Long Island City waterfront just got a little greener in Hunters Point
Start with a brownfield, add two parts human labor and one part sod, and… Insta-Park! The expansion of Gantry Park into the East Coast compound (and around the astroturf ‘park’) has made some serious progress – just in time for Spring to finally show up.
The park expansion is nothing short of great. Increased public lawn space, complete with wooden figurines of dogs dispersed hither thither – and more lounge chairs/benches facing the river and Long Island City’s famous view of the skyline.
There’s also an unintentional ‘bird sanctuary’, a small pond created by the rainwater on the portion of Queenswest slated for development of four more high-rises. Someday. In the meantime, that swath of land has been a stopping point for various migratory bird flocks. Lots of geese and heron.
Another part of the park expansion includes an controversial aesthetic element, that was um, understandably, confused with a sinister communcations device. Upon further completion, it seems to be, drumroll please, a water fountain.
(Or is it?)
That has got to be the ugliest water fountain I have ever seen. And do people still drink from public water fountains?
“And do people still drink from public water fountains?”
Huh?
Oh, I forgot, it isn’t reverse-osmosis triple-distilled free-range spring water shipped from Fiji.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
This isn’t open yet, is it? liQcity hopping fences to get the scoop!
why are there fake cut-outs of dogs all over the place?
Yes, on very hot days when you go out for a walk and are dying of thirst, or perhaps had a fruit smoothie explode all over them and need a little clean up – a water fountain is just what the doctor ordered. It’s a state park people.
The dog cut-outs are to keep geese off the lawn, no?
“It’s a state park people.”
Why does it always feel like an amenity for the tower people, then?
#8 why do you say that? It’s all in your mind.
“It’s all in your mind.”
Eh, maybe, but I always get this vibe of being in the towers’ front yard when I am over there, and everything is so shiny and perfect, just like the towers. And the people mostly seem to be well-off middle-agers. Not the same vibe you get at Murray Playground or even McCarren Park or Prospect Park.
So hang out in McCarren Park and Prospect Park.
No one will miss one less shaggy-haired Midwesterner.
tight jeans trust funds Indy 500 bands
The dog cutouts are to prevent hipsters from having kick ball games.
“everything is so shiny and perfect, just like the towers”
If you don’t like it, then there’s a perfect nearby park for you. It’s under the 59th street bridge across from the housing projects.
Lots of geese to kick. Let’s start a kick-goose league.
Queensbridge Park actually seems to be used more actively than Gantry on the whole. I guess maintaining a park for regular folks isn’t as high a priority though. That seawall is crumbling.
I’m a regular folk and don’t live in the towers and LOVE the whole Gantry waterfront, and I use it a lot. And I’m not well off middle aged either (OK maybe getting there). #10, how sad to live somewhere you don’t feel at home in. Not being sarcastic either, but maybe it’s better for you to find someplace to live that makes you happy. I’m sure there are comparable prices in Willaimsburg or Greenpoint…
Gantry Park is an absolute gem — not only in the neighborhood, but in the city — and we are so fortunate to have that space. There’s always the inevitable few whiners who love to raise a stink about everything. Open your eyes. It is without doubt one of the few (only?) improvements made in the neighborhood that everyone can cheer about. You need to kick a ball? You can do that on any weedy lot anywhere in the city. But except for the Battery and Hudson River Park, there is nothing like Gantry Park.
Is the new extended part of Gantry Park now open? Anyone?
It’s not open yet. But every now and then someone sneaks out there.
including liqcity!
#15 is evil.
It would be great if Dutch Kills and the new extension of Gantry Park opened the same week.
#21, what would Sully say?
Canada Geese are rats with wings. They hardly migrate anymore and are overpopulated, getting fat on the retention ponds and scraps of the built landscape.
23, and yuppies are rats with khakis.
squirrels are rats with furry tails.
There’s that overused term “yuppie” again…
I’m by definition a yuppie (young urban professional, for people who use the term and don’t know what it actually means) and I don’t wear khakis.
I’m by definition a “young, urban, professional” but get called a “shaggy-haired Midwesterner.”
Although I think the khaki comment was more about temperment/tastes/values as conventionally “yuppie” than actual job category/age.
Maybe they are bobos now? And they are rats who eat Whole Foods?
Canadian Geese taste pretty good if you cook them right.
Canada Geese
stay the eff out my park!
does anyone know when dutch kills open? i need to spend these $15 that have been in my pocket along with the 3 pennies a ball of lint.
stay out my park and stay out my way at the bar. $15 yo. i’ll pay $20 to keep these fools out my park and my bar.
Speaking of the park…any news on the dead body they pulled out there a couple weeks ago?
The park will be opening to the public within 30 days.
Yeah, what happened with the dead body? How wasn’t that in the press?
I hate khakis. But I love the park.
I could do without all that Canadian geese poop, but I guess it fertilizes that grass.
There’s a lot more green in the park than I expected. Nice to have that much more grassy space…
I’m excited about the park too…it’s amazing that people on this blog can put a negative spin on something like having a park to enjoy…i think those people should move to another neighborhood if they hate it so much. I guess some people just love to hate.
Yeah, next they are going to complain about the area being too safe
where is my $15 drink?
OK, I go there all the time and those ducks/geese crap everywhere. There is Duck S*@# everywhere and that was when there were far fewer ducks. I’m looking at that picture of the lawn thinking, that’s one lawn I would NOT want to walk on!
then don’t go and quit your complaining!
I know, maybe we should shoot the ducks, then you don’t have to ruin your precious shoes when you step in their crap. Damn birds getting in the way of our urban living.
Maybe it is news that the state no longer wants to take care of the park? And city doesn’t want a pieces of it ether? It’s a nice place, but why does the community have the responsibility to make sure that the correct agencies takes responsibility after making a commitment to do so. That’s the news folks. Politics of a park.
Canada geese are pests as much as pigeons. Why are you all romanticizing them?
46, I think the Canada geese are probably saying the same thing about yuppies in their khaki shorts who sit on their lawn.
i don’t think anyone is romanticizing them, but we do have to share the world with animals too…I know that is really hard to believe living in the city, but have some compassion for them at least. It is a park after all.
Animals are fine, but Canada Geese aren’t “wild” anymore… they are invasive pests. Why is it ok to badmouth rats and pigeons but not these guys?
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Is this new addition open to public?