Tag: Prospect Park Alliance

Prospect Park Alliance

New Flatbush Entrances Open

January 28, 2021

Just in time for the new year, Prospect Park Alliance and NYC Parks have opened to the public the first new entrances to Prospect Park since the 1940s, and the restored Flatbush Avenue Perimeter, while work is completed on site. The new entrances were funded by Mayor Bill de Blasio, and designed by Prospect Park Alliance, the non-profit organization that operates the park in partnership with the City, through the Parks Without Borders initiative.

Get Directions to the new Flatbush Entrance.

“Guided by input from New Yorkers, Parks Without Borders makes access to our beautiful park space across the city easier for all,” said NYC Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Vicki Been. “Prospect Park’s new Flatbush Avenue entrance and the adjacent street improvements bring the benefits of green space to even more New Yorkers.”

“We are so excited to formally cut the ribbon on this transformative project I hold personally dear to me,” said NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP. “The iconic Prospect Park is now even more inviting and accessible thanks to this investment from Mayor de Blasio and the efforts of our partners at Prospect Park Alliance. When I imagined how Parks Without Borders could improve and revitalize many of our beloved parks, I could not have pictured a more perfect example than Prospect Park. PWB has opened up new possibilities and new pathways for New Yorkers to enjoy our green spaces for generations to come.”

“Prospect Park Alliance is committed to making Prospect Park open and accessible to all communities it borders, and we are grateful to be able to open pedestrian access while work concludes on the site,” said Prospect Park Alliance President Sue Donoghue. “I want to thank Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYC Parks Commissioner Silver for their innovative Parks Without Borders initiative, and the many community members who came out in support of this project. These new entrances will serve as an important gateway to the park for our east side communities, and to the park’s northeast corner, a focal point of our future restoration efforts.”

New Entrance Design

Prospect Park was nominated for Parks Without Borders with overwhelming support from the surrounding communities. The $3.2 million project includes a major entrance in the northeast section of the park near the former Rose Garden, the site of future restoration by Prospect Park Alliance, and a secondary entrance located just north of the Prospect Park Zoo. Both entrances feature new lighting, seating and new landscaping. The major entrance aligns with a future DOT traffic signal and pedestrian crosswalk, intersecting a berm retained by a three-foot-high granite wall, and opens opens onto a small public plaza.

The entrance design includes:

  • An extensive new landscape with over 150 new trees—a mix of elms, hackberry, sweetgum, a variety of oak species, and a large mix of evergreen varieties, such as pines and hollies, which are important for wildlife and help to screen traffic noise.
  • Two levels of terraced seating, which provides views of the woodlands and serves as a gathering space for the community.
  • Rock scrambles of boulders with stepping stones that lead to an informal running trail. These boulders were sourced from the building site of the NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital Center for Community Health in Park Slope.
  • A palette of native flowering and perennial plants that will be visually stunning, beneficial to the park ecosystem and resilient to climate change.
  • Access directly into Prospect Park’s woodlands—the first entrance to open directly onto this important park amenity, which is an area of focus and restoration for the Alliance since the early 1990s. Visitors are greeted by towering trees and can choose multiple paths that wind through the park’s 250 acres of woodlands.

Broader Restoration Plans

The creation of these entrances is part of a comprehensive restoration of the Flatbush Avenue perimeter of Prospect Park. A second project, funded with $2.4 million from Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams and Council Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo, and led by Prospect Park Alliance, restored the Flatbush Avenue perimeter from Grand Army Plaza to the Prospect Park Zoo to its original grandeur with new landscaping, an expanded promenade, and new furnishings. Through $2 million in funding by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Prospect Park Alliance also is restoring 1,200 linear feet of paths in this area of the park, with new paving, park benches and lighting, and much-needed tree care. In addition, Prospect Park Alliance is in the early design phases of creating a covered horseback riding ring for this area of the park, just north of the Zoo, for public and therapeutic riding. This $4.1 million project is funded through the support of the New York City Council, Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams and New York Council Member Brad Lander.

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Left to Right: Sue Donoghue, Prospect Park Alliance President; Assembly Member JoAnne Simon; Council Member Brad Lander; Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver; Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo; Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Martin Maher.

