Fresh Looks at Freshkills

by | Jun 2, 2009 | Neighborhood Scenes, Out and About

Channel 13 has a new episode of The City Concealed online, this one taking viewers to Staten Island’s Fresh Kills. Once the world’s largest landfill, it’s on its way to becoming NYC’s second largest public park (after Pelham) and three times the size of Central Park. Take a look:

The City Concealed: Freshkills Park Project from Thirteen.org on Vimeo.

The tourguide for the episode, Freshkills Park Administrator Eloise Hirsh, recently spoke to the Municipal Art Society about that organization’s role in sponsoring the design competition for the site, which is now being put into effect. What’s going on out there, part of a 30-year redevelopment plan, looks pretty magnificent. MAS produced a brief video of Hirsh’s presentation, also worth watching:

I’ve been sitting here for 15 minutes trying to figure out whether it’s Fresh Kills (two words) or Freshkills (one). It looks to me like the landfill used the two-word name, but the park will use the single-word form. If someone knows for certain, enlighten us!

For tours of the new Freshkills Park, visit the city’s Parks and Recreation website, according to which there’s an upcoming Staten Island Community Awareness Day on June 7.

3 Comments

  1. Molly Schaffner, intern at FreshKills
    Molly Schaffner, intern at FreshKills on June 2, 2009 at 4:26 pm

    Thanks for the kind post. You are correct–what was once Fresh Kills Landfill is becoming Freshkills Park (one word). Check out our blog for more updates and related stories: http://freshkillspark.wordpress.com/

  2. Bryan
    Bryan on June 3, 2009 at 12:09 pm

    Thanks, Molly!

  3. Ajlouny
    Ajlouny on June 14, 2009 at 3:34 pm

    You know that the parks are going to look awesome, but what effect over the long run will all the toxic content have on the people that visit the parks. Who’s to guarantee that there is health safety.