In 1989 the City Council renamed this park for a community leader who gave her life in the fight to rid her block of drug dealers. A long-time resident of Bushwick, Maria Hernandez (1953-1989) was born in Brooklyn and was educated at public schools in the borough. She received an undergraduate degree in accounting from New York University. Residing in Bushwick, she worked as a bookkeeper for the Hospital Investment Management Corporation in Englewood, New Jersey.