How Fort Greene Park Got Fenced In

A daily mix of stories about cities, city life, and our always evolving neighborhoods and skylines. [Curbed]( TUESDAY, AUGUST 29 mysteries [How Fort Greene Park Got Fenced In]( To maintain its grass, my local park was carved up by wooden posts and caution tape. Photo-Illustration: Curbed; Photos: Kim Velsey Enter Fort Greene Park from the southeast, and you see not the lawn envisioned by Frederick Law Olmsted, but a chest-high wooden fence. Inside the park, the main lawn was, until a few years ago, a place where off-leash dogs congregated in the mornings, soccer players met on the weekends, and people meandered freely. Now, signs warn against lawn chairs, sports, or pets off leash. The main lawn was a bit of a dustbowl, but there were grassier expanses elsewhere. It seemed the picture of a successful urban park — pretty but not precious, with fireflies in June and sledding in January. On a recent Monday afternoon, I counted six fenced lawns open for use (four passive and pet free), several areas fenced of completely for turf maintenance, and countless other fences: fences along border plantings, fencing around a thicket, fences around individual trees and shrubs (including some that were, themselves, behind other fences), fencing along paths to discourage people from wandering off piste, fencing around the tennis courts and playgrounds (to be expected, although it added to the maze look), even a strip of free-floating fencing that was either left over from a previous fence, or the beginning of a new one. A friend who lives nearby has taken to calling it Fort Greene Park Museum. [Continue reading »]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( The Latest [Celebrities Seem to Like the Brooklyn Waterfront Sprawling apartments, water views, and relatively paparazziproof.]( By Adriane Quinlan [Charles Renfro’s Fire Island Beach House Feels Like a Stage The architect bought the simple 1961 bungalow designed by Horace Gifford, and only added outdoor rooms.]( By Wendy Goodman [What If Wind Turbines Got a Makeover? From Western New York to Ocean City, New Jersey, fights against wind farms often begin with how they look.]( By Chris Stanton [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Read More From Curbed]( Introducing The City Desk, a weekly newsletter about New York. [Sign up to get it every Thursday](. [GET THE NEWSLETTER]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe]( | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2023, All rights reserved