For the ribbon cutting, Deputy Mayor Been, Parks Commissioner Silver, and Prospect Park Alliance President Sue Donoghue were joined by City Council Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo, Council Member Brad Lander, Assembly Member JoAnne Simon, Borough Parks Commissioner Martin Maher and the Alliance design team.

“Although planned pre-pandemic, the unveiling of our new and improved Prospect Park could not be more timely. COVID-19 has provided further support for the notion that our parks are a fundamental part of the Brooklyn experience! I am so proud to stand alongside Mayor de Blasio, Borough President Adams, and my fellow elected officials to not only make Prospect Park more accessible but to invest in its beautification for all to enjoy ahead of Summer 2021,” said Council Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo.

“Prospect Park has been a wonderful reprieve for myself and many others during this pandemic period,” said City Council Member Brad Lander. “The new Flatbush Avenue entrances and the perimeter restoration will offer greater access to the Park as well as continued enjoyment for all users! I am thrilled to be apart of this ribbon cutting and am looking forward to watching my constituents as well as all the residents of Brooklyn enjoy these new features!”

Learn more about capital projects underway in Prospect Park on our Capital Projects Tracker.

c. Martin Seck

Carry In, Carry Out Pilot Launches

December 16, 2020

NYC Parks and Prospect Park Alliance are piloting a “Carry In, Carry Out” trash management plan for the Prospect Park woodlands, starting at Lookout Hill, a nearly 25-acre natural area in the mid-section of the park.

“During this challenging time, we have learned firsthand just how valuable our green spaces are as they have served us in a myriad of ways: for quiet recreation; exercise; as community hubs and more. For these reasons, we appreciate Prospect Park Alliance’s support by launching this “Carry In, Carry Out” pilot trash plan,” said NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP. “We thank the Alliance for their work to bring this pilot online as we work to keep our parks beautiful and clean. We urge New Yorkers everywhere to dispose of trash in designated receptacles or follow this model and take it with them when they leave.”

“Prospect Park is home to Brooklyn’s last remaining forest, and these fragile woodland habitats can be easily trampled and disrupted, which is why we are piloting a “Carry In, Carry Out” trash management strategy in this area,” said Sue Donoghue, Park Administrator and President of Prospect Park Alliance. “This strategy will not reduce the number of staff focused on trash management, nor the number of trash pick ups or receptacles, but move this activity to the entrances of our woodlands to keep trash receptacles and large vehicles off woodland paths.”

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“Carry In, Carry Out” is a trash management strategy commonly employed in national parks that removes trash receptacles from fragile nature areas, and places the responsibility on the park patron to carry any trash generated during their visit out of the park. In Prospect Park, trash receptacles will be positioned at all main entrances to Lookout Hill (see map above), and additional signage will be placed throughout the woodlands reminding park patrons of this policy.

NYC Parks and Prospect Park Alliance will pilot this program over the course of the year, with the hope of expanding to all of the park’s woodlands.

Interested in learning more about park stewardship efforts and how you can help keep the park green and vibrant? Visit our Get Involved page.

c. Paul Martinka

Endale Arch Restored to Original Splendor

November 13, 2020

Prospect Park Alliance has completed the restoration of Endale Arch and reopened this treasure to the public.

One of the first architectural elements constructed in Prospect Park in the 1860s, the arch was envisioned by park creators Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux as a transporting entrance to the majestic Long Meadow from Grand Army Plaza. The $500,000 project was generously funded by the Tiger Baron Foundation, with additional support from Council Member Brad Lander through District 39 participatory budgeting.

“Thanks to this comprehensive restoration, the historic Endale Arch will welcome visitors to Prospect Park’s Long Meadow for generations to come,” said NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP. “We are grateful to the Tiger Baron Foundation and Council Member Lander for their support, and we commend the Prospect Park Alliance for their remarkable work on this project.”

“I’m thrilled that our community chose through participatory budgeting to support the restoration of Endale Arch, a historic piece of Brooklyn’s backyard,” said Council Member Brad Lander. “I thank the Tiger Baron Foundation for their support of this project. At a time when New Yorkers are appreciating their parks more than ever, it is wonderful to have an opportunity to learn about and enjoy the contributions of the past to the spaces we love so dearly today.”

