By: Andy Greensteier
Repairs to the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge are taking longer, years longer, than anticipated and people who use the park space that has been made unavailable all this time are hopping mad.
“I don’t think the city has any awareness of just how vitally important the place is,” said Joe Ramone, 36, who runs the Save the Brooklyn Banks Instagram account. “It is more than just a ‘Skate Spot’. It was a home for so many,” according to a New York Post report.
Griffin Kelly writes, “the Brooklyn Banks is a legendary skating mecca that first gained popularity in the 1980s and was the stomping ground of renowned skaters like Harold Hunter and Eric Koston. The site was recreated in the 2003 video game “Tony Hawk’s Underground.”
Over nine acres, the area is a vital Manhattan space that contains not only the skate park but playgrounds for children and basketball courts.
“Since 2010, the Brooklyn Banks have been closed for a series of DOT projects. First it was for painting. Now crews are repairing the stone arches by the bridge’s on-ramps.” The New York Post reports, “many of the iconic and smooth bricks have been ripped up“.
“At this point we’re being held hostage by the DOT,” Aixa Torres of the Smith Houses said at Manhattan Community Board 3 meeting Thursday. Still in its research phase, the non-profit,Brooklyn Bridge Manhattan, is seeking input, support and public and private funding to bring back the skate spot and potentially convert other areas under the bridge from Park Avenue to the FDR Drive into small parks, a library, playgrounds and weekend markets.”
“Today is the opportunity to do that before it slips away from us and 50 years later we still see the same damn parking lot,” group founder Rosa Chang said at the meeting. DOT spokesperson Vin Barone said the current repairs are essential. “DOT is aware of community requests to restore some areas and is currently exploring concepts that may be possible once construction ends in 2024,” he said.
Besides keeping city citizens from using the public space, the neglect has allowed the area to declare and become dangerous. Also, being years and years over schedule means this is costing city tax-payers more and more money as the budget is inflated. It is time for the community board to come together to plan and demand action.