Hudson River Park

[Edward]

The information below is from Hudson River Park website (http://www.hudsonriverpark.org). Later I will post pictures of some piers.


In a city as dense and diverse as New York, Hudson River Park will be many things to many people. It will be a place where park-starved New Yorkers can soak in the sun or celebrate the seasons. A place where parents and teachers can help educate their children about the ecology and history of the Hudson. A place for running, playing, dancing, boating, or simply watching the boats sail by. A place for relaxing with your friends and neighbors.

A granite esplanade will span the entire five-mile park, bringing the public close to the water, while town docks, boat houses, a beach, and launches for canoes and kayaks will allow people to touch and even enter it. Back on land, undulating green lawns and groves of trees will separate walkers from the New York's finest bikeway. Ballfields will open for both children and adults.

But the best part of Hudson River Park will be the piers. Stretching up to 1,000 feet into the Hudson River, thirteen rebuilt piers will allow park visitors to leave the city behind them and experience the light, water and open space that are unique to the riverfront. Hudson River Park's piers will be islands of repose in the midst of our vibrant city.

Green shorelines, blue waters and open sky became the focus when planning for the park began over a decade ago. Since then, park planners have continued to work extensively with local communities, environmental organizations and businesses to create a living, breathing park for all visitors.

In 1998, the Hudson River Park Act officially created the park, reserving extensive portions of the waterfront exclusively for public recreation, and significantly limiting the types and locations of commercial activities. The Act also designated the river itself an estuarine sanctuary, and requires that every dollar made within the park goes right back into the park's construction, maintenance or operations.

The estimated park cost is $330 million. Both the State and City have already each committed $100 million to the project. The remainder will come from a combination of sources, including lease revenue and private fund-raising.

Much of the project's cost will be for infrastructure —rebuilding the pier structures, seawall, and the underground platforms which support the riverfront land. Those underground and underwater structures were built largely of wood in the 19th and early 20th centuries and must be replaced. The remaining capital expenses are for traditional park amenities like pavings, gardens, benches and lighting.

Hudson River Park's first section opened in Greenwich Village in September 1999, and further sections are under construction. The projected date of completion is 2005.



Lower Manhattan and Tribeca *

http://www.wirednewyork.com/images/import/hudson_river_park_map_b_p1.gif


Hudson River Park begins at Battery Place with a bikeway and walkway that will continue along the entire length of the park to 59th Street. From there, it will connect to the Riverside South Park (also under construction), and Riverside Park. This is the beginning of the Hudson River Valley Greenway Trail, which will eventually run all the way to Troy, north of Albany.

Today:*The area between Battery Place and Harrison Street is the only part of the park without a river view. Between West Thames and Albany Streets, there is a children's playground, basketball court, community garden plots and a dog run. Tennis and basketball courts are located between Murray and Warren Streets.

Pier 25 provides a small "town dock", a snack bar and a sand area for beach volleyball. A miniature golf course is open from May to October. The "Yankee," the last surviving Ellis Island ferry, is docked here.

Pier 26 is the home of the Downtown Boathouse (www.downtownboathouse.org ), where members can store small craft like canoes and kayaks, and the public can borrow them or launch their own boats for free. The River Project (www.riverproject.org), an ecological education and research center, is also located at Pier 26.

Pier 32 is a deteriorated pier, now severed from the shoreline. Birds and other wildlife are now claiming it as their own.

Pier 34 contains two "finger" piers that link to the Holland Tunnel Vent Shaft. The southern finger is open to the public for strolling, sitting, blading or fishing. The northern finger is reserved as access for maintenance for the vent shaft. An art installation by Ron Baron, entitled "Birds," is currently located between the fingers.

In the future: The southern end of the park will feature a plaza linking Hudson River Park with Battery Park City, historic Battery Park, and the East River Esplanade. Park activities here may include active recreation, a community garden, a dog run, and a children's playground. The waterside esplanade (which will continue to the northern end of the park) begins at Harrison Street.

Piers 25 and 26, located at the North Moore Street Gateway, will both be fully rebuilt as public park piers, with an emphasis on ecology and boating.

Pier 25 will feature flexible areas for both active and passive recreation, children's play areas and a clam bar or similar concession stand. Moorings south of the pier will accommodate 40 boats, and a "town dock" will provide short-term docking for small craft. Historical ships and a water taxi will dock here, too.

Pier 26 will continue to house an "estuarium," an education and research center, with demonstration gardens, interpretive science exhibits and classroom space devoted to the Hudson River. A boathouse and launch for non-motorized boats will be located here as well.

Pier 32 will be an ecological pier with a get-down and lookout on the bulkhead.

Pier 34 will continue to offer access for fishing and other activities on the southern finger. Consideration will be given to opening up the northern finger as well, if the Port Authority's operational needs for the Holland Tunnel Vent Shaft do not conflict.



Greenwich Village *

http://www.wirednewyork.com/images/import/hudson_river_park_map_b_p2.gif

Today: The temporary walkway continues north throughout this area, and the NYS Department of Transportation has completed the dedicated bikeway/bladeway between Clarkson and Horatio Streets.

Located at the end of Houston Street, Pier 40 is the largest pier in the park and is 95 percent commercial. Pier 40 Operating LLC maintains a public esplanade around the perimeter, and provides 2,300 long-term parking spaces, plus areas for excursion boats, police storage, truck and bus parking, and other uses. Hudson River Park operates two children's athletics fields for soccer and baseball, as well as some indoor recreational space. The Pier Park and Playground Alliance (www.pier40.org ) operates batting cages and other recreational facilities.

The Tamaroa is berthed on the north side of Pier 40. If you've read or seen The Perfect Storm, you'll recognize this decommissioned US Coast Guard vessel as the heroine of the story.

Pier 42 (at Morton Street) is closed due to pier condition.

Pier 45 is open for public use, but contains no amenities. Just to the north, a bow notch reminds us of the days when the ships became too long for the piers, and the bulkhead had to be pierced to accommodate the extra length.

Piers 46, 49 and 51 are condemned and unused.

The Gansevoort Peninsula is actually landfill. It is mostly devoted to municipal services: NYC Sanitation Department truck parking, salt storage, an unused marine transfer station, and Fire Department Marine Company 1.

Historical Note: Thirteenth Avenue. Manhattan once had a well-used Thirteenth Avenue. It ran from Bloomfield Street on what is now Gansevoort Peninsula all the way to 23rd Street. The area was later excavated to permit newer, longer ships to dock without blocking the channel. Today, only a one-block stretch remains on the Gansevoort Peninsula.

