State park will honor Chisholm
A massive swath of Jamaica Bay is being converted to a park area with miles of walkway and an amphitheater named after the first black congresswoman, Gov. Cuomo announced Wednesday.
The first phase of the 407acre park is set to open next summer and will honor Shirley Chisholm. It will include 10 miles of trails, kayaking access and picnic areas. Part of the area was formerly used as a landfill.
“This is one of the most depressed areas in the state,” Cuomo said. “Enough is enough. It’s been in the same condition for 40 years.”
The park has been in the works since 2002, when the city’s Department of Environmental Protection started a $235 million site remediation to remove toxins from the former landfill.
The park is part of Cuomo’s $1.4 billion Vital Brooklyn initiative. That program includes financing of 1,000 affordable homes for seniors on New York City Housing Authority land in central Brooklyn. The plan will also help finance farmers’ markets in that area.
The area has yet to open to the public. The first section will be financed by a state investment of up to $20 million. The green space will also be over “the former Pennsylvania Avenue Landfill and Fountain Avenue Landfill.”
The spots were maintained by the Sanitation Department from 1956-1983 and handed over to the National Park Service as part of Gateway National Recreation Area in 1974.