6 AWP Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 February 22–28, 2019
Meadow reimagined
Locals propose new amenities for tiny C’Hill park
By Aidan Graham
for Brooklyn Paper
It’s their green dream!
A tiny Cobble Hill park
that a developer will refurbish
as part of its scheme to
build a seven-building complex
in the neighborhood must
include amenities that make
it more inviting to the community,
according to locals
who attended a recent meeting
about the redesign.
“What if you want to have
a performance? If you want
to have a puppet theater
come in, or do karaoke, or
a poetry reading, for example.
We could create a space
where that might be possible,”
Glenn Kelly, the Chairman
local Community Board
6’s Parks Committee, said at
the Feb. 7 gathering.
Roughly 40 residents attended
the meeting sponsored
by local civic group the Cobble
Hill Association, where
they debated the future of the
park, which Fortis Property
Group is renovating as part
of its deal to make over the
former Long Island College
Hospital complex.
Fortis must seek public input
on any changes made to
the green space at the corner
of Henry and Pacific streets
and two other neighborhood
parks — all of which are privately
owned but open to the
public — due to a 1995 agree-
Photo by Aidan Graham
Cobble Hill resident Alec Baxt shared ideas for the
Henry Street park during the meeting with reps for
developer Fortis Property Group.
ment the city made with former
hospital leaders, which
the builder inherited when
it got the green light to redevelop
the medical-center
site in 2014.
The miniature meadow is
the smallest of the three Fortis
must redesign, and has been
closed for almost two years
due to the construction of the
first of the developer’s seven
buildings going up at the hospital
site, a 15-story condo
tower on Henry Street dubbed
5 River Park .
The rectangular recreation
space currently features just
six chess tables and several
benches scattered throughout
it, leaving plenty of room for
reimagination, a Fortis rep
said.
“Currently it’s just a boring
square. From my perspective,
it’s not engaging in any way,
shape, or form,” said George
Fontas.
Fontas and other reps for
the developer presented attendees
with renderings of
new park amenities, such
as water fountains, more
benches, and lampposts, in
two aesthetic styles used by
the city’s Department of Parks
and Recreation — a classic
Victorian style, and a socalled
1964-contemporary
style, which Fontas admitted
is not as modern as its
title suggests.
“1964 isn’t contemporary,
but it is for Parks,” he said.
And although some in the
room demanded more built
amenities in the meadow,
others suggested its redesign
should incorporate more landscaping
to improve the park’s
visual appeal.
“Personally, I would like
more planting and green
space,” said Cobble Hiller
Thomas Spath.
But no matter what new
features Fortis may ultimately
install, the builder must keep
the chess tabletops, which one
attendee called a hallmark of
city green spaces.
“There’s something very
New York about a park with
chess tables,” said Alec
Baxt.
Fortis leaders also plan to
make both of the park’s entrances
on Henry and Pacific
streets handicap accessible.
The developer will present
a new round of designs
for the Henry Street park at
CB6’s Parks Committee meeting
on March 20, where locals
will get another opportunity
to weigh in on the plans.
Justice honored
Brooklyn Paper
Call it a celebration of a
life well-lived — and a job
well-done.
Local luminaries and legal
eagles gathered this month to
honor the legacy of the late
Kings County jurist Justice
William Thompson, by presenting
another accomplished
judge with an award in his
name.
Celebrants packed the Appellate
Division of the New
York State Supreme Court
in Brooklyn Heights for the
Feb. 13 event — co-hosted by
the Brooklyn Bar and Judicial
Friends associations —
where they presented retired
state Supreme Court Judge
Priscilla Hall with the firstever
Hon. William C. Thompson
Award, recognizing Hall’s
near decade on the bench.
Hall served as an associate
justice in the Appellate Division
of the state Supreme
Court, which former Gov.
David Patterson appointed
her to in March 2009. She
retired in March 2018.
Award recipient Justice Priscilla Hall, center left,
showed off the honor beside Thompson’s son, former
New York City Comptroller William Thompson,
Jr., center right, Justice Sylvia Hinds-Radix, right,
and other attendees.
DEMOCRACY
STARTS WITH YOU.
VOTE IN NEW YORK CITY’S PUBLIC
ADVOCATE SPECIAL ELECTION ON
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26.
POLLING LOCATIONS WILL BE
OPEN FROM 6:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Call 311 or visit www.voting.nyc to check your
voter registration status, find your polling location,
or for more information on voting!
Photo by Caroline Ourso
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