way. After the second round of plans for the park were approved by Community Board 1 at last week’s meeting, the park is scheduled to break ground early next year.

“The first phase of this park is currently in design and was recently approved by the Parks Committee of Community Board 1,” Philip Abramson, Spokesperson for the Parks Department said via e-mail. “It will include the upland park, water’s edge and esplanade.”

According to Parks Department, the park will span 1.5 acres and so far has received approximately $12 million in city, state and federal funding.
The project will also include floral gardens, areas of native planting that will provide food and habitat for birds, a play area, tidal wetland garden, and lawn area for events like concerts. Other design elements, such as plans for a pier at the foot of Kent Street, a ferry and plans for the old transmitter site, are still in talks.

Residents and local activists alike say it’s about time.

“I have a pet peeve with this park because it should have been done about 15 years ago,” said Rich Mazur, a member of the Board of Directors at the Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks and Planning and Executive Director of the North Brooklyn Development Corporation. “We need more open space, and this is a beautiful space to have it.”

GWAPP, along with the local group Friends of Transmitter Park, have been instrumental in making sure the park actually gets built.

Dewey Thompson, another board member at GWAPP, explained that one of the biggest frustrations with the park is that the land has long been ready for construction — it is already owned by the city and is a natural green space, two qualities that are usually the kinds of obstacles necessary in building parks.

“I think the community is feeling a little ripped off: developers are building and so on but amenities that we’re supposed to get have not been built yet,” said Thompson. “That’s one reason we’re going to push so hard to get this park built.”

“We haven’t yet had any waterfront development, and the parks we already have are not in good shape,” agreed Heather Letzkus, a co-Chairman at Friends of Transmitter Park. “Let’s get a move on.”

“Every piece of land that we have available to use as a park should be used because the open space is so limited here,” said GWAPP board member Christine Holowacz. “You really need places for people to go to relax, and children to play; not to mention clean up the air in a very industrial neighborhood like this.”

“I think it’s going to be a really cool waterfront park,” said Thompson. “I think it’s going to be one of Greenpoint’s favorite public spaces.”