May 02, 2006

Newman proposes racetrack for Floyd Bennett Field

Actor Paul Newman is floating a $15 million plan to bring a racetrack and camp for seriously ill children to Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field, according to the Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill Courier.

"This first and foremost has to be a commerical venture -- but we are proposing that $1 million will go to the National Parks Service for use of the facility every year," Geoffrey Whaling, one of Newman's partners, told the paper.

The airfield's former naval barracks would be converted into the permanent home for Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. Each September, the site would host the three-day New York Memorial Grand Prix, a Champ Car Series race.

Floyd Bennett Field was New York City's first municipal airstrip, built to releive congestion at new Jersey's Newark Airport. It is currently part of the Jamaica Bay Unit of the National Park Service's Gateway National Recreation Area.

That status alone should be a red flag for the project, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens, Brooklyn), told the Daily News. "It is simply an inappropriate use of a national park. In fact, it is illegal," Weiner told the paper.

May 2, 2006 07:16 PM in Out of Manhattan

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