Shirley Chisolm State Park 5-7 miles

Please read the entire trip description 3 or 4 times before responding or asking questions. Please, please, please do not rsvp for this walk unless you intend to come. Please change your RSVP as soon as you know you can't attend. Shirley Chisholm State Park is named in honor of Shirley Chisholm, a Brooklyn-born trailblazer who was the first African American Congresswoman, as well as the first woman and African American to run for President. Rising up 130 feet above sea level, this new park occupies some of the highest ground in Brooklyn and offers spectacular panoramic views of the Empire State Building to the northwest, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and New York Harbor to the west, and Jamaica Bay to the south. The site rests atop the former Pennsylvania and Fountain Avenue landfills. The Penn and Fountain landfills were operated by New York City Department of Sanitation from 1956 to 1983. After the landfills were closed, the work to reclaim and repurpose the 407 acres of land as a future park began. The first steps were to install an impermeable plastic cap and a below-ground barrier to fully encapsulate the landfills and support future reuse. A below grade methane gas piping system was also installed throughout the property so that all off gassing is carried to the property's two flares. We'll meet at Crown Heights, Utica Avenue stop of the # 3 train at 10:30 am where we will transfer to the B17 bus at Eastern Parkway and Utica Avenue.