Coffey Park

Eh, really lackluster public park IMO, especially with waterfront green space not far away.

Coffey Park is one of the hidden gems of NY. I work only a few blocks away and when I tell people I work in Red Hook they still picture the Red Hook of the 80’s and 90’s. The one in the film «Straight out of Brooklyn» but The Hook has changed alot since then. Nearby Van Brunt st is a plethora of boutiques and great places to eat and little Coffey Park is a beautiful and peaceful place. If it’s one of those rare mornings that the F train gets me to work early I like to grab my Egg Mcmuffin from the Mc’Ds near by and sit on a bench watching the dogs run around. Sometimes they come by and say hi, sometimes a friendly squirrel shows up and gets a piece of hash brown.
The only down thing about the park is the cobblestones are in pretty bad shape, I think this may be from Sandy which obviously hit the area hard or the harsh winter, whatever they are pretty broken up and could use a good repaving. This cute little park and this tough resilient neighborhood deserve it.

Coffey Park, named for Michael J. Coffey, an Irish immigrant who represented Red Hook in the State Senate. More than 180 trees, shaded lawns, and at dusk, residents of the neighborhood fled.
The Red Hook Houses sit to the east and south of the park, and a 19-​century Gothic church rises to the west. A high school down the block bears the name of Patrick F. Daly, the former principal who was killed by gunfire in the Red Hook Houses in 1992.
My lovely old neighborhood.
There is now a gardener in the park that is taking care of it. He is doing a great job! That is why the 3 stars. The lack of 5 stars is only because of the neighborhood.
Such memories! Can’t believe I am still alive!

As if like clockwork, I headed out today in my new trainers from Jack Rabbit sports, to go for a long run.
I headed towards manhattan bridge thinking, maybe DUMBO. Once I got to DUMBO I decided it was an IKEA day, and ran all the way through Red Hook, passing by Coffey Park on the way over. On the return, it was pouring, and came through Coffey Park. It is lush and green and pretty clean too. Of course it was pouring rain so it was also completely empty. Don’t know what it’s like on any *other* given Sunday.
Still Red Hook has certainly changed it’s image a lot from the first time I was there in the mid-​nineties. Then it was drug addled and full of trouble. Every bit like the Buffalo I had left.
At any rate if you are in the Red Hook area, stop by for a minute.