Bushwick Inlet Park

Bushwick Inlet Park is a waterfront park along the East River in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, centered on a former industrial inlet at Kent Avenue and North 9th Street. The park has been developed in phases as the city has acquired and remediated parcels of the former industrial waterfront.

The park's creation was part of a 2005 agreement between the community and the city during the rezoning of the Williamsburg waterfront for residential development. Community advocates insisted that the rezoning include a commitment to creating a significant public park, and Bushwick Inlet Park was the result of that advocacy.

The completed sections of the park include athletic fields, a kayak and canoe launch, waterfront pathways, and open lawns. The park provides waterfront access and recreation space for a neighborhood that has seen explosive population growth due to the residential development along the East River.

Williamsburg's transformation from a working-class industrial neighborhood into one of the most expensive and trendy areas in Brooklyn has been one of the defining stories of New York City's 21st-century development boom. Bushwick Inlet Park provides a public counterweight to the private luxury development that has reshaped the waterfront.

The full build-out of Bushwick Inlet Park has been the subject of ongoing advocacy, as some parcels promised for parkland have been slow to be acquired and developed. Community organizations continue to push for the completion of the park as originally envisioned, reflecting the neighborhood's understanding that public waterfront access is a right, not a privilege.