New York we love you, but you're bringing us down. Only here would locals actively complain about a $40 million dollar gift that will bring them a year-round recreational facility with all its expenses paid for a decade. Yup, it appears that a bunch of Brooklyn Heights locals are not looking forward to the 115,000-square-foot Fieldhouse which it was recently announced will be underwritten by philanthropist Joshua Rechnitz. Why? The traffic, of course. more ›

Shake out the picnic blanket and hose down the cooler: free films in Brooklyn Bridge Park are back! "Movies With A View" begins its 13th season with the Spielberg classic ET on July 5th—perhaps a nod to co-sponsor Syfy—with screenings continuing every Thursday through the end of August on Pier 1. We can't confirm yet, but rumor has it several cast members from Wet Hot American Summer are being persuaded to come introduce the film on August 2nd. (Last year Spike Lee surfaced to introduce the Crooklyn screening.) Fingers crossed for Christopher Meloni to fill the gaping hole in our hearts! more ›

Brooklyn is getting itself a massive new field house, and it won't cost the borough of Kings a penny. The Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation today announced that a non-profit corporation has offered to underwrite the design and construction of a year-round recreation facility for the park on Furman Street off Pier 5. Estimated cost of the project? $40 million. more ›

Brooklyn Bridge Park will be getting a public pool this summer, which was made official when a $199,000 plan was signed off on this Wednesday. This won't be the floating pool that's been discussed in recent years, however, the 1,500-square-foot (that's 30' x 50') above ground pool will be placed in the Pier 2 uplands section. This pool won't be that much fun for adults, however, as it will only be 3.5' deep. more ›

In an agreement the city hopes will help plug the $11 million hole it left in the Brooklyn Bridge Park budget last month and finance the $16 million a year it will take to keep the park running, limited private housing will be built around the park near John Street and by Pier 6. The John Street high-rise will be 40,000 square feet smaller, and the Pier 6 buildings may also be shrunk or eliminated altogether. What's the catch? The Times reports that State Senator Daniel Squadron and Assemblywoman Joan Millman lose their veto power over the developments. more ›

Tonight, Brooklyn Bridge Park is screening what is arguably the greatest film set (and shot) in New York City, Sweet Smell of Success. Released in 1957, it stars Tony Curtis—at the time a matinee idol hungry for a substantial role with meat on its bones. He found it in Sidney Falco, the desperate, unctuous publicist running a shady boutique company out of his one bedroom apartment off Times Square. Falco sees the key to success personified in J.J. Hunsecker, the feared gossip columnist inspired by real-life columnist and radio host Walter Winchell, who wielded immense power in the middle of the 20th century. Burt Lancaster is riveting and terrifying as the effusively cynical Hunsecker, who manipulates Falco into breaking up a relationship between his delicate sister and a—gasp— jazz musician. more ›

Ever notice those barges floating down the East River? Ever wanted to climb aboard? Well, nautically-inclined daydreamers, you're in luck: from July 14 through 25, "Tug & Barge Week" will dock at Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 6, where the Waterfront Museum and the Tug Pegasus Preservation Project are teaming up to offer free trips on a historical tugboat and barge. They're also offering a whole slew of seaworthy activities, like the "Creatures of the Deep" art exhibition, free kayaking and squid dissection(!) workshops. more ›

On August 11th Breakfast at Tiffany’s is scheduled to screen at Brooklyn Bridge Park—the classic Audrey Hepburn film screens pretty much every summer, somewhere in the city. Since the film was released in 1961, Mickey Rooney's role as Mr. Yunioshi has drawn attention. In the 1993 film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Lee gets upset at Rooney's stereotypical depiction of an Asian man, which has been called everything from "broadly exotic," to "comedic," to "overtly racist" and a "cringe-inducing stereotype" by critics over the years. more ›

Only occasionally do artisanally-minded urban dwellers get to forage for our meals—which is why, upon hearing about the limited-edition serviceberries cropping up in Brooklyn Bridge Park, we rushed over to pluck some ourselves. more ›

Barely a year after opening to glowing reviews (it's all in the restrooms) the city has cut $11 million in funding to our favorite place to eat Grimaldi's. If pols don't agree on whether or not to build luxury condos to finance its annual $16 million maintenance fees, the remainder of the $44 million that the city has promised may be in jeopardy as well! Brooklyn Heights state senator Daniel Squadron tells the Daily News that, "This funding cut and the results of this report call the city's commitment to completing the park into question." more ›

A few months ago, we started hearing rumblings of a plan to introduce an East River Ferry service connecting Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Governors Island; and starting in just a few short days, that dream will officially become reality. more ›

