Park Budget Wins

Through support from our local elected officials, the new City and State budgets include funding wins for Prospect Park, including improvements to park restrooms, Parkside Avenue perimeter, Lakeshore and our nature trail system. 

Through the support of New York City Council Members Shahana Hanif, Crystal Hudson and Rita Joseph, Council Speaker Julie Menin allocated $5 million in funding to help Prospect Park Alliance complete the restoration of two critical projects: the Willink Restrooms and Parkside Avenue Perimeter. 

The Willink Restroom serves the park’s Children’s Corner (home to the Carousel, Zoo and Lefferts Historic House). This heavily used facility is a historic landmark, designed by the Prospect Park Boathouse’s famed architects Helmle & Huberty, and has not been touched by restoration since 1991. Work will include a full upgrade of the building, with a new roof, lighting, plumbing, mechanical and electrical systems, and new gender-neutral restrooms.

The Parkside Perimeter improvements will extend the restoration work currently underway as part of the Alliance’s Ocean Avenue and Parkside Avenue Perimeter Restoration, which includes a new protected bike lane on Ocean Avenue and a monument to Shirley Chisholm at the Parkside and Ocean Avenue park entrance. Through an additional $2.5 million in funding from Council Speaker Julie Menin, and $1 million in funding from previous budget cycles from Council Member Rita Joseph, the Alliance will be able to extend the improvements from Parade Place to Coney Island Avenue, with a restored sidewalk and new trees and street furnishings.

Through District 39 Participatory Budgeting, the community allocated $500,000 in funding for the Alliance to improve and expand the park’s nature trail system, with the design of new, accessible trails, improvements to existing trail segments, and the addition of habitat-protective infrastructure and wayfinding and interpretive signage.

On the State level, State Senator Zellnor Myrie has allocated $1 million in funding to enable the Alliance to extend its improvements to the Prospect Park Lakeshore. Prospect Park is home to Brooklyn’s only lake, a 60-acre treasure in the heart of the borough. The Alliance’s Lakeshore Restoration, made possible through $18 million in Mayoral funding and $2 million in Council funding in previous budget cycles, will reconstruct the shoreline to closely follow the historic design by park creators Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, and includes new lighting, seating and viewing areas, as well as green infrastructure for stormwater management, newly landscaped areas to enhance wildlife habitat, and improved ADA access to this important park destination.

In addition, Assemblymember Brian Cunningham allocated $300,000 to incorporate artist-created design elements to the Shirley Chisholm Pavilion, a new pavilion with adjacent restrooms that the Alliance is designing at the Parkside and Ocean Avenue entrance to complement the new monument to Shirley Chisholm. The pavilion and restrooms are made possible through $6.75 million in funding from the New York City Council, and an additional $125,000 allocation from Assemblymember Cunningham in previous budget cycles. 

Learn more about park improvements on our Capital Projects Tracker.