“We are so thankful to the Tiger Baron Foundation and Council Member Brad Lander for supporting this work, and enabling us to undertake a restoration worthy of Prospect Park’s creators,” said Sue Donoghue, President of Prospect Park Alliance. “Our Design + Construction team has outdone themselves on this project, and we are thrilled to share this beautifully restored  archway with our community.”

The Endale Arch restoration comprises years of research, dedicated work and a number of exciting discoveries as layers of time were stripped back. The phased restoration kicked off in 2015 with the adjacent landscape. The Alliance stabilized the stone retaining walls and surrounding hillsides; removed invasive plants; added an array of native plantings; and made improvements to the arch and pathway to address drainage issues and reduce potential flooding and water damage.

In the final phase, the Alliance worked with Barnhart Restoration to restore the interior of the arch and the exterior stonework. In the course of this phase, layers of paint and grit were peeled back, revealing handsome original details that the design team was surprised and delighted to find. A motif of alternating yellow Berea sandstone and New Jersey brownstone, and white pine and black walnut wood paneling, which was hidden for nearly a century has been restored. The team opted to leave one brick and granite cross vault exposed to highlight the detailed craftsmanship put in place over 150 years ago.

Visitors can now enjoy the arch as it would have appeared to the park’s earliest visitors, all with the benefit of new LED lighting that illuminates the interior of the arch. The result is a breathtaking window into Prospect Park’s historic past. Learn more about the restoration of Endale Arch.

The restoration of Endale Arch is part of a larger effort by Prospect Park Alliance to improve the northeast corner of the park. This work also includes the restorations of the Vale Woodlands, through a grant from New York State Parks; the Grand Army Plaza berms and Soldiers and Sailors Arch, funded by Mayor Bill de Blasio; the Flatbush Avenue perimeter, funded by Borough President Eric L. Adams and Council Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo; two new entrances along Flatbush Avenue, the first in the park since the 1940s, funded by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Parks without Borders initiative; and pathway and lighting improvements in the Vale, funded by Mayor Bill de Blasio. Learn more about these projects on the Alliance’s Capital Projects Tracker,

c. Paul Martinka

Northeast Path Work Now Underway

November 10, 2020

Through $2 million in funding by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Prospect Park Alliance is restoring pedestrian paths in the northeast corner of Prospect Park to make the area more accessible to the communities who use the park. This project includes the reconstruction of approximately 1,200 linear feet of paths, new park benches and new lighting, much-needed tree care and the replacement of the play sand in the Zucker Natural Exploration Area. The work is underway now and will be complete in the summer of 2021.

For the duration of the work, please be aware that portions of the paths and adjoining areas will be closed off for park-goers safety—as a result visitors may need to plan alternative routes in the area. We appreciate your patience and flexibility as we complete this essential work.

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Map of area indicating paths that will receive new lighting (orange), new sand (blue dots), and new paving (solid blue). c. Prospect Park Alliance

This work is part of a larger effort by Prospect Park Alliance to improve the northeast corner of the park. The reimagining of this area also includes the historic restoration of the Endale Arch, funded by the Tiger Baron Foundation with additional support from Council Member Brad Lander through District 39 participatory budgeting; restorations of the Vale Woodlands through a grant from New York State Parks; the Grand Army Plaza berms and Soldiers and Sailors Arch, funded by Mayor Bill de Blasio; the Flatbush Avenue perimeter, funded by Borough President Eric L. Adams and Council Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo; two new entrances along Flatbush Avenue, the first in the park since the 1940s, funded by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Parks without Borders initiative; and pathway and lighting improvements in the Vale, funded by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Learn more about this and other projects on the Alliance’s Capital Projects Tracker: prospectpark.org/tracker. 

c. Elizabeth Keegin Colley

Virtual Program: 2020 Alliance Gala

October 29, 2020

On October 29, 2020, Prospect Park Alliance hosted it’s annual Gala, virtually! This celebration featured Alliance Board Chair Iris Weinshall, Jimmy Kimmel, Angélique Kidjo, and a musical performance from Alegba and Friends. The program recognized the volunteers and supporters who have helped care for Brooklyn’s most treasured green space during a difficult year.

