President Obama Lands In Prospect Park

Two Marine One helicopters (L) and a Marine Four copter on the baseball fields in Prospect Park this afternoon. (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on images to enlarge. 

Brooklyn

By Geoffrey Croft

All games were suspected today in the baseball fields in Prospect Park on account of the President of the United States.

Two Marine One helicopters - one carrying Barack Obama and the other a decoy - along with two other copters began ascending on the fields around 2:45pm this afternoon. 

Marine One touched down in the outfields of baseball field # 3 and # 4 kicking up large clouds of infield dirt and rattling tree branches.

Spectators strained to catch glimpses of the spectacle along the park's Long Meadow, pathways and through trees wrapped with blue police caution tape.

Marines in full dress uniform stood near the copters and Marine aviator personnel were also seen walking the grounds of the ball fields.

A contingent of emergency service personnel including NYPD ESU and FDNY were stationed near the landing area and along the park's drives.

A large contingent of unformed officers were spread out on the park grounds.

Visitors today found the park's drives closed to vehicle traffic but pedestrians were allowed inside with only the parameter around the ball fields closed off in a "frozen zone."

The West Drive near the ball fields were also closed for a short period of time. 

Earlier this week the Prospect Park Alliance announced on its website that the entire 585 acre park would be closed for six hours, however yesterday they clarified that saying only portions would be closed without providing addition information. 

The President was in Brooklyn to visit Pathways in Technology High School in Crown Heights. 

In the mid-1980s the future president lived a half a block from Prospect Park in a town house on Second Street in Park Slope after he graduated from Columbia.

Marine Three and Four parked on the baseball fields flanked by an NYPD ESU truck.

Spectators along the park's Long Meadow watch Marine One land.

Marine One lands in Prospect Park.

Spectators near the West Drive. 

Marine Four and Three. 

Marine Four 

FDNY standing by.

Marine Four. 

Marine One standing by.

Police guard the entrance to Prospect Park along Grand Army Plaza.

Officials Closing Prospect Park On Friday To Accommodate President Obama

Two U.S. Marine Corps choppers practice landing on baseball fields in Prospect Park on Tuesday in preparation for President Barack Obama's visit to a nearby high school on Friday.  The park will be closed on Friday, October 25 from 12 – 6pm due to security associated with the President's visit.  (Photos: Tom Prendergast)

Brooklyn

Authorities are closing a 585-acre Brooklyn park for six hours on Friday for security associated with President Barack Obama's visit to a nearby high school, according to WNBC.

Obama is visiting the Pathways in Technology Early College High School on Friday that he mentioned in his State of the Union address earlier this year. 

The school is about 2 miles away from Prospect Park, where several helicopters landed on a ball field earlier in the week in a security drill.

The park, which has seven playgrounds, horse trails, a zoo, a carousel, a boathouse and 150 acres of woodlands, attracts more than 10 million visitors a year. 

It will be closed from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday.

The park was closed for a few days after Hurricane Sandy last year, but the city could not immediately say whether it had ever been shut down for an event unrelated to weather.

In his yearly address, the president praised the school, also known as P-Tech, as a model for preparing students for the 21st century economy,the school's website says.

Read More:

Brooklyn's Prospect Park to Close for Obama Visit

WNBC - October 23,  2013  

Marine Helicopters Land In Prospect Park

South Slope News - October 22, 2013