We turn now to Sunset Park, where City Council Member Sara Gonzalez took a walking tour of the park this week with Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Julius Spiegel. Per a release from Ms. Gonzalez’s office:
The Parks Department officials pointed out the improvements thus far including all new paths, curbs, drains, benches and magnificent plantings all throughout [...]

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[Nethermead Image courtesy Bird in Hand Yard/flickr]
We realize that off-leash practices at the Nethermead in Prospect Park are a hot button issue, but yesterday, we witnessed an NYC Park Police vehicle drive up and its officers start to randomly enforce the law. Specifically, they targeted one woman while watching at least a half dozen other [...]

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Where to go for a picnic? Here are some suggestions (along with where to get food and drink nearby). Say for instance: “6/15 Green Community Garden, on 6th Ave. between 15th and 16th Sts. in the South Slope. This lush patch’s tables and chairs are open to the public Saturday mornings and Thursday and Sunday [...]

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A proposal for parkland south of the Williamsburg Bridge has been on the table for several years, but there is a renewed push for one. Community Board 1 member and City Council candidate Evan Thies says that “It’s a complete waste to have trucks parked along one of the most beautiful views in the entire [...]

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Grand Ferry Park closed for a remake in October and, while the reopening was a few months later than promised, the redone park–which provides a bit of waterfront access in a part of Williamsburg where none currently exists–is open again and looking good. There is a lot of new landscaping and the park, overall, has [...]

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No, not this pool. We’ll talking about the full list of Brooklyn pools and beaches that we published yesterday morning and that could come in handy if you want to get wet. (South Brooklyn choices include the Red Hook Pool, Sunset Park Pool and Douglas Pool in Gowanus.) In any case, the GL List has [...]

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It’s going to be hot as hell. So, for what it’s worth, here’s a re-run of a guide to the location of city pools in Brooklyn that we put together during a heatwave a couple of years ago.
While the Astoria Pool in Queens in probably the Gold Standard New York City pool, several of the [...]

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We were really hoping for a playground-free day today, but it is not to be. Having posted last week about a Park Slope Parent members widely-circulated email complaining of employees at Harmony Playground arguing, curing and smoking, we’re glad to see the response from Prospect Park. Park spokeperson Eugene Patron, who always keeps people informed [...]

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All 54 of the city’s outdoor pools are opening today. They will close for the season on September 1. In the meantime, the general hours of operation are 11AM to 7PM and all of them are listed if you following the link here.–Parks Department

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It looks like some workers were behaving badly at the Harmony Playground in Park Slope this week. (This is not to be confused with the workers smoking at the same playground or with the recently wet ‘n wild gyrating nanny.) The story comes through our Park Slope Network in the form of a forwarded email [...]

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For all those who enjoy models of upcoming facilities, we present this the Marine Park Community Center, which had a groundbreaking on Friday. It’s a green building, with solar panels, geo-thermal heating and cooling system and a planted roof, this building is an example of the City’s commitment to an environmentally-friendly 21st century. GerritsenBeachNet has [...]

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The model is the new Marine Park Community Center for which ground is being broken today. Per a press release, it’s “the Parks Department’s first state-of-the-art Green Building. With solar panels, a geo-thermal heating and cooling system, and a planted roof, this building is an example of the City’s commitment to an environmentally-friendly 21st [...]

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A surprise opening date of June 26 was announced at a Community Board 2 meeting on Wednesday night for the pop-up park on land being cleared for the future Brooklyn Bridge Park. The opening coincides with the date that Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls are being turned on. Details about the park per Curbed, via the Brooklyn [...]

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There’s a meeting coming up for Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park on Monday, June 9. One of the pitches in the email we saw is that people are trying to organize so that planning for a concert space to replace McCarren Pool will be part of the Bushwick Inlet Park discussion. Per the email: “This [...]

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“It may be one borough, but when it comes to kids, Brooklyn is a tale of two cities. In Bay Ridge, youngsters can stretch out and enjoy 83 kids per acre of parkland - the most green space per child in Brooklyn. Meanwhile, in East Flatbush, families are faced with 2,497 kids per park acre, [...]

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Here’s a little bit of Memorial Day weekend action from East River State Park in Williamsburg, where lounging takes place against the background of new condos.

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There’s a Friends of Williamsburg Waterfront Park Meeting coming up on Thursday, May 29, at 7PM at the People’s Fire House, which is located at 113 Berry Street. “On the agenda will be an update about the plans for the Bushwick Inlet and an opportunity to explore ideas on how to organize the Friends Group.” [...]

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Back in October, a fence went up around Grand Ferry Park, a much loved little park at the foot of Grand Street on the East River. Until East River State Park opened last year, in fact, it was the only legitimate park access to the water in Williamsburg. The renovation process was supposed to take [...]

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Rather than being universally embraced, Brooklyn Bridge Park has sparked deep controversy in some quarters in Brooklyn, primarily because high rise condo development will be used to finance the park. The Sierra Club, which opposes the way the park is being developed, is sponsoring a presentation called “The Selling of Brooklyn Bridge Park” on Friday, [...]

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This is a Brooklyn Bridge Pop-Up Park designed by dlandstuio for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy for a temporary viewing area for one of Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls under the Brooklyn Bridge. Tropolism first published the renderings and info yesterday. It would be designed for viewing of Olafur Eliasson’s waterfall under the Brooklyn Bridge. The same [...]

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If you go to your local park today, the odds are you will find something special going on. That’s because it’s “It’s My Park Day!” citywide. We can’t possibly highlight them all, but were’ going to pull a few from the inbox. (Check out Prospect Park’s activities, which we posted about earlier in the week, [...]

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[Photo courtesy of Nate Kensinger]
It’s hard to find good cricket, but photographer, blogger and GL Contributor Nate Kensinger hit up Floyd Bennett Field and found cricket season is underway again. (There are also good matches to be found in Prospect Park.)

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Will Bushwick Inlet Park, the 28-acre park planned for land north of East River State Park in Williamsburg & Greenpoint around the Bushwick Inlet, happen? Putting the land together for the park and securing all the funding is a complicated issue. GWAPP (Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks and Planning) has been working to do some [...]

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This is the plan for Sponge Park. We pulled out the image above to allow a better view because it contains some interesting elements. Of note, is the part of the park envisioned to surround the old power plant near the canal. This is property that was proposed as Gowanus Village by developer Shaya Boymelgreen [...]

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Here are renderings of Sponge Park, which was presented by the Gowanus Canal Conservancy this week. The design comes from dlandstudio and is of a park that “would be aesthetically beautiful while working to reduce the problem of contaminated water flowing into the Gowanus Canal. The plan proposes a continuous esplanade running the length of [...]

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