Williamsburg, NY – The city has shelved plans to buy property to make way for Williamsburg’s long-promised Bushwick Inlet Park, which was supposed to stretch along the waterfront up into Greenpoint, sparking outrage from local residents.
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In a letter to Mayor Bloomberg, politicians and advocates called the move a “shocking breach of trust” – since the 28-acre waterfront park was the centerpiece of open space pledged in return for rezoning the area six years ago to allow luxury condo towers.
City officials said they were working to get control of the necessary property – but in a letter to one of the owners, the storage company CitiStorage, a Parks Department official wrote that “the City currently has no funding for the acquisition of the site, and the City has no schedule for the acquisition of the site.”
Advocates complain the city reversed course after they got the luxury towers – but not the park space.
“It was an ironclad commitment that they made on open space,” said Assemblyman Joe Lentol (D-Williamsburg), who wrote the letter to Bloomberg along with Councilman Steve Levin, state Sen. Daniel Squadron, and advocacy groups.
“We have a community that’s going to be bursting from its seams with all the housing that’s built. We need as much open space as we can get.”
All of these plans were always presented as contingent on funding availability. At a time the city is reducing hours at museums and libraries, cancelling concerts in the parks and laying off parking enforcement agents and sanitation supervisors, there is clearly no money to buy additional parks.
Who needs a park in Williamsburgh?
Just like the trade of the moon and the sky in Atlantic Yards ruining the neighborhood just to create the arena for the Jets. And where is all the cotton candy now?
That is because the condos have revenue, and nobody pays to use the park. The economy has changed, sorry.
since the city is broke and they want this in williamsberg i have a solution if the ganz olam gives up one year of welfare they will be able to accumulate enough moneyy to make the purchase and build you a park you will never use