Pier 54 (at 13th Street) is a flat open pier that provides public access. It is distinguished by a steel arch — the remains of a once-grand building built for ocean liner passengers.

Historical Note: Famous Tragedy: Look closely at the entrance arch at Pier 54, and you'll see that it was once a Cunard-White Star pier. It was the departure point for the Lusitania's first voyage. It's also where the Titanic's survivors returned onboard the Carpathia.

In the future: At least half of Pier 40's 1.2 million square feet will be reserved for public park uses, with the rest devoted to compatible park/commercial activities, such as long-term parking. Detailed design of this pier is still to come, but its re-creation may involve demolition of parts of the eastern and western walls to open up more views. The perimeter walkway will be preserved and enhanced, and the courtyard and roof will likely become a 10.5 acre public park with lawns, sports fields and courts, and terraces. Other uses could include restaurants, performance space for arts companies, a boat showroom, and a water taxi stop.

Pier 42 is reserved solely for park uses, but its rehabilitation awaits completion of the other public piers. Future recreational activities might include in-line skating and flexible active space on the eastern portion of the pier, boat slips for non-motorized boats, and, on the western portion, lots of space for sedentary folks to sunbathe, read or relax.

Pier 45 will be one of the first piers to be reconstructed. It will feature a lawn, wooden boardwalks, open shade structures, seating areas, sun decks and plantings. It will also have a water taxi stop on its south side near the bulkhead .

Pier 46 will emphasize active recreation — such as flexible ball play — on its eastern portion and a perimeter walkway. A western walkway extension of the pier will allow close-up viewing of the adjacent ecological pier.

Pier 49 will become a pile field and viewing balcony.

Pier 51 is slated to become a children's play area and will include water features.

Following relocation of the essential services provided by the Department of Sanitation, the Gansevoort Peninsula will be filled with ball fields, a children's playground, and a sunning beach. Other possibilities include a boating center, overlooks and a water taxi stop. Fire Department Marine Company 1, Manhattan's only remaining waterside fire station, will remain on Pier 53, and three seasonal floating docks will be added on its north side to provide slips for about 60 small boats.

Pier 54 will become a public pier featuring the arch and granite bases from the original pier structure. Historic vessels will be docked and interpreted, and a terraced, wooden boardwalk deck with lounge chairs and some active recreation could also be included.


Chelsea *

http://www.wirednewyork.com/images/import/hudson_river_park_map_b_p3.gif

Today: The interim bikeway/walkway runs along the West Side Highway from 14th - 34th Streets, but is narrow in some areas due to construction. An irregular area between 14th and 15th Street east of Route 9A currently includes a temporary dog run.

Pier 56 is condemned.

Pier 57 is used for municipal bus parking.

Historical Note: A Floating Pier. Pier 57 is eligible for the State and National Registers of Historic Places. It was built in 1952 and is significant because of its innovative engineering design by Emil Praeger, who designed floating piers for Allied landings in World War II. Pier 57 is supported by three buoyant, hollow concrete boxes. These 27,000-ton sections were built in Haverstraw, NY. Upon completion, they were flooded and floated down the river to their current location. The pier's method of construction was widely heralded and publicized in engineering journals at the time.

Pier 58 is a pile field.

Piers 59, 60 and 61 and their head houses are operated by Chelsea Piers Management (www.chelseapiers.com) under a long-term lease as a sports and recreation complex, featuring a golf driving range, a marina, two ice skating rinks, a bowling alley, a track and gymnastics center, commercial excursion boating, television and film studios and restaurants. A public pedestrian walkway hugs the perimeter of each pier.

Historical Note: Piersheds at Piers 60 and 61. These two piersheds are rare surviving examples of early 20th Century passenger ship terminals. Designed by Warren & Wetmore, they were completed in 1910. They remain intact, with the original materials and some original equipment, and have been restored by Chelsea Piers Management.


Two temporary in-line skating rinks operated by Chelsea Piers are located on Pier 62, and a landscaped public area occupies the western and southern sides of the pier.

Pier 63 currently houses Basketball City (www.BasketballCity.com) and the Equestrian Center. Immediately west of the building is Pier 63 Maritime, a barge offering public access and a variety of boats including the historic Frying Pan.

Historical Note: The Lightship Frying Pan, located at Pier 63 Maritime was built in 1929 and served as an offshore floating lighthouse in the Atlantic Ocean at Frying Pan Shoals, 35 miles from the mouth of Cape Fear in North Carolina. It was later moved to Cape May, NJ, then to Southport, NC, then to Maryland, where it sank and sat underwater for three years before being raised and brought to New York.

Pier 64 is condemned; the pier shed is empty. A pier headhouse was demolished in mid-1997 to make room for public access. On the eastern side of Route 9A, Thomas F. Smith Park has been dramatically expanded and will become part of the enlarged Chelsea Waterside Park.

The bulkhead area north of Pier 64 to 30th Street is being used as a staging area for the Route 9A Reconstruction Project. Pier 66 and Pier 66a are unusable due to pier condition. A heliport operated by Air Pegasus is located on the bulkhead between 29th and 30th Streets. Pier 72 (at 32nd Street) is condemned.

Historical Note: The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Float Transfer Bridge (Pier 66a), just north of Pier 64, was an active railway transfer point from 1954 to 1973, linking the river with the B&O Warehouse on Eleventh Avenue and 26th Street. The float bridge was constructed with a wooden Howe truss (patented in 1840) to handle the twisting stresses of transferring railroad cars to barges. It is listed on the State and National Registers of Historical Places. Hudson River Park Trust is currently restoring this structure, which will become a living reminder of the commerce that once dominated life on the Hudson.

*
In the future: The park between 14th and 15th Street east of Route 9A area will become part of the park as soon as it is no longer needed to highway reconstruction staging. A permanent dog run will be located here.

Decking and piles at Pier 56 (at 14th Street) will be removed and a small area will be rebuilt to provide public access over the river.

When the buses are moved from Pier 57, public esplanades will be created on the northern and southern sides.

Piles at Pier 58, which is severely deteriorated, will be removed.

Piers 59, 60 and 61 will remain as the Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment Complex.

Chelsea Waterside Park, between 22nd and 24th Streets, will be one of the largest park areas along the river. It will include Piers 62, 63 and 64, and large land areas on both the eastern and western sides of the roadway. The eastern portion is being built by the Route 9A Project and will be completed this year. It will include athletic fields for soccer and baseball, a basketball court, a children's playgrounds, food concessions and comfort stations, and a dog run. Piers 62, 63 and 64 will all become public park piers featuring views, sitting and playing areas.

