Brooklyn Heights residents fight to re-name park after late Beastie Boy

A group of residents in Brooklyn Heights say the neighborhood’s Squibb Park should change its name to honor the late Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, aka MCA, the Brooklyn Paper reported. Squibb Park, which has a skate park and will one day serve as the entryway for a bridge linking the neighborhood to Brooklyn Bridge Park, should be named for a local, not 19th-century pharmaceutical pioneer Edward Robinson Squibb, the residents say.

The group first formed on a comment board on the Brooklyn Heights Blog, and then moved to Facebook, where they have more than 450 “likes.”

The proposed re-naming has some detractors, the paper said. Rob Perris, the district manager of local Community Board 2, told the Brooklyn Paper the Park might not be the best way to honor Yauch, who died May 4 at the age of 47.

Julie Golia, the public historian at the Brooklyn Historical Society, urged residents to remember why Squibb Park was thusly named. “Honoring an emcee is catchy and interesting, but Brooklyn has a long history as a innovator in the pharmaceutical industry,” Golia told the paper. “That may not sound sexy but it’s pretty significant in all of our lives.” [Brooklyn Paper]