Trouble And Intolerance: Voices From Brooklyn Bridge Park

By on June 21, 2016 7:32 am in brooklyn bridge park

In an article titled “In Brooklyn Bridge Park Conflict, Neighbors See Trouble. Players See Intolerance,” the Times‘ Sarah Maslin Nir reports from our neighborhood and Brooklyn Bridge Park, talking to park users and neighborhood representatives about the issues that have arisen in recent weeks.

“Sometimes I try and avoid going on Joralemon,” said Aaliyah Johnson, 17, who is black and travels from Flatbush to play basketball. “It’s like they look at you, move their kids over like you’re going to do something, and clutch on to their purse. Your doing that — it just makes us not feel welcome. We just came here to play basketball.”

“The park planners have not done a good job at finding ways for people to get into the park and out of the park,” [Peter] Bray said.

Nir also reports that Brooklyn Bridge Park has received requests to replace the basketball courts with tennis courts, something that park president Regina Myer has ruled out.

“…getting rid of some of the most popular basketball courts in the city is decidedly not the solution,” she added, “and would fly in the face of everything this park stands for.”

Read the full story in the New York Times.

Update: The article got the attention of MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, who tweeted it to his more than a half million followers, giving rise to a whole other comment section on this topic (and where I took the chance to shamelessly plug BHB).

 

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  • Bornhere

    Interesting idea, but would people sign in at Pier 2 only? That, alone, seems a bit targeted, no? And those without photo ID couldn’t play? I could imagine oodles of problems with this. Bringing back my (beloved) rusting, dilapidated piers seems so much easier.

  • AbeLincoln

    As a family with smallish children in Brooklyn Heights, we don’t use the park much. That’s only because it’s crowded and if we’re being real, there’s only so much you can do down there to relax and have fun. Danger at Pier 2 has never crossed our minds.

    The majority of Pier 2 park goers are minorities, which is not a big deal. The problem is Joralemon. Regina Myer needs to maks sure park goers are respectful of the neighborhoods they walk through. Before we do anything else, lets ask ourselves, can she do this? I think we all know the answer.
    Pier 2 is not the problem. Regina Meyer is.

  • Jorale-man

    Not a bad idea. Also, how about some signage encouraging people to exit at Pier 1 instead of Joralemon Street.

    I’ve been biking through the park late afternoons recently (prime after-school basketball time) and Pier 2 is really ground zero for activity. The rest of the park is pretty sleepy, aside from the tourists who congregate by Fulton Ferry Landing and a few moms with their young kids at the Pier 5/6 playgrounds.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    The details would be up to the park to decide. Sure some will cry foul, but I think most would agree, it’s an amicable solution.
    I miss the old piers too.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Agreed, Signs urging people to exit via Old Fulton or Atlantic would probably work to relieve some of the foot traffic on Joralemon St, However, It won’t have much effect on repeat visitors, who’s best route in and out of the park is by Joralemon.

  • StoptheChop

    It’s interesting that stories about “bad behavior” on subways, in other neighborhoods, or in stores, etc, don’t make excuses for that behavior or tie every complaint to racism/NIMBYism. People who don’t live in Brooklyn Heights generally don’t have a clue but feel totally qualified to pass judgment on those who are raising legitimate issues about the park’s impact on surrounding streets– and also demand that we give parkgoers a pass for anything they do. And all of the opprobrium directed at the neighborhood allows BBPC to continue to refuse to work with the community, because clearly we have bad motivations for bringing up any problems!

  • StoptheChop

    FYI– Atlantic Avenue entrances will be closed off for the 4th of July, and parkgoers arriving at the south end of the Park will be directed to use Joralemon before/after the fireworks. How does that make any sense at all?

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Only thing I can think of is the worry of having hoards of people crossing the BQE on-ramp, a dicy cross any day of the week.

  • Bornhere

    I don’t always agree with you, but because you, too, are a Pierist, you’re all right with me :)

  • redlola

    racism, nimby — it’s all dog whistle crap for the default narrative. white, upper middle class community has problem with uptick in violent disruptive behavior. perpetrators appear mainly to be black from not wealth backgrounds. i mean what could it be but racism cause clearly if this was a black upper middle class community, they would welcome being intimidated and having their phones stolen. and surely if the perpetrators were white, we’d all think having our phone stolen was really just an act of involuntary charity. as the young kids say, FOH. there is nothing racist or negative about not wanting to be harassed, assaulted or subjected to noise at night.

  • Susan O’Doherty

    Agreed that fighting and especially guns can’t be allowed in the part, but I find the assertion “If kids want to fight and kill each other, they should do it where they live” callous in the extreme. The majority of kids who just come out to play ball and socialize deserve protection too. The problem isn’t that this is happening in our neighborhood but that it is happening at all.

