A city worker finishes paving over the iconic ‘Bed-Stuy Aquarium’ a makeshift goldfish pond that’s drawn crowds to the corner of Hancock Street and Tompkins Avenue.
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
Sleeping with the fishes has become a reality for the popular Bedford-Stuyvesant Aquarium. The tragic ending capped off a summer of excitement for all who found joy in the makeshift goldfish pond near Hancock Street and Tompkins Avenue.
Local firefighters and workers with the Department of Environmental Protection came to inspect and fix the fire hydrant supplying water to the “pond,” and come Friday morning, crews had paved over the home of more than 100 fish, blindsiding local fans of the local attraction.
“This is what the city is wasting time and taxpayer money on,” one neighbor told Brooklyn Paper.
Another called the move a “huge travesty for the community,” claiming that the makeshift pond had drawn eager children and their families to the neighborhood to witness the wonder.
Earlier this summer, a handful of longtime local residents decided to turn the water-filled pit into a makeshift neighborhood goldfish pond, lovingly called the “Bed-Stuy Aquarium.” They shored up the pit, bought about 100 small goldfish, and dumped them in with colorful rocks and decorations.
Photos and videos of the makeshift pond started circulating online and in person, garnering equal amounts of praise and criticism — some argued that the local attraction was unsafe for its aquatic inhabitants. (It was unclear if organizers had properly outfitted the pond with a filter, heater, or any other equipment necessary to keep the goldfish alive.)
A department spokesperson said that the DEP had turned off the leaky hydrant “several times” since it found out about it, but people kept turning it back on — which prevented DEP crews from working in the area.
Still, the pond persevered. Organizers even started a GoFundMe to “help build a better…
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