GREENPOINT — Advocates for a maker lab that would preserve massive oil tanks in a section of the future Bushwick Inlet Park are holding a meeting Thursday night to take in community feedback on their vision.
The Maker Park initiative is a passion project of Zac Waldman who used to live on the Bayside Fuel Oil site before he was evicted, Stacey Anderson who works at the Municipal Arts Society and Karen Zabarsky, a creative director at Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's real estate company.
One of the goals of Thursday's meeting, other than to present preliminary plans and get feedback from the community, is to set the record straight, that Maker Park is in fact a "passion project" and isn't backed by developers, said Anderson.
"This is kind of getting misconstrued as a development initiative when in fact it is an alternative vision that has come out of three engaged citizens, one of which has lived and worked on the site,” she said.
They'll host a planning session on Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Root NYC, right across from the future park at 131 N. 14th St.
Their plan of "weaving greenery and art in with the existing structures," has already raised some eyebrows among park advocates at Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park who have taken issue with the idea of repurposing the steel oil tanks that they say represent decades of pollution to the area.
The Parks Department has also said that the oil tanks and other structures on the site need to be demolished in order for proper remediation of the contaminated area.
But the Maker Park team argue that the Bayside Parcel, a seven-acre site recently purchased by the city, could be much more than just green space.
"The idea for Maker Park is to create a dynamic, interactive and educational public space that is self-sustaining and achieves the area's acute need for green space," the group's Facebook event page reads. "What does a truly 21st century park look like that is uniquely of and for Williamsburg?"