Brooklyn Bridge Park, Noisy? What?

The NY Metro paper today believes that the Brooklyn Bridge Park (the future one that is located along the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway), may be the noisiest park in NYC. “The site is very noisy,” says a sign leaning against a model of the latest park plan, designed by landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. “Without any sound-attenuating structures, the majority of the site would experience at least 70 decibels [dBA] of noise. … At this noise level two people, six feet apart, need to shout to be understood.” The existing area of the park in Dumbo is said to be roughly 65 dBA. Last year’s performance at the Tobacco Warehouse in Empire Fulton Ferry State Park section of Brooklyn Bridge Park “82 Decibels” is named for the level of noise in that area from the Brooklyn Bridge and BQE.

However, the area has one of the few ‘beaches‘ that overlook Manhattan. And when you’re there, somehow the great views make you forget that there’s any noise at all. Enjoy the beautiful 70 degree weather this weekend!


 (Photo courtesy of bly2k)


 (Photo courtesy of j_bary)


 (Photo courtesy of kobenhavn)

{<a href="The city’s noisiest park?, NY Metro, 5/4/07}

28 Comment

  • Does anyone have a problem with people bringing their cute little dogs over to the grass near the beach steps? People stretch out and don’t seem to care if they’re laying in dog crap or dog pee. The State run Fulton Park enforces the no dog rule. So should the City with city run Brooklyn Bridge. – Just my opinion.

  • Does anyone have a problem with people bringing their cute little dogs over to the grass near the beach steps? People stretch out and don’t seem to care if they’re laying in dog crap or dog pee. The State run Fulton Park enforces the no dog rule. So should the City with city run Brooklyn Bridge. – Just my opinion.

  • Sorry Ed, dogs are allowed in this park. And most good owners will have their dogs do their business before they enter the park. If you don’t like it, then you have the state park next door that is pee and poo free (at least of the dog variety).

  • Sorry Ed, dogs are allowed in this park. And most good owners will have their dogs do their business before they enter the park. If you don’t like it, then you have the state park next door that is pee and poo free (at least of the dog variety).

  • Responsible dog owners should pick up after their pets, it’s both courteous and the law.

    If anything, Fulton Ferry park should operate on city rules rather than the state rules. It’s one of three state parks IN THE STATE which disallow dogs (one other being in NYC, the other being somewhere upstate). It’s ridiculous to have a patchwork series of parks operating on different rules (BBP on the piers will have yet a third set of rules).

  • Responsible dog owners should pick up after their pets, it’s both courteous and the law.

    If anything, Fulton Ferry park should operate on city rules rather than the state rules. It’s one of three state parks IN THE STATE which disallow dogs (one other being in NYC, the other being somewhere upstate). It’s ridiculous to have a patchwork series of parks operating on different rules (BBP on the piers will have yet a third set of rules).

  • Thanks for your responses. I hate to be a complainer as most dog owners are very responsible…”most.” And while I do like dogs, count me out when it comes to laying out on a field that is being used as their dog run…Epc, I wish it was the reverse as State Run Parks are generally kept ship shape. City run parks are not…What do you other other people think about this. Am I being killjoy?

  • Thanks for your responses. I hate to be a complainer as most dog owners are very responsible…”most.” And while I do like dogs, count me out when it comes to laying out on a field that is being used as their dog run…Epc, I wish it was the reverse as State Run Parks are generally kept ship shape. City run parks are not…What do you other other people think about this. Am I being killjoy?

  • I’m a dog walker and my boss instructs us to walk them in the park but in areas where people don’t lay and to stay away from flower beds, etc. Sometimes you can’t help it when a dog goes, but I try to steer clear of people. You don’t want to sit on poo poo grass and I don’t want to star in the big Poo Poo Cleanup Express.

  • I’m a dog walker and my boss instructs us to walk them in the park but in areas where people don’t lay and to stay away from flower beds, etc. Sometimes you can’t help it when a dog goes, but I try to steer clear of people. You don’t want to sit on poo poo grass and I don’t want to star in the big Poo Poo Cleanup Express.

  • Given that there’s a small dog run in the park under the bridge, and the largest dog run in the city only four blocks away on Columbia at Vine, there’s no reason to walk dogs in the park except to let them play in the grass. I’d be disappointed in a dog walking service which intentionally walks dogs in the park to urinate and poop. It’s gross, will kill the grass, and can make it easier for diseases to spread.

    As far as park maintenance, I think the Parks department does as best it can with the budget they have. The Promenade is well maintained and I wouldn’t call the BBP rump park poorly maintained. Cadman wasn’t maintained well before the recent “upgrade” but it seems to be getting more focus now (having Bloomberg temporarily at the OEM probably helped). I wouldn’t know how well Fulton-Ferry is maintained as anytime I approach whilst walking my dogs (not even to enter, just walking by) busy-bodies on golf carts zip up and tell me off.

  • Given that there’s a small dog run in the park under the bridge, and the largest dog run in the city only four blocks away on Columbia at Vine, there’s no reason to walk dogs in the park except to let them play in the grass. I’d be disappointed in a dog walking service which intentionally walks dogs in the park to urinate and poop. It’s gross, will kill the grass, and can make it easier for diseases to spread.

