City OK's Updated Shirley Chisholm Monument Design For Prospect Park

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, NY — Shirley Chisholm's monument, now updated with new design elements, moved one step closer to Prospect Park Monday with a preliminary city approval.

The city's Public Design Commission on Monday unanimously approved the new concept for the 32-foot statue slated for the Parkside Drive entrance of Brooklyn's Backyard.

The approved draft was updated from its initial 2019 design with new hair, safety features and reduced height, revealed in recent months to the community.

“I think this is the most exciting project… that I’ve seen since I’ve been a commissioner here,” said Jimmy Van Bramer, Vice President of the commission. “It’s so powerful.”

With Monday's approval, artists Amanda Williams and Olalekan Jeyifous can now move into the next phase of designing and cementing details. Another round of commission approval is required before any construction begins, according to city officials.

Even still, the vote is a major step forward on the project that means so much to central Brooklyn, the area Chisholm represented as a state Assembly Member and the first Black woman in Congress.

Like many locals had just a week before, commissioner Isabel Castilla, a landscape architect, raised a few concerns about the pavement around the monument, material choices and maintenance — especially given the risk of vandalism and dog urine.

"I think it's very beautiful and urban pieces really do deserve to be touched and engaged with as opposed to be put up on a pedestal. But there's just also these alternative things we need to think about," Castilla said.

Williams noted the monument is planned alongside a larger remodel of the entrance on Parkside and Ocean avenues, which will include a new protected bike lane.

At a meeting at Assembly Member Brian Cunningham's office last week, officials said the Prospect Park Alliance would be responsible for maintenance.

Chisholm's significance to the local community is massive, and commissioners noted how fitting her 32-foot size is, even though the monument was originally planned to be 40-feet. The original size was thought disproportionate to the surrounding trees and structures.

Van Bramer said he imagines the monument will become a community space for rich political discussion and organizing.

"It's so powerful. And I think Shirley Chisholm is such an incredibly important and powerful figure in politics and government and activism," Van Bramer said. “For it to be this grand on this scale in this place seems so perfect and so fitting.”