At Pier 66a, the restored Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Railroad Float Transfer Bridge will allow 21st Century park visitors to learn how cargo once moved on the river. A small boat launch will also be included here.

Pier 66, just north of the Floatbridge will be rebuilt to provide a public boat dock for day-time tie-ups for up to 20 boats, and a viewing and sunning area at the western tip. A boathouse on the bulkhead will house approximately 150 small craft.

Pier 72 will be removed and its pilings will be retained to support wildlife. Another shoreline beach will be constructed south of Pier 76.


Midtown Maritime District *

http://www.wirednewyork.com/images/import/hudson_river_park_map_b_p4.gif

Today, this portion of the waterfront is still alive with commercial maritime uses such as tour boats and river ferries. In the future, these thriving activities will continue and be enhanced by walkways, landscaping, another public pier and other public amenities.



Today: Pier 76 (across from Javits Convention center) is currently a City Police Department tow pound.

Pier 78, and the land adjacent to it, is the New York Waterway Ferry Terminal (www.NYWaterway.com), and is privately owned. It provides ferry service to Weehawken and Lincoln Harbor in New Jersey, as well as excursions. It also runs a bus service for commuters and theatergoers. Pier 79 contains vents for the Lincoln tunnel and a bus garage for New York Waterway.

Piers 81 and 83 are home to World Yacht (www.WorldYacht.com) and Circle Line (www.CircleLine.com), which together offer luxury dinner cruises and tours around the island of Manhattan. A small concession stand is located near Pier 83.

Pier 84 is open for interim public recreational use, and will include a community garden, seating, lighting, and a boating area.

Pier 86 houses the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum (www.Intrepidmuseum.org), and other historic vessels.


In the future: The waterfront esplanade and bikeway/blade way will continue through this area.

At least 50% of Pier 76 will eventually become part of the park following relocation of the tow pound. The remainder will remain under New York City control and likely be used for commercial purposes.

Pier 78 will continue to be used as the New York Waterway Ferry Terminal. Pier 79 will also become a ferry terminal, and will include public access and viewing areas.

Piers 81 and 83 will continue to be used by World Yacht and Circle Line for tourist and excursion boats until at least 2017 and 2016, respectively.

Pier 84 will be programmed entirely for park uses and could include town docks with day slips for small boats, sitting areas, a community garden, and a boathouse. Water taxis will stop here as well.

The Intrepid Museum will continue at Pier 86.

Clinton *

http://www.wirednewyork.com/images/import/hudson_river_park_map_b_p5.gif

Today: Piers 88, 90, and 92 are the Passenger Ship Terminals and are not part of the park.

Pier 94 is also known as the "Unconvention Center." It is used for trade shows and is not part of the park.

Piers 95 and 96 are closed due to pier conditions.

Pier 97 is used for sanitation truck parking.

Pier 98 is used for Con Edison employee car parking, a training facility and delivery by barge and storage of fuel oil.

Pier 99 is a Sanitation Department marine transfer station.


In the future: Piers 88, 90 and 92 will continue as passenger ship terminals. Pier 94 will be used for trade shows or other commercial purposes as decided by the City of New York.

North of Pier 94 through and including Pier 97 will be the new Clinton Cove Park. Pier 95 will have a get down near the shore, and Pier 96 will have a small boathouse; the remaining piles and decks on both piers will be removed.

Pier 97 will be used for passive and active recreation, with a boardwalk, flexible court space (for sports like basketball, tennis, volleyball, badminton and handball), open shade structures and benches. Water taxis will stop here, and there will be a town dock with day slips for small boats. Historical vessels may also be stationed here.

Piers 98 and 99 will continue to be used by Con Ed and the Department of Sanitation.

[Edward]

Pier 25 provides a small "town dock", a snack bar and a sand area for beach volleyball. A miniature golf course is open from May to October. The "Yankee," the last surviving Ellis Island ferry, is docked here.

Pier 26 is the home of the Downtown Boathouse (www.downtownboathouse.org ), where members can store small craft like canoes and kayaks, and the public can borrow them or launch their own boats for free. The River Project (www.riverproject.org), an ecological education and research center, is also located at Pier 26.


The view from Battery Park on Piers 25 and 26.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/piers/images/hudson_river_park_pier25_22july00.jpg



Pier 32 is a deteriorated pier, now severed from the shoreline. Birds and other wildlife are now claiming it as their own.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/piers/pier32/hudson_river_park_pier32_26jan02.jpg



Pier 34 contains two "finger" piers that link to the Holland Tunnel Vent Shaft. The southern finger is open to the public for strolling, sitting, blading or fishing. The northern finger is reserved as access for maintenance for the vent shaft.

The view on the vent shaft of the Holland Tunnel on northern finger of Pier 34 from the Hudson River.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/piers/pier34/hudson_river_park_pier34_16jul00.jpg



The Tamaroa is berthed on the north side of Pier 40. If you've read or seen The Perfect Storm, you'll recognize this decommissioned US Coast Guard vessel as the heroine of the story.

The Tamaroa at Pier 40 in May of 2000.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/piers/pier40/hudson_river_park_pier40_tamaroa_29may00.jpg



Pier 54 (at 13th Street) is a flat open pier that provides public access. It is distinguished by a steel arch — the remains of a once-grand building built for ocean liner passengers.

Historical Note: Famous Tragedy: Look closely at the entrance arch at Pier 54, and you'll see that it was once a Cunard-White Star pier. It was the departure point for the Lusitania's first voyage. It's also where the Titanic's survivors returned onboard the Carpathia.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/piers/pier54/chelsea_pier54_12jan02.jpg



Piers 60 and 61 and their head houses are operated by Chelsea Piers Management (www.chelseapiers.com) under a long-term lease as a sports and recreation complex, featuring a golf driving range, a marina, two ice skating rinks, a bowling alley, a track and gymnastics center, commercial excursion boating, television and film studios and restaurants. A public pedestrian walkway hugs the perimeter of each pier.

