State halts controversial construction on Marsha P. Johnson Park

March 9, 2021 Editorial Staff
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From brooklyneagle.com

Family speaks out

Construction at Marsha P. Johnson State Park has been stopped temporarily after a Brooklyn Community Board 1 Parks Committee meeting where Marsha’s family members shared their grief on a public forum. Local environmental activists have been fighting against the reconstruction of the former East River State Park in Williamsburg.

The halted construction includes covering a lot in a large, colorful thermoplastic (the paint used for road markings) mural, huge foam core flowers, and sheds to honor the LGBTQ civil rights activist. The $14 million project is sponsored by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Activists have been petitioning against the issue for two months since construction began.

On Thursday, the Parks Committee of Brooklyn Community Board #1 met to discuss the situation to hear from those concerned. The family of Johnson attended the meeting to express their issues about the project. James Carey, cousin of Marsha, spoke about how his family was not included in the discussion of the construction.

“I personally feel this was a mass deception campaign and our family was deceived… no one will be trying to exploit my cousin’s name without consulting with my family,” said Carey.

Anika Dorsey Good, Marsha’s great-niece, continued: “We are very saddened, I would almost say disgusted by the lack of transparency that has taken place.”

Carey had connected with Parks executives last year, but they failed to follow up. “I sent correspondences to the governor personally to let him know that our family as a whole we’re happy that you’re naming the park in the memory of our family member, however, please when the occasion arises, please include us,” he said.

The following day, Matthew McMorrow, Statewide Director of LGBTQ Affairs, wrote “construction has been halted,” in a letter to the Strategic Trans Alliance for Radical Reform, according to the Brooklyn Paper. However, the future of the renovation plans are still unclear.

This was a sigh of relief to activists. At a recent meeting with local State Senator Brian Kavanagh, people who cared about the park’s future were not able to express themselves to Kavanagh due to time limitations and the difficulty of showing their passion via a Zoom webinar.–>

However, Kavanagh showed his support for the issue, along with Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, who sent a letter to Commissioner of NYS Parks Erik Kulleseid urging him to halt construction. “We write to request that you suspend construction activity for this project,” the letter read.

“It just goes to show what we know about Cuomo in general is that he makes the decisions without necessarily other people’s approval,” Assemblymember Emily Gallagher told the Brooklyn Paper. “I really want to honor Marsha P. Johnson and her family members and trans activists should be fully involved in this.

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