As part of the Partnerships effort to improve or create new public spaces for community programming and for the neighborhood to enjoy, weve taken on the restoration of the Belgian Block plaza at the northeast entrance to Fort Greene Park at Myrtle Avenue and Washington Park. This underutilized entrance to the park has long been a treacherous path with uneven Belgian blocks sticking up out of the ground this way and that. We approached the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation a number of months ago to see if we could take on a basic and affordable renovation of the plaza using funds we had raised for streetscape improvements on Myrtle Avenue. The Parks Department and the Fort Greene Park Conservancy liked the idea, we put the project out to bid, the permit came through on Tuesday, and work has already begun.

If you walk by the site, you will notice that a group of diligent workers have been removing the Belgian blocks at the entrance, creating organized piles of blocks in the central oval. The scope of work for this project includes removing and resetting the Belgian blocks (by hand  no machines for this delicate job) using the existing pattern, and creating larger pits around the trees in the central oval to give adequate space to the tree roots. The blocks will be removed completely in the area immediately adjacent to the parks stone wall, and that area will be mulched and eventually planted. Neither the hex pavers nor the granite stairs into the Park will be touched at this point given our limited budget. Of the $30,000 total project budget, $25,000 is being paid for via MARPs New York Main Street Program, which is funded by New York States Division of Housing & Community Renewal, with the Myrtle Avenue BID contributing the $5,000 remaining balance. Work should be completed in three weeks.

The driving force for this project really came from community members who attended our community planning workshops in 2007, facilitated by Project for Public Spaces and co-sponsored with the Ingersoll and Whitman Tenant Associations. These workshops were organized to get local input on improving public spaces on Myrtle, with one workshop in particular focused on the Ashland Place to Carlton Avenue area. Participants felt strongly about improving this entrance, and saw potential in the possibility for a vibrant public space. We started small by using the plaza this year as the distribution site for the Fort Greene CSA every Wednesday afternoon and evening. We hope be leveling the Belgian Blocks, there will now be opportunities for more and diverse programming and activities. If you have ideas that would help us to activate this newly renovated public space, drop us a line!