Historical Note: Piersheds at Piers 60 and 61. These two piersheds are rare surviving examples of early 20th Century passenger ship terminals. Designed by Warren & Wetmore, they were completed in 1910. They remain intact, with the original materials and some original equipment, and have been restored by Chelsea Piers Management.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/piers/chelsea_piers/chelsea_pier60_pier61_empire_21sept01.jpg



Two temporary in-line skating rinks operated by Chelsea Piers are located on Pier 62, and a landscaped public area occupies the western and southern sides of the pier.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/piers/chelsea_piers/chelsea_pier62_26jan02.jpg

Built in 1931, MV John J. Harvey, at 130 ft and 268 net tons, is the second most powerful fireboat ever in service on the East Coast of the United States. She has five 600 HP diesel engines, and has capacity to pump 16,000 gallons of water a minute. Her pumps are powerful -- enough so that when she and the George Washington Bridge were both brand new, she shot water over the bridge's roadway. She was retired by the New York City Fire Department in 1994 and bought at auction by her current owners in 1999. She was placed on The National Register of Historic Places in June 2000.

The John J. Harvey fireboat at Pier 63 Maritime.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/piers/pier63maritime/chelsea_pier63_maritime_26jan02.jpg

[Edward]

Battery Park North (http://www.wirednewyork.com/battery_park.htm) and the construction of 20 River Terrace (http://www.wirednewyork.com/real_estate/20river_terrace/default.htm) on 14 September 2002, with Pier 32 (http://www.wirednewyork.com/piers/pier32/default.htm).

http://www.wirednewyork.com/real_estate/20river_terrace/20river_terrace_battery_park_pier32_14sept02.jpg



Hudson River Park's Pier 45 on 29 May 2000.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/piers/pier45/hudson_river_park_pier45_29may00.jpg



Delaware's tall ship Kalmar Nyckel at Pier 63 Maritime (http://www.wirednewyork.com/piers/pier63maritime/default.htm) is visiting New York City for Sail for America. 14 September 2002.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/piers/pier63maritime/pier63_kalmar_nyckel_14sept02.jpg

[amigo32]

I like these pictures, and the historical descriptions. *This is a part of NY that you never hear very much about.

[Fabb]

May 31, 2003

A Piece of Hudson Riverfront Is Reclaimed for the People
By JOSEPH BERGER

On a pier poking 860 feet into the Hudson River and once used for such grinding work as shucking oysters and hauling freight, 25 young honey locust trees were quivering in a soft breeze yesterday and a thick cushion of grass stretched the length of one and a half football fields.

That revitalized pier, two shorter piers nearby and the connecting Greenwich Village waterfront were christened yesterday by state and city officials as a park, the first portion of the long-talked-about transformation of the mostly ramshackle Manhattan waterfront that runs for five miles from Battery Park to 59th Street. Once finished, Hudson River Park, as it is known, will provide a waterside refuge to the tens of thousands of residents of TriBeCa, Greenwich Village, Chelsea and Clinton.

"There's always been the notion that we would be recapturing the waterfront, but we never did it," said Adrian Benepe, New York City's parks commissioner and one of several officials who reached for superlatives to explain the event's significance. "Since the first Dutch merchants pulled in in 1624, the Manhattan waterfront has been commercial and the residents of Manhattan have been shut out of their river."

But however high the hopes of reclaiming the waterfront, the project still faces uncertainties. Only $200 million has been allocated to finish all six park segments, a job that is estimated to cost twice that amount.

"Without money, all the political will in the world won't build the park," said Tom Fox of Friends of Hudson River Park, a leading advocate of a river park.

Critics have accused the park's builders of using green space as a Trojan horse for the commercial entertainment and recreation that will become available at some piers along the park, so conflict is sure to dog the park. The park's builders have yet to find places for the sanitation trucks and tow pound that occupy some piers. And while many environmental groups fought for the park's creation, others like the Clean Air Campaign say that it will harm the spawning grounds around the pier pilings used by striped bass and other species.

The portion opened yesterday spans three-quarters of a mile of waterfront from Clarkson to Horatio Streets. It includes an esplanade landscaped with azaleas, begonias, trumpet creepers and a granite fountain as well as three precast concrete piers, at Jane Street, Charles Street and just north of Christopher Street. The Jane Street pier, with a jungle gym and prow, is essentially a playground. The Charles Street pier has artificial turf that can be used for kicking a soccer ball, and the Christopher Street pier, with its true grass lawn and long wooden benches, is intended for sunbathing and contemplation.

From the end of Pier 45 near Christopher Street yesterday, the eye took in a broad gray swath of rippling river, the newly muscular skyline of Jersey City, the Statue of Liberty and a solitary mallard duck floating by.

With Howard G. Abel of Abel Bainnson Butz as the landscape architect, the project used several structural approaches to create a sturdy park designed to resist the abuse of thousands of users for 50 years. According to Marc Boddewyn, vice president of design and construction for the Hudson River Park Trust, the park's builder and operator, Pier 45 is built on 1,200 concrete pilings ranging from 80 to 110 feet in length. Its platform rises for three feet at points to contain enough soil for the 25 locust trees, and the irrigation system encourages the trees' roots to grow laterally.

The sun can be intensely hot on the pier — politicians came away with reddened faces yesterday — so shade is also provided by synthetic-fiber canopies. The railings are made of stainless steel to eliminate the need for painting.

Residents of Greenwich Village have been longing for completion of the park, which will be open from dawn until 1 a.m. On Thursday, Elliot Smith, a 60-year-old art dealer, arrived at the park to walk Tchotchke, his chocolate Labrador retriever, and was disappointed that its opening had been delayed a day. He was stoic.

"Everyone in the neighborhood has been watching with anticipation and impatience, but great projects take time to complete," he said.

The Hudson River Park Trust's board includes five members appointed by Gov. George E. Pataki, five by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and three by the Manhattan borough president, C. Virginia Fields. It will raise money for maintenance through rents collected from commercial users on park property, like Chelsea Piers.

To finish the project, trust officials hope to tap some the hundreds of millions of dollars made available to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation after the collapse of the World Trade Center. If financing is found, officials believe the entire park can be completed in five years, Mr. Boddewyn said.

As officials munched on barbecue and toasted each other and the park — Mr. Pataki called it "the Central Park of the 21st century" — considerations of money were set aside. Mostly officials were tickled at the idea of a park in the middle of the Hudson.

"It takes a while for your mind to get used to it — to be walking barefoot in the grass and be over the river," Mr. Benepe said. "It's like a Sheep Meadow over the water."

