This coming Saturday, September 25, the Mark Morris Dance Group (photo) will perform at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1, Harbor View Lawn. There will be two dance performances: 2:00 to 2:45 PM and 4:00 to 4:45 PM; between them, from 3:00 to 3:45 PM will be “an all-ages family-friendly workshop.” The events are free and no registration is required. There’s more information here.
“Bouncy Bridge” Replacement Appears Near Completion
Today was a pleasant day, and your correspondent decided to take some needed “solitary exercise.” Properly masked and gloved, and carefully maintaining social distance, I walked the length of the Promenade, continued down Columbia Heights to Brooklyn Bridge Park, then back up and home. On the way, I saw that the “non-bouncy” replacement of the pedestrian bridge connecting Squibb Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park, which had been naked pylons the last time I saw it, now …
Photoville Now Open
Photoville, “NYC’s premier photo destination,” is here for its eighth year, with galleries occupying repurposed shipping containers located in Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Brooklyn Bridge Plaza, on Water Street just below the Brooklyn Bridge and in the Fulton Ferry Historic District. This year’s Photoville includes over eighty exhibitions, all accessible.In addition to exhibitions in and around the freight containers, Photoville offers panel discussions, artist lectures, professional development seminars, hands-on workshops, extraordinary nighttime programming, and our Education Day that brings together hundreds of public school students for a unique photo-based field trip.Admission is free, though a voluntary contribution of $5 to defray expenses is encouraged. There’s more information, including a schedule that runs through
Scissura to Community Groups: “Very Little Chance” of Promenade Highway
The Brooklyn Heights Association has reported that, in his strongest statement yet on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway reconstruction plans, Carlo Scissura, chair of the panel studying the issue, said the Department of Transportation’s “innovative” proposal to build a temporary six lane highway in the location of the Brooklyn Heights Promenade “has very little chance of being approved.” According to the BHA, he also made it clear that “any temporary alternatives encroaching on Brooklyn Bridge Park would face similar obstacles and would not be approved, thus removing the temporary parallel bypass at the eastern edge of the park – the BHA/Wouters alternative – from consideration.”The BHA release also includes a link to the BQE Panel Update dated June…
Pier Six Towers Update: Developers Busy Building and Advertising Despite No Court Decision
The Brooklyn Paper reports that the developers of the two controversial high rise residential towers on the uplands of Pier Six, near the Atlantic Avenue entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park and on park land, have already done extensive construction work on one of the two towers (see photo in story linked above) and are, as the story indicates, already advertising to (although not yet accepting any money from) prospective condo buyers. This is despite there is as yet no final ruling on a lawsuit brought by the Brooklyn Heights Association and others to prevent construction of the towers, on the contention that revenue from them is not necessary to fund the park’s maintenance. As it stands, a judge has ordered that, while construction may …
Here’s how to celebrate Mother’s Day in Brooklyn
Dinner, flowers and a card should be the bare minimum that moms receive this year for Mother’s Day. With the holiday this Sunday, here are 10 things you can do with her to supplement the smaller gifts. Sunday’s forecast calls for a 50 percent chance of rain, but Saturday looks to be mostly sunny, so feel free to celebrate a day early. 1. ¡Dance Party: Viva Frida Kahlo! Nickolas Muray (American, born Hungary, 1892–1965). Frida with Idol, 1939. Carbon print, 11 ¼ × 16 ¼ in. (28.6 × 41.3 cm). Courtesy of Nickolas Muray Photo Archives. © Nickolas Muray Photo Archives Celebrate another extraordinary woman, Frida Khalo, at the Brooklyn Museum. Bid farewell to the “Frida …
Design/Build for BQE Renovation Approved
The Brooklyn Heights Association has let us know that the state budget, passed by the legislature and approved by Governor Cuomo on Friday, includes approval for the use of a design/build procedure for the renovation of the crumbling Brooklyn Queens Expressway below Brooklyn Heights. As the BHA noted:This victory is the culmination of months of community effort, led by the BHA, to urge the legislature to enact a measure whose passage failed during the past two years. Had it not passed now, DOT would have proceeded with a Design-Bid-Build approach, which would have cost $113 million more to complete the BQE project and led to trucks being diverted onto local Brooklyn streets in…
More Height for Brooklyn Heights? Nets Star Thaddeus Young Settles Here
Stories in both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times note that power forward Thaddeus Young, a Memphis, Tennessee native who recently signed a $50 million contract with the Brooklyn Nets, has become the first team member to move to Brooklyn, and specifically to Brooklyn Heights. Although the Nets became Brooklyn’s team and began playing home games in Barclays Center in 2012, basketball operations and training have remained in New Jersey. A new practice facility is scheduled to open in February in Industry City, on the Sunset Park waterfront. Young said he’s eager to have a shorter commute both to the practice facility and to Barclays Center. According to the WSJ and Times stories, other teammates are…
NYFEST 2016 Soccer Tournament at Brooklyn Bridge Park Saturday
All day this Saturday, April 16, NYFEST 2016, a charity soccer tournament, will take place on Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 5. The action starts at 8:00 a.m. when the first round of the Industry tournaments kicks off; these continue until 6:00 p.m. A Youth Soccer Showcase goes from 9:00 a.m to 1:00 p.m. Starting at 1:00 p.m. there will be a “Heroes” exhibition game pitting the FDNY against the NYPD. Many other games and activities are planned; more information here.
