OSA Co-Sponsors McCarren Park Pool Community Design
We at OSA could not be more thrilled at the results of our first partnership event with the Parks Department and Community Board 1. In preparing for the event everyone was excited about the pool project finally moving forward- but all understood there were several opinions in the community about what should be done at the pool site. We also knew the community had changed in recent years and that there could be new ideas out there no one had thought of before. OSA suggested to Parks the idea of a community design workshop- a "charrette" process that had previously been successful for GWAPP and the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative. While this had never been used for a Parks project in Brooklyn before- Parks embraced the idea and did a fantastic job of organizing and implementing it. OSA provided one design professional from the community to act as a facilitator at each table, a 2nd facilitator was provided from the Parks Department design staff. We think this was another key to the success of the event as it paired someone who knew the pool and the issues with a Parks staff who had technical and operational knowledge. In the end, this event allowed the community to inform the design process instead of simply reacting to a design. Even more importantly- everyone seemed to have fun! Commissioner Abate was overheard saying he had never seen so many smiling faces leaving an event in that room. We are grateful to Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Spiegel and all his staff and CB1 District Manager Gerry Esposito for making this event happen.
The following are links to newspaper articles about the event:
http://northbrooklynnews.com
http://www.greenpointstar.com/StoryDisplay.asp?NewsStoryID=6003
http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/30/28/30_28mccarrenplans.html
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?&aid=70757&search_result=1&stid=9
