Waterfront Plans Threaten Dream to Honor a Warship in Brooklyn
“George J. Weinmann, a descendant of the Monitor’s assistant surgeon, and his wife, Janice Lauletta-Weinmann, have spent two decades pushing to build a museum to commemorate the ship’s history. In 2003 an affiliate of Shell Oil that owned an East River cove known as Bushwick Inlet gave them one-acre of prime waterfront property — free of charge — at the end of Quay Street where the Monitor was built 150 years ago.
But that effort is now being jeopardized by city plans to turn the entire waterfront area into a 28-acre park that would expropriate the museum site.
Residents of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, starved for greenery, have long wanted to put a park on the decaying industrial waterfront, with its breathtaking views of the Manhattan skyline and the slowly flowing river. The city has threatened to use eminent domain to seize the property for that purpose.
“The idea of commemorating the Monitor and the history of the waterfront is great, but there needs to be a greater input of the community,” said Christine Holowacz, 57, a longtime Greenpoint advocate. She is not opposed to a museum in the park but wants the Weinmanns to help work out a solution that would break the stalemate.”
Beeger, Joseph. New York TImes 29 March 2013.