Americans love their parks, and New York City’s more than eight million residents, living and working in the densest city in the United States, especially need their parks. Today we have the unique opportunity to develop a new flagship national park for New York by revitalizing Gateway National Recreation Area. This unpolished gem, with Floyd Bennett Field at its heart, is ready to be brought alive as the great urban national park it was intended to be, elevated to shine as the next jewel in the emerald crown of New York City’s great park system.

As a premier urban national park in New York City, Floyd Bennett Field could, and should, be a destination for urban outdoor recreation, ecological restoration, aviation history, and place-based education for the residents of southern Brooklyn and Queens and visitors from around the world. If restored, supported, and managed in new and collaborative ways, Floyd Bennett Field could also support local infrastructure needs, create jobs for the region’s residents, spur the local economy, and connect millions of young people to the outdoors and the National Park System. Gateway is also uniquely positioned to facilitate community building on a local, regional and national scale. Surrounded by established and newly developing immigrant communities representing dozens of countries, the park can play a vital role in introducing millions of the country’s newest citizens to our National Park System.

In the past decade, numerous disparate efforts have been made to articulate Gateway’s potential and define an exciting vision for its future. Recognizing that now is the time for action, Senator Charles Schumer and Congressman Anthony Weiner convened the Floyd Bennett Field Blue Ribbon Panel. After much deliberation and public discussion, the Panel makes the following recommendations:

Develop a coherent overall design

Create a new design for Floyd Bennett Field and its surroundings.
Make Floyd Bennett Field look and feel like a national park.
Embrace the site’s unstructured character while restoring its open space.
Preserve and herald the site’s aviation history.
Improve access to the waterfront and water.
Expand the recreational and cultural programming.

Develop a coherent overall design

Improve the arrival experience and circulation within Floyd Bennett Field.
Create additional public transit access to the park via bus and ferry through pilot programs and marketing.
Enhance the bicycling and pedestrian experience.
Create a new ferry dock at Gateway Marina.

Improve transportation and access

Implement the Dead Horse Bay Restoration Project as identified in the Army Corps Jamaica Bay Feasibility Study.
Remove or bury concrete pads, remove defunct bulkheads and runways, and remove numerous abandoned buildings.
Rehabilitate and enhance the grasslands.
Restore the North 40 natural area.

Support ecological restoration

Establish a year-round, state of the art education facility for use by visitors, school groups, academic institutions, nonprofits, and others.

Create an expanded camping experience from eco-lodges to RV access and campsites.

Develop a comprehensive education and interpretation program

Establish a year-round, state of the art education facility for use by visitors, school groups, academic institutions, nonprofits, and others.
Create an expanded camping experience from eco-lodges to RV access and campsites.

Establish a partnership structure to begin and facilitate change by 2016, honoring the National Park Service Centennial celebration

Launch a third party entity to manage the site with joint involvement of New York City and the National Park Service.
Structure the partnership to allow for later inclusion of Fort Tilden and Riis Beach.