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By Ruth Brown<\/p>\n
Brooklyn Paper<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Possession is nine-tenths of the law, but these activists are hoping to score land with around nine tents and some lawn.<\/p>\n
Local green-space lovers and a couple of pols camped out next to Bushwick Inlet Park in Williamsburg on Saturday, staging an overnight protest to demand the owner of a neighboring warehouse accept Mayor DeBlasio’s recent $100-million offer to buy the property turn it into more parkland.<\/p>\n
Around 20 locals braved summer showers to join Borough President Adams and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D–Greenpoint) at the so-called “sleep in” next to the for-sale CitiStorage complex — and organizers believe it showed they will do just about anything to get the land in city hands so it can make good on a long-standing promise to finish building out the park. <\/p>\n
“Staying out late and staying in the rain, it really highlighted the importance of the issue and how strongly people in the community feel — they want this park completed,” said Steve Chesler of activist group Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park.<\/p>\n
Some 50 residents gathered at the site in the early evening to enjoy live music, a dance performance, and some educational talks, before the most dedicated attendees pitched their tents on the asphalt and settled in for the night, Chesler said.<\/p>\n
The accommodations proved “comfortable enough,” he reported. <\/p>\n
Both Adams and Maloney stayed all night — the Beep had to leave at the crack of dawn, but the Congresswoman hung around for coffee and doughnuts, Chesler said. <\/p>\n
The city has been promising to buy the 11-acre site and use it to extend Bushwick Inlet Park out to 28 acres since 2005 — when it upzoned much of the area for luxury housing high-rises — but had until recently claimed it couldn’t afford the sticker price. <\/p>\n
DeBlasio finally made an offer to land-owner Norm Brodsky last month, and Saturday marked the halfway point to a 60-day deadline he has to accept it — a period the pols and activists have been tracking on a big countdown sign outside the park. <\/p>\n
But it isn’t looking promising — Brodsky already rejected the offer on day one, claiming he can get far more for the land. <\/p>\n
The real-estate tycoon is giving other potential buyers until July 10 to make a bid on the land, which he is pitching via this “Koyaanisqatsi”-esque advertisement. <\/p>\n
1 N 11th from Brendan Maddigan on Vimeo.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
But Chesler says his group is holding out hope that Brodsky — a long-time neighborhood resident who last year described himself as “very charitable” — will accept the mayor’s $100-million offer for the good of the community. <\/p>\n
“We’re appealing to Norm Brodsky, who has been a member of the community for many years, to listen to his fellow neighbors to do the right thing,” he said. <\/p>\n
Reach deputy editor Ruth Brown at rbrown@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260–8309. Follow her at twitter.com\/rbbrown.<\/p>\n
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