Brooklyn Bridge Manhattan
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Mission Statement
Gotham Park is unlocking the potential of the forgotten spaces under the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, creating a new type of urban Community Park that nurtures connection, curiosity, wonder, and resilience. We opened our first acre May 24th 2023! The Bridge is a sleeping giant - a Landmark recognized the world over – landing in a fenced-off, dark, underutilized parking lot. We are transforming it into a neighborhood nexus connecting and strengthening our residents, businesses and communities. Built upon the spirit and foundation of the original Brooklyn Banks, we are restoring the Banks while expanding public space and access to create a variety of flexible play spaces that inspire, engage and delight all ages and abilities. Woven together from the vaults, arches and land beneath the Bridge, we are building a Park for our communities, by our communities. CONNECTING OUR COMMUNITIES: The Brooklyn Bridge is a monumental physical and psychological barrier, dividing neighborhoods and creating a 7-block-long infrastructural wasteland in the urban fabric. People scurry through dimly lit archways to cross from one side to the other. First and foremost, Gotham Park will create engaging public spaces built by our communities, for our communities. Transforming parking lots into parks, we are creating a gathering hub for our communities to mingle and play, a destination connection point for all our neighborhoods. Permanent components will include expansive and diverse exterior active recreation areas for all ages and abilities, and quieter passive recreation areas. A library/community hub will be an all-weather interior space within the historic vaults, for education and interaction. Artifacts and documents from the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge will reside in the Bridge itself, a new museum celebrating the daring determination of Makers. Programming that changes throughout the week and seasons include affordable farmers market and CSA programs, book market, art and culture events with local artists, etc… EQUITY: PARK ACCESS: The east side of Lower Manhattan is a designated Environmental Justice Area and TRIE neighborhood with little outdoor recreation space. 64% BIPOC, 20% families under federal poverty levels, 20% seniors over 65. Our communities are growing at city-leading rates, and yet our civic infrastructure is shrinking due to multi-year resiliency work. This is the only large parcel of land still available in our community, where we could envision sufficient space for both passive and active recreation. ALL AGES RECREATION: We envision recreation space that engages people of all ages and abilities. When children age out of playgrounds in the city, there are extremely limited options for bicycling, ball play, and open areas for creative engagement like skating, BMX, parkour and climbing. The open land under the various ramps of the Brooklyn Bridge allow for rain/snow protected play areas that can be used flexibly for a variety of activities, limited only by the imagination. Covid has focused attention on the need for freely accessible and varied outdoor gym equipment that addresses the needs of our communities, with varying strength, size and mobility capabilities. We will integrate flexible equipment that will be accessible for all, with a special focus on our aging population. Many schools in the area desperately need exterior recreation space, including at the adjacent Murry Bergtraum school building and Peck Slip School. FRESH FOOD: Two large housing complexes abut the Bridge including NYCHA’s Smith Houses (5,600 people, 30% elderly) to the north, and Southbridge Towers (formerly Mitchell-Lama co-op, 3,500 residents) are to the south. Residents on the CB1 and CB3 sides have limited access to fresh food, with the area falling under the city’s FRESH program zone. We propose a weekly farmers market in partnership with Fulton Stall Market and participation in the FRESH FOOD FOR SENIORS program. ACTIVATING THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE IN MANHATTAN: The Brooklyn Bridge is a symbol of the power of human vision, perseverance and capacity to overcome enormous challenges. It is also a national historic landmark that happens to terminate in a DOT parking lot today. It averages 19,000 pedestrian crossings daily and it is a missed opportunity with a cost we are not acknowledging; it can and must be utilized to drive local and tourist traffic to the many small businesses in our adjacent neighborhoods which are suffering through this pandemic. The enormous people power harnessed by the Bridge dissipates at City Hall. Most tourists on the Bridge get lost trying to find their way from it to other landmarks and areas of interest. A primary focus of the park will be to create safer connections, clear pathways and simple wayfinding. The Bridge will become the central hinge point of a new downtown tourist loop connecting our neighborhoods and rich history.
About This Cause
Gotham Park is a 501(c)(3) formed to establish, activate and support a new 9-acre community park underneath and within the forgotten Manhattan Anchorage of the Brooklyn Bridge. In a neighborhood with meager public gathering and recreation space, surrounded by diverse income communities of color, our goal is to bring our communities together in vibrantly activated world class civic spaces that spark joy, discovery and wonder. After two years of our advocacy and community coalition-building, Mayor Eric Adams opened the first acre of Gotham Park to the public on May 24, 2023 and committed to opening another 4 to 5 acres in 2024. Our organization is now raising support to realize the full potential of New York City's next great public space. Your donation will support: Free recreational programming for all ages, with skateboarding, basketball, Tai-Chi, meditation and more; Park beautification efforts including new plantings, seating and visitor amenities; Cultural events and performances and world-class public art installations amplifying local artists, community groups and schools; Vendor incubator program in partnership with award-winning nonprofit Welcome to Chinatown; Gardening and group exercise to engage 10,000+ neighborhood seniors; Empowering internship initiatives available to 1,400 students at local Title 1 high schools; Design work, studies and advocacy for the full-scale vision of a 9-acre public space; and much more! By seizing the opportunity in these long forgotten spaces under the Brooklyn Bridge, our communities will come together in unique urban public spaces that capture the imagination and daring spirit built into the very foundations of the Brooklyn Bridge. Forged from the abandoned vaults, arches and undulating landscapes below the myriad ramps, a new park will weave together playful, exploratory, adventurous landscapes that challenge and nurture us, and most importantly bring us together.