Abolitionist Place not Park
Civic gurus settle dispute to name space formerly known as Willoughby Square
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
This space has had more
names than Prince!
After a months-long bureaucratic
dispute with city
offi cials, local civic gurus settled
on the name Abolitionist
Place for the planned Downtown
Brooklyn open space formerly
known as Willoughby
Square.
Community Board 2’s
Parks Committee voted Monday
to cut “park” from their
previously-requested name
change for the proposed space
at Willoughby and Duffi eld
streets, after offi cials said the
word would mistakenly designate
the plot as city parkland,
which could further hold
up the project that has been
marred by delays for years.
“We’re looking for a resolution
on how to name this
open space while honoring the
abolitionist history without
using the word ‘park’ in the
name, which is not allowed
based on the feedback I’ve received
from city Law Department,”
said Eleni DeSiervo,
a spokesperson for the Economic
Miss Centipede
A New Children’s Book about Racial Tolerance
A teacher’s supernatural level of patience in a classroom
overflowing with students is the topic of this entertaining
picture book. Miss Centipede: A Bug’s Tale of Tolerance,
what to expect counting humor metamorphosis racial
tolerance which is soo “Au Copurant”.
COURIER L 6 IFE, MAY 28-JUNE 3, 2021
Development Corporation,
at the May 17 virtual
meeting.
In 2019, Community Board
2 passed a purely-advisory
motion requesting the city
rename Willoughby Square
as Abolitionist Place Park to
honor the area’s rich history
of fi ghting against slavery in
the 19th century, which, according
to local lore, includes
possible stops along the Underground
Railroad.
Offi cials co-named two
blocks of Willoughby Street
Abolitionist Place back in
2007 an in March of this year,
the city purchased the landmarked
former home of abolitionists
Harriet and Thomas
Truesdell at 227 Duffi eld St.,
just adjacent to the proposed
square.
That month, EDC, the
quasi-public agency in charge
of the open space project, returned
to the community
board saying the renaming
would inadvertently put the
city lot under the jurisdiction
of the Parks Department.
The greenspace agency’s
borough chief said Monday
they couldn’t take on any more
lawns.
“It implies that we’re maintaining
it. We don’t have
any capacity to take on new
places,” said Brooklyn Parks
Commissioner Martin Maher
at the meeting.
The Parks honcho added
that the moniker would add
more restrictions on what the
city could do with the space.
“The term ‘park’ does have
implications in it. Parkland
is sacred, it can’t be traded, it
takes active state legislation
and so on to try to remove it,”
Maher said. “Parkland is sort
of forever.”
The 1.15-acre open space
was originally slated as the
“Willoughby Square Public
Open Space” under the 2004
Downtown Brooklyn rezoning,
and pitched by the Bloomberg
administration as a sweetener
for the impending high-rise
luxury development in America’s
Downtown as a result of
the land use changes.
Designating it as parkland
would also violate a deal under
the rezoning to hawk some
of the site’s air rights to the adjacent
development 420 Albee
Square, according to a letter
DeSiervo sent the board prior
to the meeting on May 12. EDC
wants to retain the remaining
development rights of the site,
she wrote.
The 17-year-old scheme has
been set back most recently by
the COVID-19 pandemic and
previously when a deal fell
apart for a private developer
to build it and include a nowscrapped
underground parking
garage in early 2019.
The proposed design. NYC EDC
SHOP YOUR CITY
CHALLENGE
Your photos may
be shared to the
NYC Department
of Small Business
Services’
Instagram stories!
Show your support for
small businesses and enter
our contest for a chance
to win a prize!
Snap a photo of you
showing your support for
local businesses
Share to Instagram using
#ShopYourCity and tag
@nycsmallbiz
Winners will be selected by
a panel of judges to
win a $50 gift card to use
at small businesses
1
2
3
No purchase necessary.
Full details can be found at
nyc.gov/ShopYourCity
When Spiderville
is designated a
Sanctuary City, Insect
Elementary is in
desperate need of
more teachers to
accommodate the
sudden increase in the
student body. Enter
Miss Centipede, and
no matter how large
the fourth grade
grows, she handles
the workload
with ease.
What is her secret?
Available at: Amazon.com • BarnesandNoble.com
Dorrance Publishing Bookstore
misscentipede.com
/BarnesandNoble.com
/Amazon.com
/ShopYourCity
/misscentipede.com