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Downtown’s ‘pop-up’ park
Offi cials open temporary space at contentious Willoughby Square
Rally against violence
Locals speak out against guns in Bed-Stuy
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By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
The city unveiled a small
temporary park in Downtown
Brooklyn as a preview to a
larger planned green space
on Tuesday.
Honchos at a quasi-public
development corporation,
local business boosters, and
community reps celebrated
the official grand opening
of the green space on Willoughby
Street between Duffield
Street and Albee Square
W. — dubbed the “Willoughby
Square Pop-Up” —
as a 15,000-square-foot refuge
from the hustle and bustle of
America’s Downtown.
“It’s a place for people to
use throughout the day to
come and have breakfast, have
lunch, or come after work or
at weekends to play with their
children on the turf — really
just to create some breathing
space in Downtown Brooklyn
for people to enjoy and relax,”
said Rachel Loeb, the chief
operating officer of the city’s
Economic Development Corporation,
the agency spearheading
the project.
The interim park — which
is equal in size to about three
basketball courts — exists as
a featureless astro-turf lawn
Photo by Kevin Duggan
Officials opened Willoughby Square Pop-up in Downtown Brooklyn on July 9.
The park will be a temporary space for residents until the city breaks ground on
the years-in-the-works Willoughby Square Park in summer 2020.
surrounded by a gravel walkway
and picnic tables, which
will serve work-weary desk
jockeys as a “passive park”
for one year, until the city demolishes
it ahead of the summer
2020 ground-breaking of
the recently-revived 1.15-acre
Willoughby Square Park project,
which will be about three
times larger than the pop-up
and is scheduled to wrap construction
in 2022, according
to Loeb.
“It’s something we could
execute very quickly... and
finally, after a long time deliver
on some of the open space
promises that we made to the
community,” she said.
Willoughby Square Park’s
fate hung in the balance after
officials announced the city
had failed to close a deal in
January with Long Islandbased
developer American
Development Group to build
the meadow for an original
$80 million price tag, which
would have included a hightech
subterranean garage beneath
it.
The firm’s head Perry Finkleman
sued the city in May
for allegedly thwarting their
construction effort, which he
announced one day after the
city revealed its revamped plan
without the builder.
At the opening ceremony,
Loeb maintained the Economic
Development Corporation’s
stance of refusing to
comment regarding ongoing
litigation
The park was sold to locals
as a community giveback amid
a controversial 2004 rezoning,
which has allowed developers
to erect massive skyscrapers
in the area over the last
decade-and-a-half. Loeb acknowledged
the glacial pace of
the parks project, which kicked
off in 2010.
“We needless to say had
overcome a few hurdles to
make it to the ribbon cutting
today,” she said.
Nevertheless, nearby office
workers flocked to the
park’s umbrella-topped tables
for their lunch, with one employee
of the adjacent Chase
Bank building saying that the
park was a welcome addition
to a rapidly changing neighborhood.
“I think it’s a great addition
to Brooklyn life,” said Leonid
Bystrik. “20 years ago this
place used to be like a dump
more or less, now it’s getting
a new face. It’s great to see
new developments and to see
people use the park, especially
in the summertime.”
By Aidan Graham
Brooklyn Paper
Dozens of Brooklynites
marched through Bedford-
Stuyvesant to call for an end
to rampant gun violence on
June 29.
“I don’t want people to wait
until someone they know is
the victim of gun violence to
start doing something about
it,” said Nathalie Arzu.
The rally, which was organized
by anti-gun violence
group Save Our Streets, featured
several keynote speakers,
including Arzu — who
told the assembled crowd
the tragic story of losing her
brother Jose in 2011 to gun
violence in the Bronx.
“My brother was killed at
the age of 16 when he was
walking his girlfriend home,
and two men approached him
and shot him 15 times. The
paramedics did everything
that they could, but he died,”
said Arzu.
Since her brother’s tragic
death, Arzu has worked with
groups like Save Our Streets
and Moms Demand Action to
help pull communities away
from a culture of violence.
“It’s about being empowered.
There’s a lot of people
that are causing harm in our
communities, and it’s systematic.
In our communities,
there’s a lot of issues that are
the core causes of gun violence,
whether it’s housing or
whatever,” she said.
The demonstration was
partly spurred by the recent
shooting of an 11-year-old
boy , who was caught in the
crossfire of a gun violence incident
in Crown Heights on
June 20.
Marchers ended their protest across from Restoration
Plaza in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Photo by Caroline Ourso
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