Mayor Bill de Blasio joined fellow elected officials on amidst a harsh snow flurry on Wednesday afternoon to break ground on the Emily Roebling Plaza construction site at Brooklyn Bridge Park between Water Street and New Dock Street.
In the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, elected officials such as Brooklyn Council member Stephen T. Levin, State Sen. Brian Kavanagh, and Deputy Mayor Vicki Been joined together to kick off the upcoming transformation of Brooklyn Bridge Park. This new construction effort will add an additional two acres while also connecting DUMBO to the southern piers.
Emily Roebling helped oversee the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge after her husband became sick. When the bridge was completed in 1883, Roebling was the first to cross it, riding a horse driven carriage, and carrying a rooster to symbolize victory. It is this fascinating story that prompted elected officials and preservationists to name the construction of the pedestrian plaza after Emily Roebling.
“Today is not just a groundbreaking event, it’s a celebration of a major milestone. This is the final section of the park to be built completing the historic transformation of an abandoned industrial area to one of New York City’s most beloved public spaces,” said Eric Landau, Brooklyn Bridge Park President.
He proudly declared that while this moment marks the beginning of construction, it also symbolizes the efforts made since the park first opened 10 years ago.
Kriss Roebling, the great-great grandson of the project’s namesake was also in attendance. Despite the blinding snowfall, Roebling beamed with pride at his relative’s achievements for nearly 150 years ago. “For my family, I suppose you can say this is a sort of sacred ground. We’re probably not more than 200 feet away from where John Roebling, my great-great grandfather had his foot crushed, and he succumbed to that two weeks later,” Roebling said, sharing the chain of events leading to his great grandfather Washington Roebling becoming chief engineer, but then two years after construction he contracted caisson disease, and made the progressive strides to have his wife, Emily, take over in completing the project as the chief field engineer.
“She is part of the reason why the Brooklyn Bridge was successfully completed. Obviously, it changed a lot of people’s minds in America to see a woman with such an unpresented position of responsibility with what was unquestionably the most ambitious architectural feat of its time,” Roebling said proudly.
He believes that it is fitting to honor Emily’s steadfast dedication with the additional parkland. He thanked everyone on her behalf for their commemoration of his family.
“Today, this is joyous for me because I was involved with an amazing group of Brooklynites decades ago who envisioned this park, and they really had to fight for it. There was a lot of opposition in creating Brooklyn Bridge Park, but it turned out to be one of the most beautiful egalitarian amazing move parts of Brooklyn. Something new that made Brooklyn the center of the universe,” de Blasio said.
With the addition of two acres the Brooklyn Bridge Park is now 80 acres of parkland for the public to enjoy. The mayor shared that this groundbreaking will map out the progression of New York City and showcases the ingenuity and innovation of individuals. “Brooklyn Bridge Park is not finished. This is the last frontier. This is the last great piece that has to happen,” he added.
Led by the mayor, the ceremony commenced with the speakers symbolically breaking the ground by tossing mounds of dirt into the frigid air with a lineup of shovels.
