On the end of North 8th lies the official entrance to Williamsburg’s East River State Park, a small space of grass and concrete providing a much-needed green space along the East River.

The last time I was here, a few years ago, I had to sneak in through a hole in the fence, and it was just an empty space filled with rubble and unkempt brush. Now, it’s a park with hundreds of people lounging and admiring the East River and the Manhattan skyline view. Sometimes, progress is awesome.

Granted, there are myriad problems with the way the Parks Department continues to mismanage the space; various reports have it as weekends-only, closing and kicking out everyone an hour before sunset during the summer, banning dogs, and requiring a scowling arms-crossed security guard at the gate for no apparent real reason, not to mention delaying its opening for over a year for little apparent reason, despite constant community call for action.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, though, I’m willing to put all that aside and happily sit on the grass, enjoying a New York view that’s long overdue.

This entry was posted by Chris on Sunday, August 19th, 2007 and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.