Who would have known? Something I had little clue would happen to New York growing up, this cycle of displacement and corporate take over of our communities.

Spending most weekends with my cousins in Greenpoint, I’d never know then this system of creating playhouses for the bourgeois would happen here or be this far reaching, I thought the rich lived on Madison Ave, and were happy to be there, but as I’ve lived here as an adult for the past 4 years in Greenpoint, I’ve already seen that process is well under way, the bourgeois can afford to buy blocks and fill them with “upper class.”

Probably the final straw was when the entirety of the waterfront from Williamsburg to LIC was bought to be developed, then politicians like Stephan Levin allowed oligarchs to raise the building height limit to push in a massive 22 story glass dildo of an architectural disgrace on the India street pier, once a hidden little gem featuring some of the best graffiti artists around, toppled with it’s purchase.

Building where rich people build is one thing, but we locals know what comes next. It’s the businesses they put in, by proxy of which industry can afford a massive rent hike, it’s the outright hostility towards what culture existed, it’s what WNYC Transmitter Park is about to deal with as developers seek to place in a bar and cafe in the already tiny sliver of land for community reflection and peace. Transmitter park is the small area extending Greenpoint ave and Kent st. This precious space in its innate passive state is the perfect character for a tiny 1.6 acre parcel of public open space on the East River waterfront in a neighborhood that is starved for open space, famous for the toxic sludge on our border.Therefore, the last thing the park needs is a cafe residing in the middle of its core. Most definitely it does not need liquor service, outdoor tables & umbrellas and amplified sound, and in close proximity to a playground to boot. Our community is very happy with green lawns, thriving gardens, blossoming trees, a 100-year old willow and view of the Manhattan skyline.

Furthermore, there is an existing “barge bar” on the park’s southwest border and a planned restaurant with outdoor seating adjacent to the park’s eastern border that has already disrupted the tranquility of the park. Eight restaurants nearby have recently gone out of business, must we stress the surviving ones? Or are they all just making room for the new ones? The ones you know, that cater towards who can afford absurd rent that will likely be charged at the India St Glass tower?

Please tell the Brooklyn Parks Commissioner and our elected officials to preserve the current beautiful passive state of our park and withdraw this RFP for a bar cafe by click here or the image up top.