Senator Golden Statement On Dreier-offerman Park

Brooklyn- State Senator Martin J. Golden (R-C, Brooklyn) today spoke at a press conference this morning with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe to announce a $40 million commitment and renovation of Brooklyn’s Dreier-Offerman Park. Senator Golden’s remarks are below.

"Good Morning. Thank you Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Julius Spiegel, and others gathered here today as we begin the transformation of Brooklyn’s Dreier-Offerman Park into a field of dreams.

Mr. Mayor, the City’s $40 million allocation to Dreier-Offerman Park and other parks throughout the five boroughs, demonstrates your true commitment to the quality of life of New Yorkers now and in the future, and your desire to make our City as green as it can get.

Right here at Dreier-Offerman Park, this allocation, this reconstruction project, this "make-over", for all purposes, will make this park a crown jewel when it opens in 2011, the center for soccer and baseball games, for family picnics, for kayaking, for bike riding, for entertainment and many more forms of recreation. It will be amazing to see all of this happening right here in and around the area we stand today.

Because the residents of Brooklyn deserve this. Because New York deserves to live in a City full of opportunities and amongst great things. And that is why Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC is so important and has so much strong support amongst New Yorkers.

Because New Yorkers want to see better parks and open spaces. And the opening of more playgrounds and the creation of better school yards. And we must reclaim the brown fields and there too create more open space for recreational purposes for New Yorkers.

I can almost see and hear the crowds now, gathering here day in and day out, to take part in the wide array of activities right here on Brooklyn’s waterfront. I can see the families, the sports teams, the high schools and the colleges, not being able to get quite enough of all that Dreier-Offerman Park has within. I can hear baseballs being hit, soccer balls being kicked, concerts being performed in the newly constructed amphitheater.

And it is because of this Mayor’s vision that all of this will happen here in Brooklyn and in New York City. Again, thank you for this commitment and for this vision. I look forward to seeing great things happen here and throughout the City that will make New York City even a great place to live, to work and to raise a family."