Greenpoint To Make A Big Splash
McCarren Park Pool to reopen
Just in time for the summer, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYCDPR) announced plans to reopen the McCarren Park pool. The currently dilapidated, fenced-in neighborhood pool is located on the northeastern most point of McCarren Park on Lorimer Street and will be revitalized as part of Mayor Bloomberg's 25-year plan for a greener New York.
The McCarren Park pool originally opened in 1936 but was closed in 1984 after it fell into disrepair. Since then, it has remained an eyesore to the community, slowly disintegrating day after day. In 2005, Commissioner Adrian Benepe of the NYCDPR allowed for the “interim use of McCarren Pool as a public events venue,” as stated in the press release. An organization devoted to reviving the pool, www.mccarrenparkpool.org, explained that “plans to rehabilitate the pool have been proposed a number of times, only to be thwarted by community opposition, poor timing and lack of funds.”
Phil Abramson, a spokesperson for the NYCDPR, said that they are “excited” about the “very long-desired and awaited” project. Since Greenpoint and Williamsburg are rapidly gaining residents, Abramson explained that the NYCDPR “wants to make sure everyone has adequate park land, and as of right now, there aren't too many pools.” Mayor Bloomberg recently allocated over $50 million to fund seven other similar projects throughout New York. The most expensive of all, the McCarren Park Pool restoration will cost approximately $50 million in reconstruction, which is almost the entire allocation, according to Abramson.
He said that the NYCDPR plans to reduce the pool by approximately one-third during the reconstruction to make room for a year-round indoor recreation facility. Even after the reduction, the pool will still retain its massive, Olympic size. The pool is not the only project for the NYCDPR in Greenpoint. They recently “cut the ribbon on the new track and soccer field” last summer and are in the process of installing lights for that area, said Abramson.
Laura Hofmann, member of the Barge Park Pals and Co-Chair of the Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks and Planning, “believes that community pressure and redevelopment are a factor in the reopening of the pool.” Hofmann learned about the reopening at the recent Community Board #1 meeting where Representative Joshua Laird of NYCDPR announced it to the community. She disclosed that the “Parks Department will receive additional funding [which she] hopes will be set aside for pool upkeep.” “Hopefully, residents will pitch in and create some helpful parks groups,” said Hofmann.
As a bit of history, McCarren Park was named after New York State Assembly member, Patrick Henry McCarren. “In 1909, the year of McCarren's death, the Board of Aldermen named the park [which was previously known as Greenpoint Park] in his memory,” according to the NYCDPR's website.
The McCarren Park Pool was a welcomed addition in 1936. According to www.mccarrenparkpool.org, “it was one of ten new pools opened during The Depression as part of the Works Progress Administration projects in New York City.” One of the largest public pools, it had “an original capacity of 6,800 swimmers,” details the NYCDPR's website. Aymar Embury II designed the original pool and “several areas within and around the Park are named after T. Raymond Nulty Square (for a World War I soldier), Patrolman Stephen Gilroy Field (for a police officer killed in the line of duty), and Father Jerzy Popieluzsko Square (for a Polish priest martyred by the Communists),” also according to the website.
The McCarren Park Pool has been slated for design next year and construction will begin by the end of 2008 or early in 2009. Regardless of project duration, North Brooklyn residents will happily wait for the promise of a refreshingly cool summer spent in the McCarren Park Pool.
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New Group Hopes to Open Up North Brooklyn
The Open Space Alliance (OSA)
In the post-rezoning world, issues of public space have become increasingly important to the communities of Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Bushwick. A new organization, created by local activists, community groups and the Parks Department, is hoping to help resolve many of the outstanding uncertainties surrounding land use for the common good.
The Open Space Alliance (OSA) is in the final phases of negotiation with the Parks Department to determine how the two will share the responsibilities of overseeing North Brooklyn’s green space. Based on the success of the park-alliance groups, such as the Prospect Park Alliance, OSA will work alongside Parks to manage and improve public green space.
Joseph Vance – local architect, activist and former co-chair for the Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks & Planning (GWAPP) – is helping to bring together the final pieces of OSA and is excited about the possibilities he sees for the community.
“One of our first priorities will probably be the stalled public park at the end of India Street,” Mr. Vance said, referring to a proposed park site in Greenpoint.
Additionally, he highlighted the McCarren Park pool, as well as expanded and new open space under the waterfront rezoning, as top agenda items for OSA.
As a group, OSA will rely on the fundraising efforts of its board of directors to procure private capital to finance projects. A community committee will be setup to advise the board on priorities, with a paid executive director working conjointly with the Parks Department and OSA overseeing operations. As such, Mr. Vance emphasized that OSA “is not an activist organization” but, instead, more akin to an open space development group.
Specific financial and personnel details are currently unavailable, as the legal discussion between the Parks Department and OSA has yet to be finalized. Mr. Vance and other OSA supporters hope that the official beginning of the Open Space Alliance, which has been in the planning phase for nearly a year, will be announced soon.
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The Spill Continued...
Groundwater & Exxon’s New Local Spokesman
On March 7, Exxon Mobil announced it would be temporarily shutting down the pumping system that for 15 years has been removing the 17 million gallons of spilled underground oil in northeast Greenpoint. According to the environmental group Riverkeeper and New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the system violates federal law by discharging contaminated groundwater into Newtown Creek.
The groundwater issue is the most recent allegation by Exxon Mobil’s critics, following on previous charges that the oil recovery system is too slow to clean up the spill. The system by necessity pumps groundwater along with the spilled oil, but does not treat the groundwater to the standards of the federal Clean Water Act before dumping it back into the creek.
Basil Seggos, chief investigator for Riverkeeper, said a system shutdown was not what his group was after when it made the charge. “While the system was likely illegal and outmoded, it was better than no system at all,” Seggos said.
Riverkeeper fears that more oil will now seep into Newtown Creek, because the recovery system had been helping contain the spread of the spill, and says Exxon should have come up with another solution.
But Barry Wood, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil, contends that environmentalists are trying to have it both ways. “The system is state of the art as it is,” he says, denying that it needs to be upgraded to better treat the groundwater. “If they wanted the water discharge stopped, how can we do that without stopping the system? Now they’re claiming that’s not the right thing to do.”
According to Wood, Exxon has had a state permit to discharge groundwater into the creek since it built the recovery system in 1990. A Riverkeeper spokesman speaking in place of Basil Seggos (he is on his honeymoon) said the group’s position is that Exxon does not have a permit.
“The authority of the permits was called into question by the attorney general’s office,” Wood said. “We are in active negotiations with the attorney general.”
The attorney general’s office was not available for comment.
Wood is a new addition to the cast of characters in the ongoing saga of the spill, apparently established by Exxon as a local spokesman earlier this year. Wood has a 718 area code and a New York accent, returned Block Magazine’s calls promptly, and acted eager to help. He replaces Prem Nair, who previously gave limited comments to the press from Washington, DC.
“We want to be as transparent as possible,” Wood said.
