Prospect Park Vale To Get $40 Million Restoration: See It

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN —Explaining the cause was "about as personal as it gets," outgoing New York City Mayor, and Brooklynite, Bill de Blasio on Thursday announced the allocation of $40 million for the restoration of the Prospect Park Vale, a 26-acre section of Brooklyn's Prospect Park.

The mayor presented a check for the project at an afternoon ceremony at the park, which featured several speakers including: NYC Parks Commissioner Gabrielle Fialkoff and Prospect Park Alliance President Sue Donoghue.

The dollar figure, part of the mayor's final budget, represents the largest single city budget allocation in the history of the Prospect Park Alliance, the nonprofit that runs the park.

In his remarks, de Blasio said he and wife Chirlane were married in the park in May 1994, and later spent many days there with their children. de Blasio then talked about how Prospect Park, and all greenspace in New York, took on added significance during the height of the pandemic.

"Everyone was kind of in the same boat, you were spending your vacation right here because no one was going anywhere," de Blasio said. "You were spending your weekends and your mornings right here, getting your exercise. This park really sustained a lot of us, I was one of them."

According to Fialkoff, the project will allow for a reimagining of the park's historic Vale. The funds will be used to strengthen and retain the forested areas, while adding an outdoor amphitheater, a restored children's pool and a pollinator meadow and arbor, which will support biodiverse ecosystems.

"Thanks to the $40 million allocation, the park is positioned for a long-overdue revitalization and transformation that will benefit generations of future Brooklynites and New Yorkers," Fialkoff said.

Donoghue said the Vale has not been updated for decades, and that it is not as well known to the public as other areas of Prospect Park.

Several of the speakers at Thursday's event stressed the egalitarian nature of Prospect Park, which Fialkoff said was part of Frederick Law Olmsted's vision when he designed the park nearly 150 years ago.

"Prospect Park was an early standard-bearer for our vision of park access equity," Fialkoff said. "Olmstead created a park that served all New Yorkers and all Brooklynites. You don't need a ticket to get in, you don't need to drive here and millions of New Yorkers can come to one of our country's and New York's most beloved beautiful green spaces.

"The park connects a dozen different diverse neighborhoods, who come together to share the space and enliven it."