By Sarah Ryley
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — Hudson Companies principal David Kramer has been named chairman of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy board of directors, the organization announced Monday.

Construction of the 85-acre waterfront park started only a week ago, after decades of envisioning, giving Kramer a different set of issues to manage than his predecessor, Tensie Whelan, a writer and executive director of the Rainforest Alliance.

In the coming year, the Conservancy, which handles programming and fundraising for the park, expects to review development parcels intended to finance its maintenance through earmarked taxes, said marking director Nancy Webster. Kramer will also involve himself in developing programming for the park once it is completed, interim programming during construction, and “presenting our case to the city and state partners about the role we would like to play in facilitating public programming in the park,� she said.

When Kramer joined the board in 2006, he was asked if the Hudson Companies plans to submit a proposal for any of the park’s development parcels four residential towers, a hotel, retail and restaurants, said Webster. At the time, the answer was “no,� but she said if the company changed its mind, Kramer would recuse himself from any discussions or votes.

Hudson Companies is the developer of J Condominium in DUMBO and the Third and Bond Street project near the Gowanus Canal, and is one of two finalists for the Public Place site along the canal. Kramer also chairs the Brooklyn Real Estate Roundtable and is a Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation board member.

Whelan said Kramer was instrumental in bringing the wildly popular Floating Pool Lady to the park last year, which brought more than 71,000 visitors who waited in line at the sand-covered parking lot for a one-hour swim. As the Conservancy looks for interim and permanent programming, Whelan will likely be asked again to help facilitate a floating pool. The one from last year plans to dock in the Bronx next summer.

“We are still very interested in exploring the idea of a permanent floating pool in the park, and right now we are and would be committed to, you know, raising private dollars for such a pool,� said Webster. The state Department of Environmental Conservation is still unwilling to issue a permit for a floating pool — last year the Neptune Foundation was fined $20,000 — or the planned floating piers, another issue on Kramer’s plate.

A permanent floating pool would cost an estimated $5 million, the Eagle previously reported. Over the years, the Conservancy has held concerts, parties, movie screenings and other events in the small portion of the park completed between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. Since the park is a city and state project, sponsored by the Empire State Development Corporation, the management structure of the park once completed hasn’t been decided.

The Conservancy has long advocated for a role similar to the Prospect Park Alliance or the Central Park Conservancy.

Kramer’s wife Stacy is a film and television writer. The couple lives in Brooklyn Heights with their three children. His campaign contributions indicate he supports Senator Barack Obama for president. Whelan, a Park Slope resident who served as director for five and a half years, will remain on the Conservancy Board as the vice chair.

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
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