Official Opening of Pier 2 and Pier 4 Beach Thursday
While the Pier 4 beach (photo) and Pier 2, with its athletic facilities (see photo after the jump) have been accessible to the public for several days now, they will both be officially opened this Thursday (May 22) afternoon. From Brooklyn Bridge Park: Our program will kick off promptly at 3:30pm with a celebratory ribbon-cutting, followed by clinics and programs on our bocce, shuffleboard, handball and basketball courts. Pier 2 is the Park’s second active recreation pier, and features five acres of active recreation courts for basketball, handball, shuffleboard and bocce, as well as a full size roller skating rink, swings, picnic tables, restrooms and fitness equipment. Pier 4 Beach is a unique sandy shoreline…
Twitter to Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pierhouse: Thanks for Blocking Our View
Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pierhouse, soon to be home to a portion of the 1% and wealthy foreign nationals is totally going to block our view of the Brooklyn Bridge. Anyone who has been following the development of the site pretty much knew that already, but now that it has begun to rise folks are getting a little annoyed. Case in point, this Twitter exchange: Is this monstrosity going to block the bridge view? cc: @Brownstoner @bkheightsblog @NYCMayorsOffice pic.twitter.com/BaG2KDgbqi — leland rechis (@leland) July 14, 2014 @leland @arainert @Brownstoner @bkheightsblog @NYCMayorsOffice I can't wait until the new residents complain about the footbridge. — Neil Wehrle (@neilw) July 14, 2014 So – what do you think?
TRO Issued on Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6 Towers
As previously reported, area resident Lori Schomp is not a fan of the current plan for housing in Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6. Emboldened by just under 3,000 signatures on her petition at Change.org, the activist won her first battle yesterday: Brooklyn Eagle: The city seeks to include 30 percent moderate- and middle-income housing in the luxury waterfront project. The group also says a supplemental environmental review needs to be carried out because park circumstances have drastically changed since the housing plans were initially made. These changes include Superstorm Sandy, significantly increased vehicular and pedestrian traffic, a change in park finances and overcrowding in neighborhood schools. RELATED:This Interactive Map Shows Every Demolition In Brooklyn …
This French Rapper Freestyling at Brooklyn Bridge Park is… Something
Who says all visitors to Brooklyn Bridge Park are interlopers and hooligans? A rapper named “Mr. Burg” recently filmed himself freestyle rapping at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Perhaps he stopped at the Disco Food Cart for inspiration? Not much info is available about the artist, but his Facebook page features the NYC skyline. Maybe he’s a local? And if you’d care to translate, go right ahead. It might be very NSFW.
Ducks Deluxe in Brooklyn Bridge Park
Brooklyn Bridge Park has become a favorite spring to summer resting place and breeding ground for ducks. Back in March, I spotted this mallard drake on the uplands of Pier 1. More photos and text follow the jump. In June I saw this mother duck and three ducklings paddling between Pier 2 and Pier 1. A mother and four mostly grown youngsters catching some sleep on rocks above the Spiral Pool near Pier 2, about a week ago. Preening in the water along the landward side of Pier 1. Bottoms up! Resting on a stump, landward