$40m restoration to Dreier - Offerman Park unveiled

The design for the upcoming restoration of Brooklyn's Dreier-Offerman Park has been unveiled. The $40 million project is a part of the PlaNYC initiative in which eight parks in all five boroughs will be transformed into attractive regional destinations. The redesign and improvements will be completed by 2011, and are part of more than $1.2 billion in capital improvements to the city's parks and open spaces that are part of PlaNYC. Also at the ceremony were parks commissioner Adrian Benepe and state senator Martin Golden. As we prepare to meet the challenges of adding nearly 1 million residents by the year 2030, we have committed to ensuring that every New Yorker lives within a ten minute walk of a park or open space. Completing these regional destination parks in all five boroughs will make them the jewels of our park system and increase usability and access for thousands of New Yorkers. Combined with our efforts to open playgrounds in schoolyards and to reclaim brownfields for open space, we are committed to significantly improving and expanding our park system. Restoration plans for the park include three new baseball fields, six new soccer fields, kayak launches, picnic areas, a central lawn, new restrooms, a bicycle path, new nature trails, an amphitheater, a playground, a recreation center, and a pavilion. As a result of this $40 million investment, in 2011, the park will be a center for competitive soccer and baseball on the improved Brooklyn waterfront. "The mayor's commitment to greening the City of New York is exemplified by the revitalization of eight regional parks throughout the five boroughs," said commissioner Benepe. "Parks like Dreier-Offerman have shown extraordinary recreational potential for years. Thanks to PlaNYC, the new design for Dreier-Offerman, including baseball and soccer fields, kayak launches, picnic areas, a bicycle path and nature trail, will greatly enhance the opportunities for recreation and the quality of life for residents of south Brooklyn." Dreier-Offerman Park, located in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn, was originally planned as a regional park resulting from three land acquisitions by the Parks Department. In 1933, the Dreier-Offerman Home for Unwed Mothers closed and donated a small parcel to the city, creating the original park. In 1944, the park was first expanded and in 1962 the city acquired an additional 72-acre tract of land. This acquisition, financed by a 1960 New York State bond act, provided the bulk of land that makes up today's 77 acre park, which is bounded by Gravesend Bay, Bay 44th Street, Bay 49th Street, and Shore Parkway. However, Dreier-Offerman's potential was never fully realized because of a lack of coordinated plans and adequate funding. In addition to a $50 million restoration of McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn and the restoration of Dreier-Offerman Park, regional parks slated for redevelopment under PlaNYC include Highbridge in Manhattan and the Bronx, Soundview Park in the Bronx, Fort Washington Park in Manhattan, Highland Park Reservoir and Rockaway Beach in Queens, and Ocean Breeze Park in Staten Island. PlaNYC will also result in the planting of one million trees throughout the City, the opening of 290 schoolyards as playgrounds, and the creation of 800 new Green Streets.(212) 360-1311 Michael Bloomberg is mayor of New York, N.Y.