New book details history, development of Brooklyn Bridge Park
Brooklyn BookBeat: Henrik Krogius, Joanne Witty Untangle the Tale of the ‘Jewel’ of the Brooklyn Waterfront
Stretching 1.3 miles along a waterfront that faces one of the world’s greatest harbors and storied skylines, Brooklyn Bridge Park is among the largest and most significant public projects to be built in New York in a generation. It has transformed a derelict industrial waterfront into a new public use that is both a reflection and the spark of Brooklyn’s resurgence in the 21st century. New York City is not alone. There are many shorelines in need of a makeover, and cities around the world are struggling to reimagine, enliven, modernize and monetize ailing or abandoned waterfronts.
In “Brooklyn Bridge Park: A Dying Waterfront Transformed” (Fordham University Press Hardcover), which will be published in September, Emmy-award winning news producer and former Brooklyn Heights Press editor Henrik Krogius and lawyer and park leader Joanne Witty share the inspiring story of how democracy and human nature can transform a maritime wasteland into an urban treasure. More than a simple history of the park, this book digs beneath the surface to explore why and how this environmental masterpiece came to be.
Witty, having been a leading actor in the park’s planning and development for almost 20 years, and Krogius, having covered the park from its inception as the editor of a leading local newspaper, the Heights Press, are in a unique position to describe the complicated and often contentious process that shaped and produced the park.