  • Teresa

    You say that as if you know when I moved here, an interesting observation to make while hiding behind a pseudonym. For the record, I’ve lived here for nearly 20 years. I’ve also yet to see any statistics that support that crime has increased since the park opened.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    Do you see many “stories about ‘bad behavior’…in other neighborhoods”?

    Not violent crime; just people being rude, loud, screaming in faces, etc…”bad behavior”

  • StudioBrooklyn

    While I agree that this NYTimes piece was NOT exemplary of responsible journalism–and I’ll defend the reputation of this neighborhood whenever I can–declaring that responsible journalism is an oxymoron, or long dead, strikes me as a hyperbolic statement in the same vein as “all kids who play basketball on Pier 2 are thugs”.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    Teresa, you know I’m with you about not getting too excited about the park and recent events. And as Concerned knows, I do place value in well-cultivated statistics. But I also think that all this anecdotal evidence isn’t without its own degree of merit, deserving of recognition, etc.

  • Teresa

    I don’t disagree. But I also think actual data would be useful. I remember reading Heather’s police blotter reports and being surprised at how much crime happened here.

  • StoptheChop

    sure– vandalism, etc, in parks on the far Upper West Side, eg.

  • StoptheChop

    but there could be traffic cops to help- and July 4 shouldn’t be too bad traffic-wise

  • redlola

    the key point is we need to stop using the demographics or neighborhood residents as a proxy for bad behavior. bad behavior is simply not ok and unnecessary. not sure how the fact that someone lives in anothe neighborhood gives them a pass to harass and intimidate ppl for kicks yet the harassed are wrong for saying they don’t like it.

  • NeighboorHood

    Another attempt by Alicia Glenn, Regina Meyer and Di Blasio, courtesy of their friends at the NYTIMES, to cynically & dangerously stoke racial animosity as a cover for their criminal mismanagement of the “park”. (Remember their vicious media campaign to misrepresent community opposition to the unnecessary high rise towers in the park as “racism”?) How is it possible that this “reporting” of the safety issue with the “park” doesn’t mention the actual incidents of gunfire or the unfortunate young lady who was shot in the head and killed at the very Joralemon St. enterance to the BBP that is the centerpiece of this story? No mention at all. How?

  • Concerned

    Take the words and reports of your neighbors. Put them in a spreadsheet showing incidents. There’s your “data”. Unfortunately, it seems your own neighbors’ personal experiences are not enough for you. You’ll always find a way downplay their experiences that they have found to be negative and even frightful.
    Sad.

  • Jorale-man

    I actually dread July 4th in the neighborhood. But maybe it will put the recent hooliganism in perspective.

  • petercow

    Really? Have you heard of Google?

    http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-084pct.pdf

    Robbery up 13% since last year.

    Up 7% from 2 years ago.

  • petercow
  • StudioBrooklyn

    Pretty straightforward/easy/safe if you’re willing to wait for the signal. Things you notice when you have a toddler who gets really upset if you don’t wait for it…in this case we could learn a bit of patience from our kids.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    That would be aggregation of reports from within a self-selected population, not random sampling. Bad data don’t fly this bird, Ace. ;)

  • Concerned

    A) she said “actual data”. This is actual data, despite your criticisms.
    B) What other population would you be questioning? If I were doing testing on the effects of radiation on the rat population in Fukushima, wouldn’t I get rats from Fukushima??? I would think those on the Brooklyn Heights blog would at least be one of the populations that were studied. Maybe we can set up a stand outside the Bossert Hotel where we can ask random neighbors for their opinions. We’ll make DIBS bring the scotch, and after a few swigs I can challenge him to a duel by slapping him in the face with one of his driving gloves.
    C) have you seen the posters on this blog? HOW RANDOM CAN YOU GET!?! LOL!!!

  • StudioBrooklyn

    Your suggestion under item B, though put facetiously, would actually be the most scientific method of polling the community. But I like it especially for the imagery you conjure up. DIBS’ driving gloves!! Hah. That’s fantastic.

  • Sen. Bob Forehead

    “I am concerned about the changes in Brooklyn Heights since I moved here in 1998, but my concerns center around the inescapable fact that, while the neighborhood has always been wealthy, it’s now pretty much an enclave of the 1%…”. Your words not mine, and I have yet to see any statistics that show yours is not a pseudonym. But it’s nice to know I’m one of the 1%.

  • Boerum Bill

    I’m starting a polo league in Bed-Stuy. Who’s in?!

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