Rather than being universally embraced, Brooklyn Bridge Park has sparked deep controversy in some quarters in Brooklyn, primarily because high rise condo development will be used to finance the park. The Sierra Club, which opposes the way the park is being developed, is sponsoring a presentation called “The Selling of Brooklyn Bridge Park” on Friday, May 30 at 6:30PM. It will take place at Judson Memorial Church, Washington Sq. Park South in Manhattan (enter at 235 Thompson St.). The speakers will be Judi Francis, President of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund and civic activist Roy Sloane. Here’s a bit from the email:

Urban parks are becoming our newest endangered species. The 20-year effort to secure a park in an 85-acre strip along 1.5 miles of Brooklyn’s East River waterfront is a prime example of how the seemingly good intention of creating “parks that pay for themselves” is leading to the actual demise of public parks. The prospect of increasing commercialization of NYC parks, as well as efforts to mobilize public support for a genuine Brooklyn Bridge Park, will be discussed by Judi Francis, president of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund, and Roy Sloane, who has led public outreach efforts as a board member of the BB Park Local Development Corp.

Requiring parks to pay their own way is an extension of the relentless cutbacks in
public funding for NYC parks in recent decades, from 1.5% of the municipal budget in
former years to only 0.4% currently. Unlike traditional parks, which are administered by the NYC Dept. of Parks & Recreation, the Brooklyn Bridge Park is being created by a subsidiary of the Empire State
Development Corp., a state agency whose primary mission is promotion of economic activity. Apart from $150 million committed by the city and state for construction, the park will have to generate enough income to pay for ongoing operation and upkeep. The main source, under the approved plan, will be payments from owners of apartments in high-rise housing with 1,200 luxury units that private developers will be allowed to build within the park – a major intrusion into its narrow swath of green space. Free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.