The dream of BQGreen to create a “park out of thin air” by extending a concrete platform over a portion of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) that runs below the street level in Williamsburg, Brooklyn between S. 3rd and S. 5th Streets that will integrate Marcy Green and Rodney Park needs Governor Hochul’s support to make it a reality.
On June 20, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and U.S. Representative Nydia Velázquez were joined by NYC Council Members Lincoln Restler and Jennifer Gutiérrez, NYS Senator Kristen Gonzalez, and community organizations: St. Nicks Alliance, Southside United HDFC – Los Sures, and El Puente called on Governor Kathy Hochul and New York State to advance BQGreen. The expanded park would be outfitted with a flower garden, a playground, a baseball diamond, barbecues, grassy and wooded areas, an indoor pool, and a water play zone.
BQGreen was the brainchild of Diana Reyna in 2010 during her time as a NYC Council Member and Reynoso was serving as her chief of staff at the time. In April of that year, Reyna funded St. Nicks Alliance to commission DLANDstudio to explore whether portions of the BQE in Williamsburg that traveled below street level could be covered over and used as a public greenspace. Since it was developed, BQGreenhas seen widespread community support but no buy-in from NY State, who has jurisdiction over the project area.
When Reynoso succeeded Reyna in 2014 and was elected council member for District 34 he continued to champion the project with the support of the Williamsburg community.
“For over a decade, our Southside community has rallied around the BQGreenas a chance to bring beautiful parkland to Williamsburg, reconnect our neighborhoods, and finally move forward from the racist legacy of Robert Moses’s BQE,” said Reynoso on June 20.“Now the stars have all but aligned— the funding is there, the support of the people remains strong — but still the State chooses to dig in its heels and turn a blind eye to the harms of the past that remain alive and well here in Williamsburg. By co-applying for the billions of federal dollars currently up for grabs, the State has an opportunity to finally show up for our people.”
“From high asthma rates to heavy traffic and noise pollution, the BQE has imposed terrible costs on Brooklyn communities for decades” said U.S. Representative Nydia Velázquez. “With BQGreen, we can begin to repair this legacy by reconnecting communities and creating a vibrant green gathering space that all Brooklynites can be proud of. The federal infrastructure funding currently available presents our State with a critical opportunity to finance BQGreen and address numerous environmental justice and public health issues in the process.”
The need for more parkland in Brooklyn Community District 1, which includes Williamsburg and Greenpoint, remains a top priority — identified by the community board as one of ‘the three most pressing issues’ to be addressed in Fiscal Year 2024. With only 5% of the total district area parkland, the district ranks 48 out of all 59 city districts when it comes to park space relative to total land area. BQGreen would add more greenspace, help mitigate the public health harms of toxic pollution, and reconnect communities, demonstrating that re-envisioning the BQE is possible when the political will is there.
The Greenline 