The Gala helped raise funds for Prospect Park Alliance, which has continued to operate during a pandemic and has ensured that this essential green space is open and accessible to our whole community. Donate to Prospect Park Alliance.

 

YouTube video

c. Anna Watts for The Wall Street Journal

Taking Care of Brooklyn’s Backyard in a Pandemic

May 18, 2020

As is the case for so many, work looks a little different these days for Prospect Park Alliance. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, our team has had to find ways of caring for the park with limited staff and a high number of visitors, while meeting the challenges of our current socially distanced moment. 

Prospect Park Alliance, the non-profit that cares for the park in partnership with the city, provides critical staff and resources that keep Brooklyn’s Backyard green and vibrant. As highlighted in a recent report, the pandemic has resulted in a loss of critical funding for parks across the city. For Prospect Park Alliance, the closure of park amenities like the Prospect Park Tennis Center and LeFrak Center at Lakeside, and also the cancellation of fundraising events like Party for the Park, has resulted in nearly $3 million in lost revenue.

This loss in funding has impacted the Alliance in terms of our ability to hire seasonal staff, roughly 20% of our total workforce, for horticulture work, summer weekend cleanup crews and woodland restoration. In addition, the city has reduced its workforce to respond to cuts to the city budget, and the Alliance’s essential volunteer workforce of nearly 4,000 has been placed on hold due to safety concerns around the pandemic.

No matter the impact, nature goes on, and so does the work of the Alliance. In the past few months, Prospect Park Alliance and NYC Parks staff have been at work in the park performing basic maintenance. For our landscape management team, the Alliance had to forgo its normal spring planting season of more than 5,000 trees, plants and shrubs throughout the park’s 585 acres, and instead is focused on picking up trash in sensitive woodland areas, weeding and repairing fencing. In addition, Alliance staff who are home due to PAUSE New York have been volunteering in the park to support our essential NYC Parks workers, helping to clean the park and perform basic repairs.

With the Audubon Center and Lefferts Historic House shuttered, Alliance educators have taken their curriculums online! In a normal season, these  park destinations are home to hundreds of  free public programs for tens of thousands of community members each year. Now, these activities are going up online at Virtual Prospect Park—so you can experience the park from the comfort of your own home. 

With the summer months close at hand, and the city’s pools and potentially beaches closed to the public, the Alliance is bracing for a busier than usual summer season with limited staff and resources. Want to make a difference in your park? Consider becoming a member of Prospect Park Alliance with a limited-time discount. In addition to benefits that enhance your enjoyment of the park, you will feel good knowing that your support will make an immediate difference in your park. Join today!

3 Ways You Show Your Prospect Park Love

In uncertain times, one of the things Prospect Park Alliance can count on is our community to show the park some love—in wonderful and creative ways! We’re highlighting some of the park-inspired photos, poems and works of art that you’ve shared with us through our social media channels. They’ve brightened our days, and we hope they’ll lift your spirits, too.

Poems

April was National Poetry month, and we asked for your park-inspired haikus. Here are a few gems: 

Saw friend from afar,
Together we breathe and laugh,
Is this heaven now?

-Instagram user @routinetheenemy

Two cooper hawks eat
Silently. The midwood shows
Life, and death, go on.

-Instagram user @malkombre

Trees wear pastel veils
of delicate buds and leaves
that bask in morning light

-Instagram user @ejgertz​

Art

Prospect Park has always been a source of inspiration for artists, and these days we’ve been loving seeing the park through your eyes: 

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From Instagram user @johnparnellstudio

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From Instagram user @judipheifferart

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From Instagram user @bigskysafaris

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From Instagram user @shogandrawings​

Photography

There is never a shortage of excellent photography taken in  Prospect Park. In recent weeks, our community has kept up the beautiful shots with poignant captions to match. 

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From Instagram user @flysi3000, “The world is still a beautiful place. Feeling very appreciative of the beauty that’s right outside my window.”

