Court Square is growing at a dizzying rate - let's not lose the opportunity to create green and open spaces to serve our community for generations to come.
Join us September 22 to Rally for public space!
Why we need to act now:
Court Square was originally re-zoned as a daytime back-office commercial district, and was never planned to have the green space required for the 24/7 mixed-use community that we are.
As buildings continue to grow throughout the neighborhood, few open parcels of land remain.
While we value the tremendous investments in parks along the East River, those parks are a 20 minute walk from Court Square.
The City is currently proposing a transfer of publicly-owned air rights above the approaches to the Ed Koch Queensboro bridge to a private developer. This was voted down by our local community board (CB2) and our borough president Melinda Katz, however the City Planning Commission recently voted to proceed with this. It now rests in the hands of our councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer and the City Council. If the City does proceed with this, we need to ensure a public benefit in exchange for the air rights transfer.
What could be:
The land surrounding the approaches to the Ed Koch Queensboro bridge remain the last publicly owned parcels of land in Court Square. We can create dynamic public spaces to stitch together parts of our community that are currently physically divided from one another.
The LIC Ramps, a concept originally proposed by City Planning, is our inspiration for transforming this underutilized public land into the center of our community. As you'll see, overpasses only bisect parts of the open parcels, leaving opportunities for sunlight to stream through. Similar approaches have been taken within NYC (FDR Drive in Lower Manhattan), as well as in cities across the world (Toronto, Chicago, Amsterdam, Boston, Milwaukee).
3.74 Acres /
163,000 Square Feet
of closed-off publicly owned land that could be re-envisioned to stitch together our community and provide spaces for us to gather
Plenty of Sunlight
The parcels of land beneath the overpasses are larger than the diagonal ramps above, allowing sunlight to come through.
Infinite Possibilities
The diversity of spaces throughout the ramplands can be adapted to serve different needs within our community - dog run, play areas, event spaces, biodiversity, public art, hang out space...
ALL RENDERINGS ARE FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY AND DO NOT REFLECT ANY FINAL PLANS FOR OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. RENDERING SOURCES: NYC CITY PLANNING, ROCKROSE
We call on the NYC Department of Transportation and City Leaders to convert all of the land “LIC Ramps” under the Queensboro Bridge approaches immediately for public use and for the City to fund development of a world-class urban park.
JOIN US
Rally for Public Space in Court Square
Saturday, September 22
12:00 PM
Jackson Avenue and Dutch Kills Street
Across from Ice & Vice
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK
Underpass Parks Around the World
Resources
Original LIC Ramplands Proposal, NYC City Planning
Eagle Park Concepts, Rockrose
All renderings for conceptual purposes only and do not reflect any final plans for our neighborhood