Park Progress: Twenty Eighth Report, and an Award!

It would be interesting to know who were the judges and if they all lived in or near Mr. Van vaolkenberg and Mr. Hasty in that co-op overlooking the so called park. How connected were the judges to the BHA.

Ha .. if I believed that I would be a candidate to by the brooklyn bridge

Who are they or where can I find out who they are.

Since the BBP award is for Analysis and Planning, and it’s not likely that any of the judges read the BHB or The Brooklyn Paper, perhaps this award is understandable. BUT, the award does mention “value to the client.” Yes — the ESDC got housing into the park, and was allowed to spend a lot of money for a pretty park that is full of expensive elements unneded by the public at this economically difficult time. As far as the “value to the public ” criterion, that’s dubious, to be brief. The public is getting a Bergdorf Goodman park in Target times. Foolish use of diposable income.

The Honor award is also a mixed bag. It’s for Teardrop Park in Battery Park City. Yes, the slide is fun for kids over 3 or 4, and in summer sprinkler area is well-used. In winter, the sprinkler space is empty and forbidding, and looks just like an empty Polar Bear area at an old-style zoo. There’s another sand- boxish area that is always empty when I visit there — on Saturdays, when it should be filled with kids. The other areas, whcih I don’t know so well, are generally empty too.

Teardrop Park is VERY hard to find, and in fact there is NO signage from nearby streets on how to find it. Basically,
it’s a park for the buildings that surround it like glassy canyon walls. Sounds like BBP — expensive park, hard to access, designed for those able to live in it.

“value to the punblic “gong

Thanks for the sarcasm, straight face. I am glad the park is finally being built, I just wish it wasn’t that same grandiose 2004 park plan. I wrote that Brooklyn Bridge Park would look good on paper, and that could make a a landscape architecture award for “planning and analysis” plausible.

On second thought, maybe the ASLA should have read the Heights Press, which thinks reflexively touts housing in the park — and yet 1 BBP is giving away cars to get people to buy apartments! Local papers certainly are not the arbiters of landscape architectural taste.

But as far as public value, well, it might be good to know what the public thinks before deciding on public value. Have you forgotten that Marty Connor is gone, replaced by a State Senator who is advocating an alternative funding plan. The new City Council members (Levin and Lander) have both pledged to keep additional housing out of the park. It was a centerpiece of their (successful) campaigns. Perhaps that says something about public opinion?

When you have visited Teardrop Park a few times, then please do weigh in on that Van Valkenburgh project. I praised some areas and noted the unpoplularity of others.
I don’t pretend to be an Landscape Architect. Is that what your are doing?

Actually, I am one. Perhaps that led to testiness on my part. Let’s do what I do with liquor–add an ice cube to my comments and they’ll get watered down some.

I red that the all thing should be done in 2015 but for the next summer we could enjoy Pier 1 and Pier 6 that are exactly on the two extreme of the park. Pier 6 will be close to atlantic avenue under the big building.