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From Instagram user @virginial.s.freire, “In my life as a photographer, a mother, and a native Brooklynite, I have always been grateful to Prospect Park. But now more than ever the Park has been a touchstone that has bolstered me through this time, helped me find daily moments of beauty, and provided me with space to breathe. There at sunrise, the trails and ‘secret places’ in the Park offer respite and a place to reflect, find resolve, and overcome my own anxieties. I am eternally grateful.”

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And from Instagram user @vali.bas, “there is light at the end of the path.”

Want to contribute? Show us your drawings, photos, poems, performance pieces and more on social media—tag @prospect_park or use #prospectpark.

 

Community Pitches In To Pick Up Trash

In a normal year, Prospect Park receives upwards of 10 million visits—folks flock to Brooklyn’s Backyard for picnics, play dates, concerts, dog walks and so much more. During the best of times, tidying up after these visits is an enormous undertaking, requiring the help of dozens of NYC Parks and Prospect Park Alliance staff and volunteers. This work helps ensure that the park stays clean and safe for our community and the wildlife that call Prospect Park home.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many changes to the park. With nearly everything other public space closed, parks have never been more essential for our community—or more visited. Across the city, parks are packed and trash is on the rise. As the Alliance deals with reduced staff in the park, and reduced revenue to pay for supplemental cleaning crews, we are looking to our community to help keep this shared space clean—and you are stepping up!

Want to join in the fight to keep Prospect Park clean and healthy? Here are our tips:

  • An easy way to help keep the park clean? Carry your trash out of the park with you when you go or locate a park dumpster for trash to prevent overfilling smaller receptacles.
  • Want to play a bigger part? Make your own Green-and-Go Kit by pulling together garbage bags, trash grabbers and gloves for your next trip to the park.
  • If you are helping out, please observe social distancing guidelines—wear a face covering and keep 6 feet of distance from others.
  • Stick to park paths to avoid trampling fragile park habitats, and thank you for doing your part for Brooklyn’s Backyard! 

Learn more about how you can help Prospect Park Alliance sustain the park environment. 

Images: above via Gail Greenberg, below left via Paula Zamora Gonzalez, below right via Pristine Johannessen

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This year on Earth Day, April 22, Prospect Park Alliance piloted a Green + Go Kit volunteer program, which offered trash grabbers and garbage bags to ecologically minded Brooklynites. Forty kits were loaned to the public in an effort to create a socially distanced volunteer opportunity, and the response was more than enthusiastic: all kits were booked in just three days. 

“It was a very diverse group of people—all ages and cultures were represented, adults and families with children,” said Maria Carrasco, Vice President for Public Programs at Prospect Park Alliance. “People were very thankful that the Alliance was offering this opportunity, and they walked out the door and started cleaning up trash right away!”

The Green + Go Kit volunteers aren’t the only ones who have been helping with trash collection—the help regular park-goers who are doing their part has been reported far and wide: these community members have been going out of their way to help pick up litter to keep Brooklyn’s Backyard clean and beautiful. 

 

c. Martin Seck

Looking to Summer in NYC Parks

May 12, 2020

What will this summer look like for New York City parks? A recent report issued by a coalition of 20 parks and open space partner groups anticipates a steep decline in funding that will impact the basic maintenance and upkeep of our parks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the findings from the 20 park partner groups:

  • An anticipated decrease in funding for parks groups of up to 68% for 2020, which will translate into at least $37 million fewer dollars invested into New York City’s public spaces. 
  • A combination of staff cuts and social distancing measures will result in 40,000 lost hours of park maintenance and 110,000 lost hours of horticultural care citywide.
  • Approximately 542,000 trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals will not be planted in 2020 as a result of this diminished capacity.

Read the full impact report, which was also reported in The Wall Street Journal.

“In these unprecedented times, our parks are one of the few places open to our community,” said Sue Donoghue, President of Prospect Park Alliance. “We all need to do our part to help keep up with increased usage in the face of significant challenges. It is critical for all New Yorkers to have access to safe, clean parks, today and in the challenging times ahead.”