    As far as park maintenance, I think the Parks department does as best it can with the budget they have. The Promenade is well maintained and I wouldn’t call the BBP rump park poorly maintained. Cadman wasn’t maintained well before the recent “upgrade” but it seems to be getting more focus now (having Bloomberg temporarily at the OEM probably helped). I wouldn’t know how well Fulton-Ferry is maintained as anytime I approach whilst walking my dogs (not even to enter, just walking by) busy-bodies on golf carts zip up and tell me off.

  • all of your angry dog-haters need to get a life. seriously. i’m not kidding. you are total losers, and i can’t imagine anyone wanting anything to do with you on a personal level. if you want to complain about something (and we all know complaining is your favorite thing to do), choose something a little more important. i can’t adequately stress how much you are loser douchebags. it’s beyond pathetic. you disgust everyone around you with your stupid douchebag complaining about the most inane, unimportant topics. perhaps if you put that amount of energy into not being such a douche, people would actually want to talk to you and you wouldn’t have so much time to complain about everything — see how you can break that circle, loser ?

  • all of your angry dog-haters need to get a life. seriously. i’m not kidding. you are total losers, and i can’t imagine anyone wanting anything to do with you on a personal level. if you want to complain about something (and we all know complaining is your favorite thing to do), choose something a little more important. i can’t adequately stress how much you are loser douchebags. it’s beyond pathetic. you disgust everyone around you with your stupid douchebag complaining about the most inane, unimportant topics. perhaps if you put that amount of energy into not being such a douche, people would actually want to talk to you and you wouldn’t have so much time to complain about everything — see how you can break that circle, loser ?

  • Felfek, Clearly if anybody is a douchebag, its you. You want to disagree? Fine.

    You want to call people douchebags and losers? Then you negate any point you are trying to make.

    Show some class man.

  • Felfek, Clearly if anybody is a douchebag, its you. You want to disagree? Fine.

    You want to call people douchebags and losers? Then you negate any point you are trying to make.

    Show some class man.

  • Wow, while reading this I suddenly felt like I was in the 9th grade again. No, wait, 5th grade.

  • Wow, while reading this I suddenly felt like I was in the 9th grade again. No, wait, 5th grade.

  • The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy is hosting a community forum at Rice’s Low Bar on Monday Nov 11th at 7pm for folks to discuss problems in the park and suggest improvements. One main topic will obviously be the tenstion between dog owners and non-dog owning park patrons.

    Be there!

  • The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy is hosting a community forum at Rice’s Low Bar on Monday Nov 11th at 7pm for folks to discuss problems in the park and suggest improvements. One main topic will obviously be the tenstion between dog owners and non-dog owning park patrons.

    Be there!

  • A lot of these problems wouldn’t be happening if there was a better area of the park for the dogs to go in. That dog run is tiny and a joke.

    I paid a lot of money for my place and quite frankly I expect to be able to walk my dog and allow my dog to play in the dog run in the park CLOSEST TO MY HOUSE. Why should I have to go to Hillside or Cadman Plaza? I don’t live in BH! I didn’t BUY property in BH!

    I spoke to the park manager about it and she actually had an attitude and told me to go to BH. I even heard that Dumbo Pet Care offered to pay for a larger dog run and were turned down. WTH! Apparently the conservancy doesn’t want to give up any more landscaping and feel the tiny run under the bridge is enough. She acted like we were LUCKY to have it.

    God forbid they do any actual work and serve the neighborhood they’re located in. I guess it’s easier to put a bunch of flying wood birds, fat metal female sculptures, and friggin boats on the sidewalk and call it an art display. That’s what the park is for, yeah…

  • A lot of these problems wouldn’t be happening if there was a better area of the park for the dogs to go in. That dog run is tiny and a joke.

    I paid a lot of money for my place and quite frankly I expect to be able to walk my dog and allow my dog to play in the dog run in the park CLOSEST TO MY HOUSE. Why should I have to go to Hillside or Cadman Plaza? I don’t live in BH! I didn’t BUY property in BH!

    I spoke to the park manager about it and she actually had an attitude and told me to go to BH. I even heard that Dumbo Pet Care offered to pay for a larger dog run and were turned down. WTH! Apparently the conservancy doesn’t want to give up any more landscaping and feel the tiny run under the bridge is enough. She acted like we were LUCKY to have it.

    God forbid they do any actual work and serve the neighborhood they’re located in. I guess it’s easier to put a bunch of flying wood birds, fat metal female sculptures, and friggin boats on the sidewalk and call it an art display. That’s what the park is for, yeah…

  • isn’t entitlement grand?

  • isn’t entitlement grand?

  • Yep, sure is.

    Oh, I forgot…it’s better to be a starving whatever and expect nothing and be happy about it.

  • Yep, sure is.

    Oh, I forgot…it’s better to be a starving whatever and expect nothing and be happy about it.

  • Actually a larger dog run in the park is a totally viable discussion and should be had more constructively at the community forum on 11/12

  • Actually a larger dog run in the park is a totally viable discussion and should be had more constructively at the community forum on 11/12