So, this blog will be on a hiatus until September. The Upcoming Events & Actions Section will continue to be updated – it’s listed on the right hand side bar of the blog. As always, feel free to write to me at any time at cathryn.be-at-gmail.com or via the Contact Form above.

Photo: Thanks to David Quintana at Lost In The Ozone Blog for the photo of Washington Square Park above from late May 2010. David is involved with the Ridgewood Reservoir efforts and does such great work around that issue to preserve that very unique space. (Another questionable Parks Department plan.)

There’s some information on the latest at the Save Ridgewood Reservoir Blog including a recent Daily News article (6/1/10) which stated: “Parks officials are still deciding how to turn the decommissioned reservoir – which has naturally devolved into a swampy oasis of green on the Brooklyn-Queens border – into a park. Many community activists and elected officials have said they want the spot to remain wild while others said some of the space should be used for recreational fields.”

The Queens-focused The Forum blog tells us that “the state Department of Environmental Conservation is currently investigating whether to classify the property on the Queens-Brooklyn border, which contains three basins, as wetlands. Doing so would complicate the Parks Department’s proposed plans for the site, which range from keeping it entirely natural to building ball fields in one of the basins.”

To learn more about some of the plans for the space and the controversy, see previous Washington Square Park Blog post on Ridgewood Reservoir from May 29, 2008 here.