Carnivorous food writer Josh "Mr. Cutlets" Ozersky is once again inviting the entire city to his birthday party, the appropriately-named Meatopia. The date has been set for July 23rd, but what's more interesting is that he's switching the venue this year, from Governor's Island to a brand-new section of Brooklyn Bridge Park. Why the move? more ›

Do you want to hear the phrase "oh my god" about 45 times in 2 minutes and then die from an overdose of picturesque perfection? The folks at Brooklyn Bridge Park just Tweeted: "did you get engaged in BBP last Saturday? Your accidental videographer is looking for you." (Though... the video was actually uploaded on March 29th, when the man behind the camera wrote: "By chance, in my framing a man proposed to a woman.") Anyway, as long as this isn't some viral ploy, then we're okay with it. more ›

Check out this sweet pedestrian bridge that will someday connect Brooklyn Bridge Park to the somewhat-recently renovated sunken Squibb Park in Brooklyn Heights! It may cost city taxpayers upwards of $5 million, but as you can see, it's worth it—as Popular Mechanics reports, the 120-foot bridge will artfully bypass the buildings between the two parks, zigzagging "gracefully through a clutch of tall oaks... and over a street, descending 30 feet in elevation from its starting point to its endpoint in Brooklyn Bridge Park." They should sell tickets to this thing! But one question looms: will it have a bike path? more ›

Snow or no, one way to tell that warmer weather is on the way is the slow rollout of our city's park concessions. To that end the chef Marc Murphy's Ditch Plains Drop-in is set top open again for business tomorrow in Brooklyn Bridge Park! For the month of April it will only be open weekends from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., but starting in May it'll be open every day. Meanwhile, the park itself is still struggling to figure out how it will pay for itself. more ›

File under: things Brooklyn Heights residents will be complaining about. Last year some of the borough's locals rallied against the Movies With A View series at Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park—so if Annie Hall was too loud for them, they're going to be just thrilled to hear about the new Celebrate Brooklyn! Bridge Dance Party coming in May! (After all, these are also the same people who protested a pretty carousel!) The series will run for three consecutive Thursday nights starting at 7p.m., and will include deejays, performances, and even dance lessons. The lineup for the traditional Celebrate Brooklyn! series, entering its 33rd season, will be announced at the first event. more ›

The National Park Service has endorsed the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation's plan to transfer the Civil War-era Brooklyn Tobacco Warehouse in DUMBO to performing arts presenter St. Ann's Warehouse, which currently produces some of the best theater in NYC in a big space across the street. You'll recall that in January, the Brooklyn Heights Association filed a lawsuit to stop the transfer, arguing that the National Park Service (NPS) had illegally removed the Tobacco Warehouse from the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park’s map "so that it could be given to a private organization for free and for its sole and permanent use." After reviewing the records, the National Park Service (NPS) said yesterday that the plan could proceed. more ›

When you cost $350 million to build and you haven't figured out how to pay your $16-million-a-year operating costs another $5-$10 million is just a drop in the pool, right? That seems to be the logic the Brooklyn Bridge Park is going with as it applies for a floating pool permit from the Department of Environmental Conservation. more ›

Brooklyn Bridge Park costs $16 million a year to operate. Every year. The city has put its foot down and said the park needs to come up with the cash without dipping into the city's coffers. Those facts are the heart of the debate still raging over the future of the nascent park and its surroundings. Now, with the city authorizing Bay Area Economics to review nine non-condo alternatives by February, things are finally, maybe, a touch closer to settled. more ›

The city—the same city that just cut pest control aides on payroll from 84 to 57—is seeking a pest control service for Brooklyn Bridge Park. Is the ratdemic creeping into the shiny new waterfront park? Of course not! At least, that's what they want you to think. President of the city development corporation, Regina Myer, told the NY Post there's "absolutely not" a rodent issue, and that the contract is about be "pro-active" so there's never an issue. more ›

Some Brooklyn residents and politicians are hoping that the sprawling Jehovah's Witnesses complex in DUMBO can prevent further high-rise condo development. A member of the city board overseeing Brooklyn Bridge Park development, Paul Nelson, told the Post, "There’s a growing sentiment that the Jehovah’s Witnesses buildings are the magic bullet to keep more housing out of the park." See, over 1,200 condo units were proposed to help support the park's $16 million annual maintenance budget (the money being tax revenue from the condo units). The Jehovah's Witnesses didn't comment, but they are looking to get out of Brooklyn—they currently own dozens of properties. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] As the DUMBO Arts Festival took over the neighborhood this past weekend, three artists (a husband and wife, and their friend) headed to Brooklyn Bridge Park to sell their own artwork. Chris Johnson (one of the artists) contacted us today pointing out his blog post about what happened next. He writes: more ›