Copyright 2003*The New York Times Company

[ZippyTheChimp]

May 31, 2003. Photos of just opened segment 4

http://www.pbase.com/image/17300050.jpg

Pier 45
http://www.pbase.com/image/17297916.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/17298129.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/17298209.jpg

Restored bow notch. When ships became too large for the piers, several of these notches were cut into the bulkhead.
http://www.pbase.com/image/17298722.jpg

The bulkhead wall is a NYC engineering landmark. The capstones that were too damaged to be used were incorporated into the landscape at several places.
http://www.pbase.com/image/17298411.jpg

Pier 46. The lawn is artificial.
http://www.pbase.com/image/17298628.jpg

I had my doubts, so a closer look. I was only sure when I tugged on a blade and it wouldn't come out. There is a bed of granular material that feels like soil.
http://www.pbase.com/image/17298660.jpg

View north from pier 46
http://www.pbase.com/image/17299660.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/17299703.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/17299834.jpg

Childrens' pier at Jane St
http://www.pbase.com/image/17300002.jpg

[JMGarcia]

I live so close, I can't believe I haven't made it over there in months.

[Fabb]

I live really far. But I was there two weeks ago.

[billyblancoNYC]

I tell ya, that is a nice looking park. When it is all said and done, it should be an inspiration for crappy waterfront all around the city. *It would be nice if every area of the city had something beautiful like this. *Now, just get Pier 40 settled and that little matter of the $100 or so million, and we're good!

[ZippyTheChimp]

Yeah, the money will be a constant issue. Like the Central Park Conservancy, people like Nicole Kidman and her Perry West neighbors, and Citigroup in Tribeca are going to have to step up.

[TLOZ Link5]

Oh God...that's absolutely gorgeous. *Makes me almost envy West Siders if they have such a lovely park at their disposal. *And those shots with Perry West really do the buildings justice.

[BrooklynRider]

This project has had me as excited as any world record skyscraper. *I encourage forum members to visit. No expense was spared. *This is extremely high quality from construction materials to plantings. *Gorgeous!

[billyblancoNYC]

Some more info:

http://www.hudsonriverpark.org/about/seg4.html

[ZippyTheChimp]

View south from pier 40. Segment 3 waits development. Hopefully, construction will start by 4th qtr 2004.
http://www.pbase.com/image/17300133.jpg

There are some tempy recreational facilities. If you have an urge to float through the air with the greatest of ease...
http://www.pbase.com/image/17300382.jpg

[billyblancoNYC]

But look at that bike path.

[NYatKNIGHT]

The bike path is great, although I haven't tried trapeze school yet. Next adventure will definitely be taking out a kayak on the Hudson - anyone up for that? I would have done it already but it's been RAINING every time I think of it.

Nice pics Zippy.

[NYatKNIGHT]

http://galleries.soaringtowers.org/albums/NYatKNIGHT/HRP.sized.jpg

[Gulcrapek]

Pretty. Is that Morton Square on the left?

edit: never mind. The answer is yes.

(Edited by Gulcrapek at 12:36 pm on July 7, 2003)

[Kris]

Those fake old lampposts. People should be sick of the retro craze by now.

[Fabb]

Who doesn't like them ?
They didn't take much risk...

[Kris]

August 6, 2003

Piers as Parks Downtown

Lower Manhattan's residents face a long period of reconstruction before the promise of a redesigned World Trade Center site becomes reality. In the meantime, there is something that can be done quickly and relatively inexpensively to reassure people who remain committed to the area, and that is to proceed expeditiously with the next downtown segment of the Hudson River Park.

The park is a city-state project that will eventually stretch from the Battery to 59th Street, giving New Yorkers long-denied access to the waterfront. Recently completed sections near Greenwich Village offer an inviting mix of open space and gardens. Much the same can now be accomplished farther south in TriBeCa, where the plan calls for converting two ramshackle piers into splendid little parks that extend 1,000 feet into the river. Standing on the already rebuilt Greenwich Village piers is a bracing experience, much like being on the bow of a boat. The TriBeCa additions would provide yet more space for a growing crowd of pier lovers who come for sports or picnics, a place to read or simply sit and breathe.

The cost of redoing these piers would be about $70 million, a modest fraction of the $1.2 billion provided earlier by Washington to help revive the city. There are, of course, other claimants to that money, which the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation must figure out how to spend fairly and wisely. The city wants a chunk for the East River waterfront. There are cultural and transportation needs as well. There's a new wish list every week.

The decision may fall to Gov. George Pataki, who has considerable control over the corporation. That is a good sign for the future of the park; Mr. Pataki helped get it off the ground in the first place. It can now use another $70 million worth of his help in a neighborhood that richly deserves it.


Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

[ZippyTheChimp]

From the Battery Park City Broadsheet:

River Project, Manhattan Youth, Boathouse, and Yankee Discuss Relocation

In they ambled, tanned, cheerful, late to the meeting. Jim Gallagher and Bob Townley had missed the agenda item that concerned them, as leaseholders at piers 25 and 26 who need to consider where their businesses will temporarily relocate while the Hudson River Park Trust reconstructs the piers. Unconcerned, they just brought the issue up again at the end of the meeting, after the HRPT representative left.

This relaxed sensibility has always dictated operations at piers 25 and 26. The four leaseholders - Mr Townley's Manhattan Youth, Mr Gallagher's Yankee ferry, Cathy Drew's River Project, and Jim Wetteroth's Downtown Boathouse - were pioneers at the downtown waterfront, rooting their programs where there was nothing but a platform in the water. All four organizations are now quite successful.

Design plans call for the piers to be rebuilt, and Connie Fishman of the HRPT says reconstruction will take about three years. If the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation approves in September the $60 million requested by the HRPT, reconstruction of the piers could begin as early as next year.

Linda Roche, chair of Community Board 1's waterfront committee, is helping the leaseholders plan for their temporary relocation.

One of the first questions asked of Ms. Fishman, who attended the CB1 meeting, was if there is temporary space available at other HRPT piers.

"It's not that big a park," she responded. "There aren't utilities in most places, which is a big impediment. It limits where you can relocate people to."

Looking ahead, the River Project is requesting 5,000 square feet at Pier 40 and electricity to run the Estuarium tanks. Mr Gallagher said he would like to move the Yankee to the south side of Pier 40, and would provide his own fendering (bumpers that protect piers from docked boats) if need be. Mr Wetteroth said he might be able to store the kayaks of the Downtown Boathouse on a barge docked at the Tribeca waterfront. "We don't need a lot of utilities," he said. Mr Townley, who runs the largest program, did not speak of his plans.

The reconstructed piers will feature modern facilities, upgraded recreation areas, designed plantings, and commissioned public art. Pier 25 alone will gain 180,000 square feet of public space. But current leaseholders fear the easy, low-key ambiance may be lost. At the same meeting, an entrepreneurial duo proposed a "sensational and fabulous" replacement for the slightly ratty but beloved and inexpensive miniature golf course at Pier 25.

