Revitalizing Floyd Bennett Field

Americans love their parks, and New York City’s more than eight million residents, living and working in the densest city in the United States, especially need their parks. Today we have the unique opportunity to develop a new flagship national park for New York by revitalizing Gateway National Recreation Area. This unpolished gem, with Floyd Bennett Field at its heart, is ready to be brought alive as the great urban national park it was intended to be, elevated to shine as the next jewel in the emerald crown of New York City’s great park system.

As a premier urban national park in New York City, Floyd Bennett Field could, and should, be a destination for urban outdoor recreation, ecological restoration, aviation history, and place-based education for the residents of southern Brooklyn and Queens and visitors from around the world. If restored, supported, and managed in new and collaborative ways, Floyd Bennett Field could also support local infrastructure needs, create jobs for the region’s residents, spur the local economy, and connect millions of young people to the outdoors and the National Park System. Gateway is also uniquely positioned to facilitate community building on a local, regional and national scale. Surrounded by established and newly developing immigrant communities representing dozens of countries, the park can play a vital role in introducing millions of the country’s newest citizens to our National Park System.