From Highway to Greenway: A community-focused analysis of four plans affecting Sunset Park

UPROSE is a youth and environmental justice advocacy organization based in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, whose main goals include maintaining a working waterfront and increasing green space to improve the health of its community. The Capstone team examined the impacts of four proposed plans in Sunset Park: the Bush Terminal Piers Open Space Project, the Gowanus Expressway alternatives, the Cross-Harbor Freight Movement Project, and the Greenway/Blueway. The team examined the economic and financial feasibility, physical conflicts, environmental impacts, and the ability of each plan to complement the neighborhood’s tradition of manufacturing. Using this analysis, the team recommended advocacy strategies to UPROSE and produced community advocacy materials. Where plans seemed unlikely to occur, special attention was paid to devising alternative solutions that met key neighborhood objectives, such as pollution reduction. This Capstone was made possible with support from the KeySpan Foundation.