Boaters to “Occupy the Inlet” to save a Brooklyn park

A mini-armada of Brooklynites who want to see a waterfront park in Bushwick will “occupy” the waters near it on Sunday.

Friends of Bushwick Inlet Parkis calling on people with kayaks, canoes, paddleboards and otherhuman-powered watercraft to meet up in the waters off Kent Avenue at North 14th Street.

The Williamsburg-Bushwick neighborhood was promised a park on the 28-acre open space by Mayor Mike Bloomberg in 2005. The city still has not bought the CitiStorage warehouse that sits on the proposed site, which was damaged during a massive fire last winter.

Last week, the New York Times reported the cost of the park was reaching $225 million, and Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver said at a recent hearing that the departmentdoesn’t have enough money to purchase the CitiStorage buildings.

Community organizers fear the buildings will be sold to developers.The park currently includes a multipurpose field.

“In the scheme of things, that’s a lot of money, Steve Chesler of Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park told Metro. “In terms of non-financial investment, the value it gives to people’s lives, not only current generations, but beyond, to have this beautiful pearl right on the waterfront. What’s the alternative? Another tower, thousands of people dropped into the neighborhood? That’d be pretty awful.”

Cheslersaid he expects about 40 watercrafts on Sunday.