Science and Technology of New York City

Foderaro, Lisa W. “Brooklyn Bridge Park Gets $40 Million Gift to Build Field House.” New York Times 20 Apr. 2012: 17.Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Oct. 2012.

Mr. Rechnitz, a cyclist and the grandson of New York philanthropists, is donating $40 million for a new field house in Brooklyn Bridge Park that will include an indoor cycling track. He even agreed to cover any shortfall in operating revenue during the first 10 years. The new field house would occupy the site of a one-story concrete warehouse on Furman Street, south of the Transit Authority buildings near Montague Street. The warehouse is now used for storage, but it would come down to make way for the field house. The field house is to be giant — 115,000 square feet near Pier 5, with a 200-meter inclined cycling track with up to 2,500 seats and a 22,000-square-foot infield that can accommodate other sports, including basketball, tennis, volleyball and gymnastics.This track is said to revive cycling and is supposed to be self sustaining so that those who use it will have to pay.

Foderaro is a writer for the New York Times and she seems to be for this new field house. She’s claiming that this field house will be successful and a good attraction for the park. Her audience would be the general public who’s interested in what’s happening to Brooklyn Bridge Park. Her weakness is that even if she didn’t intend to come off with a bias as a news reporter, she did because she only reported all the positive comments about the field house. I also feel like the article should have focused more on the actual field house and how it would affect the park rather then all the millionaires and how much money they’re donating to different areas. She also talks about Rechnitz and how he’s been looking for a place to build a field house for three years. The article seemed to focus more on him rather then the topic on hand. She only does a good job of letting us know where they intend to build the field house and what they plan to do with it. This article is relevant since it gives us more insight on what’s happening within Brooklyn Bridge Park and it’s new project and it’s also related to our thesis since this field house will become a part of the community.