BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK DEFENSE FUND, INC.

23 State Street ! Brooklyn, New York 11201 ! 718.855.3982 ! www.parkdefense.org

Judith Francis, President
Linda DeRosa, Vice-President
Andrew Reynolds, Secretary,
Robert Stone, Treasurer
Mary Goodman, At-large
ADVISORY BOARD
Anthony A. Manheim,
Past President,
Brooklyn Heights Assoc. &
Founder, Brooklyn Bridge
Park Coalition (currently
BBP Conservancy)
Barbara Charton,
Pratt University
Robert Chira,
Attorney
Fred Kent,
President, Project
for Public Spaces
Joseph Merz,
Architect
COALITION PARTNERS
Carroll Gardens
Neighborhood Association
Cobble Hill Association
DUMBO Neighborhood
Alliance
Ft. Greene Association
Friends of Brooklyn Bridge Park
Park Slope Neighbors
Riverside Tenants Association
Vinegar Hill Association
Willowtown Association
SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS
Project for Public Spaces
NYC Park Advocates
Sierra Club
The Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund is a 501 c 3 not for profit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to developing
a year-round recreational PUBLIC PARK along the Brooklyn waterfront that can be accessed and enjoyed by all.
Dear Mayor de Blasio,
For nearly 10 years our coalition of neighborhood associations, city and state park and environ-
mental groups, have worked together in advocating a true park along Brooklyns waterfront, from
Vinegar Hill to Cobble Hill.
Over this time we helped elect two politicians Senator Squadron and Councilman Lander who
made no more housing inside Brooklyn Bridge Park a cornerstone of their campaigns and ulti-
mately, their success.
Our coalitions visibility and support helped Senator Squadron secure a veto over housing on Pier
6 at Atlantic Ave and at John Street in DUMBO when Governor Paterson swapped the States
control of the park for the Javits Center. The veto was key it was our guarantee that no more
housing would rise inside the borders of this park, and alternative funding mechanisms would be
employed.
Our coalition also developed the idea that became the Committee on Alternatives to Housing.
This study explored ways to pay for the park without more housing. The public hearings associat-
ed with this study demonstrated the vast number of ways to pay for the park better, equitable,
less invasive, more diverse ways - without resorting to the elite and very undemocratic use of
PILOTs, and the national precedent of housing inside a public park. This study, while politicized
in its final version by Mayor Bloomberg who added arbitrary conditions to the funding sources in
the final report, still proves that more housing is not needed to pay for Brooklyn Bridge Park!
We are now at a crossroads and look to your leadership to pull us away from the draconian meas-
ures employed by Mayor Bloomberg. We are delighted that our politicians have again voiced, this
time in unison, their request for alternatives to new housing inside the park.
We need all of our parks as parks, and more of them, as the citys population explodes. When
housing came into Brooklyn Bridge Park, all year round recreation was eliminated. Private hous-
ing then and now conflicts with true recreational needs of local residents. The important,
community-driven plan for swimming, baseball fields, a year-round recreation center, and ice
skating, all went away in favor of uber-landscaped walkways, smorgasboard tourist attractions,
and viewing platforms. It took us 8 years to finally get three soccer fields but the other features,
long advocated, are permanently erased by the BBP authority.
We have sacrificed our park for tourism and now must pay again with more housing that is
both out of scale and in conflict with the respite a park should offer. PILOTs also force tax
payers to pay-again as park dwellers get to keep their taxes for their lawns yet require schools,
fire and police protection that others have the burden of financing. We can not believe that your
administration would condone such undemocratic use of public funds.
Mayor Bill de Blasio
City Hall
New York, NY 10007 May 1, 2014
BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK DEFENSE FUND, INC.
Page 2 -- Letter to Mayor Bill deBlasio
We therefore ask that you:
1. Eliminate new housing inside of Brooklyn Bridge Park.
2. Designate Brooklyn Bridge Park a public park, protected for public use, in perpetuity.
3. Create a community-driven board to develop the final aspects of the park, long advocated.
4. Make this a NYC Parks Department park and eliminate the costly and redundant
authority that bars park union workers, ignores the voice of the public, and gives contracts to
favored vendors/friends outside of public scrutiny. This authority mocks the very principles of a
fair NYC government you so eloquently espoused in your campaign.
We ask that you consider our petition and meet with us to discuss our requests, and to work with you on the administra-
tion of the park and how it can be funded without the need of more private housing inside its borders.
Sincerely,
Judith Francis, President BBPDF Linda DeRosa, VP, BBPDF
Bob Stone, Treasurer, BBPDF Mary Goodman, At Large, BBPDF
Roy Sloane, President, Cobble Hill Association Richard Norton, President, Fort Greene Association
(representing Cobble Hill and its 10,000 residents) (representing Ft. Greene and its 8000 residents)
Aldona Vaicunas, President, Vinegar Hill Association Eric McClure, President, Park Slope Neighbors
(representing Vinegar Hill and its 1000 residents) (representing Park Slope and its 40,000 residents)
Maria Pagano, President, Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Assoc.
(representing Carroll Gardens and its 30,000 residents)
Doreen Gallo, President, DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance Lenore Mitchell, Chair, Riverside Tenants Assoc
(representing DUMBO and its 8,000 residents) (representing Willowtowns AT White 1500 tenants)
Ken Baer, Executive Director, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter
(representing 140,000 members in New York State)
Geoffrey Croft, President NYC Park Advocates
(representing NYC parks and the 8 million park users)
cc:
Letitia James, NYC Public Advocate
Scott Stringer, NYC Comptroller
Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez
State Senator Daniel Squadron
Assemblwoman Joan Milman
Councilman Steve Levin
Councilman Brad Lander
Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris
Deputy Mayor for Finance Alicia Glen, Chair BBP Board of Directors
Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver
Melissa Mark-Viverto, Chair, NYC Council
Mark Levine, Parks Committee Chair, NYC Council
Jonathan Viguers, Borough Representative for Mayor deBlasio