"The organic way the piers have been run is finished and it won't be back," Mr.Gallagher said.

The River Project (http://www.riverproject.org)

[TLOZ Link5]

I'm very glad to say that I went to Hudson River Park for the first time ever today. *I brought a friend of mine that I've made at NYU who is from New Jersey; he was totally blown away by it. *He thought it was one of the coolest things ever to be built in NYC. *We went to Piers 45 and 46, where there's not much to do other than sunbathe (it was cloudy today), use the quality public restroom, stare at the water and the skyline(s), people-watch, and get crepes from that nice lady who comes over there with a push-cart (they're yummy, by the way). *One of those bow notches separates the two piers, and it's really worth going to.

[NYguy]

A few more pics from the park...

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[ZippyTheChimp]

From the Downtown Express http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_23/trustspringsrink.html

Trust springs rink surprise

By Lincoln Anderson

Recent complaints about lack of communication between the Hudson River Park Trust and the community were highlighted at last Thursday’s Trust board of directors meeting, when an enclosed ice-skating rink was proposed for a location inside Community Board 2 — even though Board 2 had never been notified or consulted. In addition, the Hudson River Park Advisory Council never reviewed the plan. In fact, the Trust’s own board even seemed surprised by the proposal.

The enclosed rink would be a permanent park structure just north of Spring St.

Also, the general outlines of the Trust’s interim plan for Pier 40 near Houston St. became clearer last week. The plan would include adding 600 more cars of residential parking and installing one huge multipurpose field covered by artificial grass in the pier’s courtyard.

In addition, the Friends of Hudson River Park voted earlier the same morning to file a lawsuit over the Trust’s failure to pick a developer for Pier 40 by a deadline in June.

At last Thursday’s meeting, Robert Balachandran, the Trust’s president and C.E.O., presented to the Trust’s board the plan for the rink, to be enclosed by a tensile, fabric-structure roof and to be located just south of Pier 40 slightly north of Spring St. The rink, slated for a Dec. 30 opening, would be used for ice-skating in winter and rollerblading and other events in summer. The building’s design includes sliding windows and rollup doors to lend an open feeling, as opposed to a tennis bubble-type covering without openings.

The project cost would be $2.6 million, to be reimbursed by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the agency funding post-9/11 projects in Lower Manhattan.

An L.M.D.C.-funded $600,000 project for interim tennis courts in the same area has been delayed a year so repairs to the bulkhead (seawall) and infrastructure can be made first, allowing the courts to be permanent.

Trust board member Henry Stern, former Parks Department chairperson, immediately expressed concern, noting, “This is not an ice rink. This is an icehouse. And that’s not what parks are about. Parks are about open space. The idea of new open space and putting a building on it is a problem.”

Likening the building to a “suburban Quonset hut,” Stern noted, “If we proposed to do this in Central Park, the landmarks community would be outraged.”

Balachandran said the covering was needed to keep the rink cool, which is the main operating cost.

“It’s a structure,” Balachandran added. “A building sounds too pejorative.”

Balachandran said that unlike Central Park or Rockefeller Center, the Hudson River waterfront gets “brutally cold in the winter.”

Stern asked why putting the rink in one of the park’s existing pier-shed houses wasn’t considered. The L.M.D.C. grant money extends as far north as Houston St., which makes Pier 40 an eligible site. But Balachandran said they didn’t want to put it on Pier 40 because it could complicate the pier’s development.

Asked by Trust board member Julie Nadel how long the structure would be in the park, Balachandran said, “This is forever. This would be a permanent structure.”

Nadel asked if the Hudson River Park Advisory Council had seen the plan. Balachandran said no, but that Governor Pataki has “had it in the works for several months.”

Former state Senator Franz Leichter, a Trust board member, asked if the proposal had every gone before the community boards. Connie Fishman, the Trust’s vice president, said yes — Board 1. However, Judy Duffy, Board 1’s assistant district manager, said only the rink, not the structure, had been presented to the board. (Duffy later said a tennis bubble had been shown, but that it wasn’t anything like the structure.)

Balachadran acknowledged that the plan had not been shown to Board 2.

Arthur Schwartz, former chairperson of Board 2’s Waterfront Committee, passed a reporter a note that read: “This proposal is outrageous — a permanent facility without any public process. This is in C.B. 2 and C.B. 2 has never discussed it. It isn’t in Board 1.” Canal St. is the boundary between Boards 2 and 1.

Trip Dorkey, Trust chairperson, said they should defer voting on the matter but that he might bring it up over the phone with them at some point in the next two months. Board member Diana Taylor, an appointee of Pataki who is Mayor Bloomberg’s companion, wanted to know if there was a time limit on using the L.M.D.C. money for the ice rink. Dorkey said they’d check.

Last year, the Trust had been considering Pier 25 at N. Moore St. in Tribeca, or a spot nearby, as the site for the rink. But the electricity at the site apparently was not sufficient, Duffy said.

Pier 40 interim plan

In regard to Pier 40, Balachandran said that at the end of this year, the existing lease for the pier, held by C&K Properties, expires. FedEx and other commercial tenants, like Academy Bus and the Police Department Barrier Unit, will have to vacate the pier at that time under the Park Act. The Trust has put out a request for proposals, due back by Nov. 7, for operators for residential parking on the pier. The lease is for four years with two one-year extensions. Balachandran said a guideline has been set of 2,800 to 2,900 cars, more than the current 2,000, though the developers can come back with proposals for more or less cars, he noted. The Trust hopes to include a clause in the lease allowing 60-day cancellation.

Balachandran didn’t have any design plans for the Pier 40 interim uses to show last Thursday. He said that the Trust’s staff is currently working on the designs for public space on the pier, but he did not say when it would be built.

Chris Martin, Trust spokesperson, said there will be one “really big field” in the pier’s interior courtyard covered by FieldTurf, an artificial-grass surface. “It could be for baseball, soccer, lacrosse and football. It’s going to be multipurpose,” Martin said.Balachandran said that “absent any speed bumps in the selection process,” they should have a parking lot operator in place by Dec. 31.

Balachandran said he expects they will have some designs for the interim plan to show the Trust’s board by the next board meeting, probably to be held in November, and that before then they plan to make presentations to a committee headed by Duffy as well as to “the community.”

Balachandran had said in July that he would have a Pier 40 plan to show the board within two months. Explaining the added delays, he said, “We hadn’t sat down with the community yet. First, internally, we had to have some idea of what we wanted to do. It would be unfair to the community to go to them first… We want the fields; we want open space.”

