Effort to create park on Brooklyn waterfront moves forward.Brooklyn Bridge Park The future Brooklyn Bridge Park will be the first major new park development in Brooklyn since Prospect Park was built 135 years ago. It will stretch 1.3 miles along the East River from Atlantic Avenue to just north of the Manhattan Bridge. moved closer to reality as the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation (BBPDC) designated a team to design a park on the sprawling waterfront site. BBPDC has selected the master planning team of Urban Strategies as urban designer and Michael Van Valkenburgh Michael R. Van Valkenburgh (b. 1950, Lexington, New York) is an American landscape architect and educator. Van Valkenburgh is the founder and principal of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA), an award-winning landscape architecture firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Associates, Inc. as landscape architect. The firms have created parks and public spaces for civic celebration in cities across the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and Europe in locations such as Paris, Toronto, Boston and St. Paul St. Paul as a missionary he fearlessly confronts the “perils of waters, of robbers, in the city, in the wilderness.” [N.T.: II Cor. 11:26] See : Bravery . Joanne Witty, president of BBPDC, said "We chose these leading designers over numerous strong competitors for two reasons. First, we felt confident they could lead an open, inclusive process. Brooklyn Bridge Park will be built only if it meets the needs of the diverse communities that comprise the borough, city and region. We also selected these firms because they have the creative energy to solve complex problems of access, economics and aesthetics. They bring the imagination, vision and technical skills necessary to translate the communities' desire for recreational space into a world-class park." The park, which will have the Brooklyn Bridge Brooklyn Bridge, vehicular suspension bridge, New York City, southernmost of the bridges across the East River, between lower Manhattan and Brooklyn; built 1869–83. The achievement of J. A. Roebling and his son W. A. Roebling, it has a span of 1,595. as its central focus, will be created on a site that extends from the Manhattan Bridge The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan (at Canal Street) with Brooklyn (at Flatbush Avenue Extension). to Pier 5. Once completed, the effort will transform an underutilized stretch of waterfront into a vibrant urban riverfront. "The challenge of designing a great public space on this site presents a tremendous opportunity to transform an underutilized waterfront into one of the most vibrant and dynamic riverfronts in the world," said Brooklyn-born Ken Greenberg, who is heading the effort for Urban Strategies. "In a borough that is so starved for green space, this park will become known as one of the greatest recreational spaces in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , and will honor what is already one of the most historically important bridges in the world," concluded Greenberg. Earlier this year, the BBPDC issued a request for proposals for master-planning teams. Twelve teams, comprised of urban designers and landscape architects from around the world, submitted proposals. The Urban Strategies and Michael Van Valkenburgh team was selected from six finalists that were interviewed by the BBPDC. The state-funded Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation (formerly known as the Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third largest central business district in New York City (following Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the Waterfront Local Development Corporation) was created last year to oversee an effort to reuse the downtown Brooklyn waterfront as a park. BBPDC's 15-member board of directors is comprised of representatives from various neighborhood organizations in communities along the waterfront, as well as appointees of the area's elected officials - Borough President Borough President (informally BP, or Beep in slang) is an elective office in each of the five boroughs of New York City. The offices of borough president were created in 1898 with the formation of the City of Greater New York. Howard Golden, Representative Ed Towns, State Senator Martin Connor, State Assemblywoman Joan Millman, and City Councilman Ken Fisher. To date, $1.4 million in state funds has been secured by the area's state legislators for the planning process. |
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