A summer day at Brooklyn Bridge Park presents another opportunity for Lee Palmer to give back to a place close to her heart.

“It’s my backyard,” Palmer said as she pulled unwanted plants. “I’m here almost everyday doing so many things, bring my grandchildren to the beautiful playgrounds, eating dinner here, going for a walk.”

What You Need To Know

• Lee Palmer is a volunteer with the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy


• She pulls unwanted plants, clears debris and guides visitors once a week. In her first year, she volunteered 134 hours of her time


• Palmer has lived in DUMBO on and off for almost 20 years. She remembers the days of piers and wharves along the Brooklyn waterfront

Palmer has lived on and off in DUMBO for almost two decades.

Her love for the environment has remained strong and always had a green thumb.

“Even when I was a little kid, I was the one out in the backyard pulling the weeds and doing the planting,” Palmer said.

When this educator retired a little over a year ago, she knew where she wanted to spend her time.

“First thing I did was go to the park website,” Palmer said. “And if you go to the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, they have all kinds of volunteer opportunities. So I went right in.”

Palmer spent about 134 hours removing unwanted plants, clearing litter and guiding visitors last year.

She also pitches in at a garden in Red Hook.

In her weekly duties for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, she maintains the area near Main Street DUMBO by Pebble Beach.

“I can leave Lee anywhere and Lee will honestly just bully the entire site, which is what I need,” said Corey Rivers, the gardener at Brooklyn Bridge Park who supervises her.

Palmer feels a responsibility to care for the park and the neighborhood.

“I’ve watched the park grow from starting on Pier 1 to what it is now,” she said. “Now the park is ‘finished,’ but we know it’s never finished. It’s going to be constantly changing.”

For helping keep her beloved neighborhood park healthy and green, Lee Palmer is our New Yorker of the Week.