Overused and under-maintained: How city’s rezoning plan could affect Bushwick’s parks
A new report from nonprofit group New Yorkers for Parks highlights the need for more open space in Bushwick, and warns that the city’s proposed rezoning plan for the neighborhood, which is expected to bring in thousands of new residents, could strain Bushwick’s already scarce parkland.
The report found that, of 14 total “open space goals” — defined in some cases by the city’s own goals and in others by standards from groups like the Trust for Public Land — Bushwick was only meeting two: number of playgrounds and number of community gardens.
The categories where Bushwick falls short include total amount of open space — only .2 acres per 1,000 people, while the citywide goal is 2.5 acres per 1,000 people —and access to open space, based on how long it takes the average resident to walk to a park.