Groundbreaking achievement
City kicks off work on new entrances to Prospect Park
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
A cadre of Parks offi cials
and local pols broke ground on
a $3.2 million project Thursday
to add two grand entryways
along Prospect Park’s Flatbush
Avenue border, which
will make Brooklyn’s Backyard
lovelier and more accessible
than ever, according to
the park’s chief steward.
“The community will not
only enjoy better access to
the park, but also beautiful
spaces for relaxation and connecting
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COURIER L 16 IFE, SEPT. 27-OCT. 3, 2019
to nature,” said Prospect
Park Alliance President
Susan Donoghue, who joined
Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo
(D-Crown Heights), Brooklyn
Parks Commissioner Martin
Maher, and City Parks
Commissioner Mitchell Silver
for the ground breaking.
“In opening this up, it will
provide more access to some
beautiful parts of the park.”
When completed next summer,
the new entrances — both
located between Grand Army
Plaza and Prospect Park Zoo
— will feature a sprawling array
of gardens, benches, light-
ing, and public art.
The completion of the gateways
will mark the fi rst new
entrances to Brooklyn’s Backyard
since the 1940s, and will
break up the three-quarters
of a mile stretch between the
park’s entrances at Grand
Army Plaza and the menagerie
— which currently represents
the longest continuous
stretch of the park’s
exterior without a formal access
point.
The effort is part of the
mayor’s $50 million ‘Parks
Without Borders’ initiative,
which aims to break down
barriers to the city’s green
spaces. Prospect Park became
one of eight parks to get an upgrade
under the initiative after
offi cials put the matter to
a vote and Brooklyn’s Backyard
nabbed a whopping 965
votes — more than any other
green space in the city.
“Parks without Borders is
about increasing accessibility
and openness in our green
spaces,” said Mitchell Silver.
“We put out a call for ideas,
and Prospect Park was the
top vote-getter citywide.”
Prospect Park’s Flatbush
Avenue perimeter has gotten
a lot of love from the city recently,
and construction of the
new entrances coincides a $2.35
million Parks Department
scheme to enhance the thoroughfare’s
sidewalk bordering
the park between Grand Army
Plaza and the Prospect Park
Zoo with new paving, benches,
lights, and fencing.
Work on that project was
supposed to wrap in November
2018, but delays caused by hidden
below-ground infrastructure
and a sudden, unexplained
work stoppage set the project
back by about a year, and
construction is now expected
to be completed next month.
Once that’s fi nished, the Department
of Transportation will redesign
the roadway to include
new bus islands and a protected
bike lane , the latter of which
should be completed this fall.
All in all, it’s a big improvement
over what came before,
according to Cumbo, who said
the strip was downright spooky
before all the upgrades.
“When I used to walk this
strip... it literally felt like you
were staring in the ‘Thriller’
video with Michael Jackson.
It just seemed like a haunted
strip,” said Cumbo. “It’s important
that we create a space
that’s beautiful, and also safe
— people should feel safe exercising
and jogging around
the park at 11 o’clock at night,
or walking with their families.”
Greenspace gurus and elected leaders break ground on a new entrance to Prospect Park on Sept. 19.
Photo by Aidan Graham
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