Williamsburg gets new park

The East River State Park will open this weekend in Williamsburg. The new 7.5-acre waterfront park, which stretches between North 7th and 9th streets, cost $1.7 million. Williamsburg has a dearth of green spaces, and the parks it does have suffer from heavy use. “We’re in desperate need of open space,” said the Open Space Alliance’s Joe Vance. “If you go to McCarren Park on a nice day, it looks like Coney Island in the 1930s and ’40s. You can’t throw a basketball without hitting someone.” more [Metro]