Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council speaker Christine Quinn will release a comprehensive plan for the development of New York City’s waterfront, which includes plans for Brooklyn Bridge Park, at a press conference to be held in Brooklyn Bridge Park tomorrow (Monday, March 14). Update: It’s at 11:30 a.m.
New York Times: Less than five years ago, preservationists criticized the Bloomberg administration for allowing Ikea to pave over a dock for repairing ships in Red Hook, Brooklyn. They said city officials had forsaken New York’s working waterfront by catering to developers of hangar-size stores and luxury condominiums.
But now some of those same critics are praising Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and other city leaders for assembling a long-term plan that gives some leeway to the maritime industry while trying to lure New Yorkers to the water’s edge — and, in many places, onto the water itself, in kayaks and boats.
According to Ms. Quinn, as quoted in the Times story, the new plan will not provide for any “significant new city or state spending”. However, Deputy Mayor Robert Steel is quoted as saying that “plans for dozens of parks and piers along the rivers would no longer be considered individually but as a whole, which could protect them in times of cost-cutting”.
We will give more details as soon as they are available.
