The History (and Future) of Brooklyn Bridge Park

On 12/31/08, The NYTimes released an article and slideshow about some of the history and future of the Brooklyn Bridge Park site.

While we will find out what happens to Pier 11, which is extremely close to our neighborhood, tonight, its good to know that the plans for the piers above Atlantic seem to be moving along nicely. Depending on what happens at Pier 11 (i.e. if it will be closed off to the public or not), the Brooklyn Bridge Park could be one of the closest publicly accessible points to the waterfront for us (to the North, while Valentino Pier is the closest to the South).

Here's a snippet of the article:

THE ground just inside a fence near the Fulton Ferry Landing on the Brooklyn waterfront was bare last week, only pavement and packed dirt, but that state of affairs, like the rest of the site’s history, was only temporary. Within a year, planners say, a grassy field will slope up to a hill overlooking New York Harbor to form the centerpiece of the long-planned Brooklyn Bridge Park.

“Basically, it’s going to be our Long Meadow,” Regina Myer, president of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation, said in a reference to the borough’s beloved Prospect Park. That, provided the economic crisis does not render her statement overly optimistic, will be just one step in a history of change for the property.

Two weeks earlier, the spot had been a series of holes dug by archaeologists investigating the waterfront’s history. A hundred years before that, the site was occupied by a flour mill. And a hundred years before that, before the shoreline was extended outward by landfill, it was a featureless point at the bottom of the East River, yards from one of Brooklyn’s early town centers.

Rest of the article here. Image above from the NYTimes slideshow.

Also, for those who haven't seen it before, below is a proposed plan for the park. Pier 6 is right by Atlantic Avenue, and therefore VERY close to the Northern part of our neighborhood.