A contest to name a meadow near the Brooklyn Bridge got some local media attention over the last week or so as a movement gained steam to make it into a memorial for Chris Hondros, the Brooklyn Heights–based Getty photographer killed in Libya in 2011. It was a nice idea, but for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy it was not only a non-starter, it was a contest killer. The group canceled the call for names after Hondros became the clear frontrunner. “We’re keenly aware that there are so many deserving and special Brooklyn residents to memorialize, and it felt like naming the lawn for one person isn’t fully representative of that,” executive director Nancy Weber told the New York Times.
As Photo District News points out, lots of Brooklyn parks are named for individuals. The ones mentioned — McCarren Park, Maria Hernandez Park, J.J. Byrne Playground, and the Lt. Federico Narvaez Tot Lot — were named for city and state workers. But McGolrick Park, in Greenpoint, was named for Monsignor Edward J. McGolrick, the pastor of St. Cecilia’s Church. That won’t be happening for Hondros, but Webster told PDN the conservancy would contact the Chris Hondros Fund “to explore other ways to honor his memory.”
