A New Horizon for the Park’s East Side

A bright future is on the horizon for the Park’s east side perimeter! Starting in February, the Alliance, in partnership with NYC DOT, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) and NYC Parks, will begin the restoration of the Ocean Avenue perimeter, which will include a new protected bike lane and the installation of a monument to Brooklyn trailblazer Shirley Chisholm. This $16.25 million project is made possible through funding from the Mayor’s Office, the New York City Department of Transportation, the Brooklyn Borough President and New York City Council District 40. 

This large-scale restoration will include a reconstructed sidewalk bordered by an allée of trees, and new historic lighting, seating and trash cans, which will extend from the Flatbush terminus of Ocean Avenue to the Parkside and Ocean Avenue entrance to the park, and then along Parkside Avenue to Parade Place. Through the support of Council Member Rita Joseph, further restoration of the Parkside Avenue perimeter will take place in future phases. 

The protected, two-way bike lane on Ocean Avenue is elevated at sidewalk level and separated from the street with a strip of granite cobblestones as well as from the sidewalk by a grass verge featuring new trees and historic street lighting. 

This project will be undertaken in approximately 800-foot phases, with each phase slated to take two months to complete. Work will take place simultaneously on Ocean Avenue and Parkside Avenue, starting with the Flatbush terminus of Ocean Avenue. Work will conclude with the creation of a new pedestrian plaza at the Ocean Avenue and Parkside Avenue entrance, and the installation of a monument to Brooklyn political trailblazer Shirley Chisholm. 

A focal point of the new entrance, the monument honors U.S. Representative Shirley Chisholm, who was both the first black Congresswoman and the first woman to seek the Democratic presidential nomination. The design by artists Amanda Williams and Olalekan B. Jeyifous, “Our Destiny, Our Democracy,” was selected through an open design competition organized by the DCLA, which invited community members to vote for their favorite design. The design, made of painted aluminum, patinated bronze and carved stone, features a monumental portrait of Chisholm patterned with images of plants native to Brooklyn and Barbados, where Chisholm spent a portion of her childhood, including Pride of Barbados, American Chestnut and Wild Geranium, juxtaposed with the U.S. Capitol Building. The stonework surrounding the monument includes a Chisholm quote and an outline of the House of Representatives seating plan, with a bronze plaque representing Chisholm’s seat.

“Depending upon your vantage point and approach to the Ocean Avenue entrance of Prospect Park, you can see Ms. Chisholm’s silhouette inextricably intertwined with the iconic dome of the U.S. Capitol building,” shared Williams and Jeyifous in The New York Times. “This trailblazing woman was not diminutive and this monument reflects how Chisholm’s collaborative ideals were larger than herself.” The monument will be the first permanent public artwork in Brooklyn dedicated to a woman in history and the first to celebrate a woman and Black hero in Prospect Park.

This project continues the Alliance’s work to restore the perimeter of the east and south side of Prospect Park, which began with the restoration of the Flatbush Avenue perimeter in 2020 through funding from the Borough President and the City Council, which feature the first new entrances to the park since the 1940s.

Learn more about improvement projects in the park on our Capital Projects Tracker.