During New York State on PAUSE, the city’s parks have become even more essential to New Yorkers for mental and physical health. This summer, the city’s parks anticipate a huge increase in patrons, especially with the closure of public pools and uncertainty of whether beaches will be open. Under normal circumstances, parks would be hiring seasonal workers for this high season to keep up with the influx of visitors. Unfortunately, without sufficient funding to offset the decline in its operating budgets, New York City’s parks will be negatively impacted this summer and for years to come.

NYC’s parks conservancies and nonprofits were originally formed to bridge a major gap of resources after the fiscal crisis in the 1970’s that left the city’s parks in a severely deteriorated and unsafe condition. Now, citywide, independent groups support the New York City’s Parks Department in managing 15,000+ acres of parkland and green space–50% of NYC’s public green space–and employ 500+ full-time staff, hundreds of seasonal workers, and 100,000+ volunteers to help care for the parks. Collectively, the partner groups invest private funds of over $150 million annually in public land. The groups also fund countless community programs each year and support local initiatives that encourage healthy living, an active space for children and families, and a respite for millions of New Yorkers.

The following organizations were surveyed for this report: Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Bronx River Alliance, City Parks Foundation, Freshkills Park Alliance, The Friends of Governors Island, Friends of the High Line, Gowanus Canal Conservancy, Hudson River Park Friends, Hunters Point Parks Conservancy, Madison Square Park Conservancy, Natural Areas Conservancy, New Yorkers for Parks, New York Restoration Project, North Brooklyn Parks Alliance, Prospect Park Alliance, Randall’s Island Park Alliance, Riverside Park Conservancy, The Trust for Public Land, Van Cortlandt Park Alliance, Washington Square Park Conservancy.

Looking to make a difference? Add your signature to the New Yorkers for Parks Play Fair campaign petition, which seeks to add $47 million to the city’s budget for parks and open spaces. Learn more on the New Yorkers for Parks website.

Want to become part of the driving force that keeps Brooklyn’s Backyard green and vibrant? Consider becoming a Prospect Park Alliance member today and enjoy discounted rates for a limited time.

 

Get To Know Prospect Park’s Trees

March 18, 2020

Prospect Park Alliance recently completed a survey of more than half of Prospect Park’s 30,000 trees through $113,000 in Urban Forestry grants from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

The survey focused on the park’s landscaped trees and trees in wooded areas less than 25 feet from a path. This information provides a more nuanced picture of the park’s evolving ecosystem, as well as important insights into the economic, environmental and health benefits of this urban green space. The Alliance commissioned the survey, which was conducted by Davey Resource Group, to create a management plan to help track the park’s tree maintenance and planting needs in the coming years. 

Some top line results of the 15,698 trees surveyed in Prospect Park:

  • The surveyed trees provide more than $2 million in annual environmental benefits. This includes:
    • Air quality: 21,000 pounds of pollutants removed from the air each year, valued at $132,000;
    • Greenhouse gas benefits: 3,000 tons removed from the air, valued at $17,000;
    • Energy benefits: equivalent to 1,300 megawatt hours saved, valued at close to $862,000;
    • Storm water runoff benefits: 22 million gallons saved from the city sewer system, valued at $181,000.
  • 203 species of trees found in the park, including numerous varieties of native cherries, maples and oaks, as well as less common species included the Southern magnolia, a fragrant, flowering tree whose northern range is growing due to climate change, and the bald cypress, which typically grows in swampy conditions and sends up knobby root growths called “knees.”
  • The largest tree surveyed has a diameter of 77 inches, or 6 feet, 5 inches across! This specimen tree, an American elm located near the Bandshell, is estimated to be over 100 years old.

Want to help sustain this vital community resource? One way to support this important work is through the Alliance’s Commemorative Tree Program. During planting seasons that take place each fall and spring, members of the community have the opportunity to plant a new tree in Prospect Park. Through this program, roughly 1,100 trees have been planted over the past 30 years. In addition, each year the Alliance plants a community tree on Arbor Day: learn more about how to get involved in this community celebration.

Want to learn more about Prospect Park’s trees? Check out the Prospect Park TreeKeeper Interactive Map to get info on each of the surveyed trees and their benefit to the community.