By Dennis Holt
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK — Although it has yet to be formally announced, it can be reported that Brooklyn Bridge Park will have a new addition — Jane's Carousel.

This lavishly restored 1920s masterpiece by Jane Walentas has a cramped temporary home on Water Street in DUMBO between Main Street and Dock Street that can be seen from the sidewalk.

Discussions between Walentas and the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corp. have been underway for some months, and this newspaper has been told that it will be placed on the western shore of the cove near the Empire Stores.

It will be housed in a permanent glass structure built by world-famous architect Jean Novel. Ironically, the site for the carousel is across the cove from where Novel had hoped to build a world-class hotel, a plan that never came to fruition.

Another bit of irony: Had the hotel been built, it would probably have become a revenue source for park upkeep.

Although neither the city nor the state have made any official response to State Sen. Daniel Squadron's financing plan for Brooklyn Bridge Park, City Park's Commissioner Adrian Benepe was quoted last week as saying, "It seems unlikely that will happen." Squadron would like to use tax revenues from properties near, but not within, the park.

Benepe went on to say that there is a lot more "certainty in having a small portion of the park accommodate market-rate residential housing, along with a hotel and restaurant in the park to help pay for its annual maintenance."

One of the controversies that prematurely made the news a few weeks ago concerned which level of government would manage the park once a substantial part of it is built. Many people believe that it makes little sense for both the city and the state to manage the park; and it makes a great deal of sense for the city alone to be the park's manager.

The state is responsible for building the first elements of the park under the leadership of Regina Myer, president of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corp. This includes Pier 1 and Pier 6, and probably other parts.

Both the city and state have allocated funds for this purpose, and the issue of management and control will become critical when the initial funding sums become exhausted.

Another stir occurred last week when park opponents heard that a funding element for the park had been "pushed back" — the pedestrian bridge from the Squibb playground on Columbia Heights to the Pier 1-2 area. As it turns out, this is a technical funding decision by the city to move the allocation to the budget year when the bridge would most likely be built, probably 2011.

This newspaper has also learned that Myer's group is preparing to operate the park during its opening days. This phase could start at the end of this year, but certainly would happen by the summer of 2010. In any event, a trip to the Heights Promenade shows various construction activities along the length of the Heights piers, a sight some thought they would never see.

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