This ‘pile of trash’ Red Hook street is at the center of a half-century-old dispute
'It looks like the berm in Brooklyn Bridge Park.'
An abandoned roadway, now an eyesore and dumping ground, is at the center of a longtime standoff between the Department of Transportation, community members and the city Parks Department.
Walking past a portion of Halleck Street in Red Hook reveals overgrown shrubbery, graffiti covered walls and trash strewn about. Stray cats and the occasional homeless person take shelter among the vegetation. Athletes from the adjacent soccer field relieve themselves in the bushes.
“It’s just rubble,” said Glenn Kelly, a longtime activist and chairman of Community Board 6’s parks committee. “It’s just this big pile of trash that has piled up that’s all overgrown. It looks like the berm in Brooklyn Bridge Park, except it’s lower.”