Asked if the individual community boards would have a chance to review the Pier 40 plan, Balachandran said, “I’d say ‘capital C community.’ But we’re going to act through the Advisory Council. Everyone will have an opportunity to be heard.”

Pier 40 committee

Duffy said the Advisory Council has set up a Pier 40 committee to review the interim plan.

In addition to the need for field space on the pier, Duffy said, “I think we’d like to reclaim some of the third-floor roof space for passive recreation space. A car doesn’t have to have a river view.” An interim playground on the roof with a soft surface is an idea, too, she said, since the new Pier 51 water playground at Jane St. is always mobbed.

The hope is to have the interim active and passive recreational uses on the pier ready by the spring, she said.

However, the lack of information about the Trust’s doings remains a serious problem, said Jim Smith, chairperson of C.B. 2. He said the ice rink episode exemplifies the problem.

Told that Duffy will be heading the Pier 40 committee, Smith was dubious about it, since Duffy is an employee of C.B. 1, whose chairperson, Madelyn Wils, is on the Trust’s board of directors.

“It comes down to appearances,” Smith said. “I’m not that comfortable with having an employee of a community board acting as head of a committee that’s supposed to be a watchdog of a body, one of whose members is her boss.”

“In the end, the community boards are going to have a review,” he said. “It’ll go its appropriate way and it’ll have an appropriate process.”

As for the lawsuit by Friends of Hudson River Park on the failed Pier 40 development process, Schwartz, who is the Friends’ attorney on the case, said it will have to be filed by Oct. 10, since the statue of limitations is four months from June 10, when the Trust said it made the decision not to pick one of three development groups vying for the pier. Schwartz said he’s rounding up plaintiffs, but can’t comment on who they might be.

Summing up the basis of the lawsuit, Schwartz said: “The Trust acted in bad faith when it failed to choose a developer and attempt to negotiate final plans for Pier 40. It set back the process for too long a time, in my opinion, so they could receive greater rent from Pier 40. Pier 40 is to provide needed park and recreational space for Downtown, and not be an income generator for the park. The Trust will have a hard time explaining to a court why they couldn’t pick a developer to negotiate with. They didn’t have to pick a plan…. All they were required to do was pick a developer and have three months to negotiate. The legislation says they ‘shall pick a developer,’ not ‘may pick a developer’ or ‘ought to pick a developer.’ ”

“The ice-skating rink could draw thousands and thousands of people to the park,” Schwartz said, “and [the Trust] didn’t come before the [community] board at all. I think the Trust has the impression no one is guarding the chicken coop. And this is the middle of a period where there is so much going on.”

Lincoln@DowntownExpress.com


http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_23/pier.jpg
The Trust’s proposed ice rink just south of Pier 40

[NYatKNIGHT]

I like the idea of a rink but I don't like that ugly tent over it.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Baltimore & Ohio RR Float Transfer Bridge

In 1890, the B&O RR purchased land on 12 Ave between W24 and W26 St and built a freight yard. Tracks ran from the yard across 12 Ave to the float transfer bridge, which was used to load and unload RR cars onto barges. The barges were towed to facilities in Jersey City, and later to a new port in St George, Staten Island. The landfill for the Staten Island facility came from foundations being dug for new high rise buildings in Manhattan.

The float transfer bridge operated until 1973. In the early 80s the land was sold and the B&O went out of business. The Postal Service and Dept of Sanitation repair facilities now occupy the site.

The float transfer bridge has been restored, and is open to the public. It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Before
http://www2pb.ip-soft.net/railinfo/gifs/JM-Slides/BO26296.JPG

After
http://www.pbase.com/image/24201810.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/24201671.jpg

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[krulltime]

Cool thanks for the posting. I can't wait to see the Float Transfer Bridge.

[maroualle]

Many thanks to all of you for those beautiful pictures...If i'll get the chance to live in NY (cross my fingers), i think that every sunday's i'll go out for a walk.....

[Kris]

December 18, 2003

Money for Hudson Park Trust Is Running Out

By CHARLES V. BAGLI

The plan to create a five-mile-long park along the Hudson River waterfront to 59th Street from Battery Park was announced in 1998 with great fanfare and a $200 million commitment from the city and the state.

Five years later, the money is running out and the 550-acre park is only half finished. Critics yesterday testified at a public hearing, saying that the Hudson River Park Trust, which was created by the governor and the mayor to oversee development and operation of the park, has failed to seek additional public financing or conduct public hearings to explain its plans. Nor has the trust moved to eliminate parking garages and other operations within the park's borders, critics said.

"My concern is that the vision of the park embodied in the state legislation is in jeopardy because of the pressures on the trust to find revenues and not complain about the lack of capital funding," Albert K. Butzel, chairman of the Friends of Hudson River Park Trust, said yesterday. "The real crisis here is the lack of public funding."

Mr. Butzel, whose group has established a fund for the park with $1 million contributed by the Durst real estate family, spoke yesterday at the hearing about the trust conducted by Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, chairman of the committee on corporations, authorities and commissions.

Mr. Butzel and others complained that to offset the lack of money, the trust has sought other revenue from commercial development, which is often incompatible with the plans for the park.

Earlier this year, the trust completed a section of the park that runs along Greenwich Village and won rave reviews. Charles E. Dorkey III, chairman of the trust, said yesterday that the agency was building Clinton Cove Park, between 54th and 57th Streets, and hoped to begin construction of Pier 84 at 42nd Street next spring.

But, Mr. Dorkey said, the trust expected to exhaust the $200 million provided by the state and the city by the end of next year. He said it would cost another $200 million to complete the park. The trust has applied to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation for $95 million to build a section of the park between Chambers and Houston Streets, he said.

He said the trust, whose members are appointed by the governor and the mayor, had not asked either the city or the state for more financing. Mr. Dorkey also rejected complaints that his agency had failed to solicit public involvement. "I would characterize the public input into the design of Hudson River Park as easily the most inclusive of any project of its kind," he said.

Mr. Dorkey later acknowledged, however, that the agency had never invoked a 60-day comment period before taking "significant actions" affecting the park or the community, as required by state legislation.

Mr. Butzel said the trust had failed to notify the public that it considered a skating rink at Pier 40, where there are plans for athletic fields, or that its current proposal is to expand the parking garage on the pier and extend the lease for seven years.

"This is an agency in crisis," Mr. Brodsky said yesterday. "This is a park that could take the next step, or bog down badly."


Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

[ZippyTheChimp]

the 550-acre park is only half finished.
I know thisis not meant to be exact, but the park is not nearly half finished. Only one of seven segments is fully complete. Two short piers were recently completed in segment 7 (W57 St). The area at pier 84 (south of Intrepid) is fenced off waiting construction. Work on the ferry terminal at pier 79 (Lincoln Tunnel vent) is progressing. The MTA has moved out of pier 57 (W15 St), and RFP has been issued.

That's it.

[Ninjahedge]

I think I hear heels dragging.

Nah, it's just the wind..... ;)

[krulltime]

Mr. Butzel and others complained that to offset the lack of money, the trust has sought other revenue from commercial development, which is often incompatible with the plans for the park.


Well...at least is better than nothing :roll:


Charles E. Dorkey III, chairman of the trust, said yesterday that the agency was building Clinton Cove Park, between 54th and 57th Streets,


The more they built the park...the more new construction will happen. I have noticed alot of activity around that area.


and hoped to begin construction of Pier 84 at 42nd Street next spring.


I can't wait to see Pier 84 being built. It makes sence since there are alot of new residential buildings in that area. Who knows it might spruce up more development.

[billyblancoNYC]

This will get done sooner or later. It's an amazing asset for all the city and will continue to be a residential catalyst in the area. Someday, not too far away, NYC will be known for it's waterfront access, parks, and activites (I hope).

[Kris]

Park Frozen As City Trucks Blockade Pier

by Blair Golson

Park advocates are charging that the city’s Sanitation Department is unlawfully squatting on a West Side pier that should have been demolished three months ago to make way for the northern end of the Hudson River Park.

The postponement threatens to further derail the long-delayed plan to create a five-mile, 550-acre waterfront park from Battery Park City to 59th Street, the city’s largest open-space project since the creation of Central Park in 1853.

For years, the Sanitation Department has used Pier 97 at West 57th Street as a marshaling yard for its trucks and a depot for street salt. But according to state legislation, that property should have been turned over on Jan. 1, 2004, to the Hudson River Park Trust, the city/state agency tasked with building the park. The entire park had been slated for completion in 2003, but to date the trust has finished just one of six segments—in Greenwich Village. Furthermore, the trust recently spent the last of the $200 million that the city and state had committed for the park’s creation in 1992, and it will probably need a minimum of $200 million more to complete it.

To pay for the renovation of Pier 97, the trust has to once again hit up the city or state for additional funding, a request it cannot make until the Sanitation Department vacates the pier. The Sanitation Department can’t vacate, however, until it completes the long-delayed construction of a new facility at a site across 12th Avenue, which might not happen for another three years. Until then, the Sanitation Department will effectively remain a squatter on the trust’s property. And, in the meantime, construction on yet another piece of the long-overdue park will continue to stagnate.

"I’m just this side of total despair," said Ross Graham, co-chair of the Friends of Hudson River Park, a civic advocacy group. "I don’t want to create a furor on city and state levels, but I would like [the Sanitation Department] to think they must be more responsive and try harder to find a way to resolve this problem."

Tom Fox, who was one of the driving forces behind the park’s creation (and who’s also president of the New York Water Taxi ferry service), said he and other park advocates joke, somewhat morbidly, that "they’ll be wheeling us in our wheelchairs" by the time the park is finished.

Ever since 1998, when Governor George Pataki signed the Hudson River Park Act into law, the Sanitation Department has been on notice that it would have to relocate its Pier 97 facility by Dec. 31, 2003. Almost six years later, however, construction crews are just now beginning to excavate dirt from the relocation site.

The delay can partially be explained by unforeseeable events: The initial demolition contractor had to be removed from the job in 2002 for withholding wages from workers, for example. Nonetheless, some argue that the Sanitation Department has been apathetic and slow to take action, confident in the knowledge that the park’s supposed guardian, the Hudson River Park Trust, is by its very nature unable to take a strong stance against city departments like Sanitation.

As a city/state agency, the trust’s board of directors contains an equal number of mayoral and gubernatorial appointees—making it effectively impossible for them to do anything without the consent of both the Mayor and the Governor. And while the arrangement appears to achieve its aim of putting a check on rash unilateral actions, it also makes it next to impossible for the trust to take strong action—like filing a lawsuit—against a city-controlled department like Sanitation.

"It’s unlikely that a board of directors that is half-controlled by the city is going to vote to sue the city," said Albert Butzel, president of the Friends of Hudson River Park.

The same principal seems to apply when it comes to getting the trust to pressure the Sanitation Department to pay rent for its pier-squatting—an option that Mr. Butzel has proposed.

"The idea that the Sanitation Department should pay rent is not something that the city wants to do," said Mr. Butzel. "Therefore, the city’s representatives on the board of the Hudson River Park Trust are not going to support a motion where the trust asks for that kind of relief."

Christopher Martin, a vice president of the trust, released the following statement to The Observer via e-mail:

"We know how important Pier 97 is to the community as a recreation pier and are still committed to its reconstruction. In the meantime, we coordinate closely with the Department of Sanitation on its relocation plans and are confident that they are making their best efforts to complete reconstruction of their new garage as quickly as feasible so that the trucks currently located on Pier 97 can be removed and the pier rebuilt."

Unlike the trust, which effectively can’t file suit against the Sanitation Department because of its city/state nature, the Friends group is bound by no such restraints. But for now, at least, Mr. Butzel said he has no plans to file a suit of his own, though he will reserve the option if the situation begins to deteriorate hopelessly.

Trust board member Henry Stern, who was the city’s longtime parks commissioner, said the situation at Pier 97 had never come before the board, but he dismissed out of hand the idea of the trust filing suit against the Sanitation Department.

"If you sue the Sanitation Department, you’re really suing the Mayor, because he appoints the sanitation commissioner," Mr. Stern said. "And neither the Governor’s people nor the Mayor’s people are going to resort to the courts to handle what should be handled within the executive branch."

Contrary to the claims of some on the Friends, Mr. Stern argued that it is actually advantageous in this situation to have mayoral appointees on the board.

"I believe the presence of the mayoral appointees on the board, including [Deputy Mayor] Dan Doctoroff, gives us more of a chance to persuade the Mayor to get rid of the Sanitation Department (from the pier)," he said.

Mr. Stern also said he felt somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of Sanitation paying rent to the trust, as it might not even be legal for the trust to "commercialize" the pier in that way. However, he did add that he wasn’t opposed to having Sanitation compensate the trust in another way—perhaps by using capital budget funds to help pay for the pier’s demolition and reconstruction.

Mayoral spokesman Jordan Barowitz said the Mayor’s office is engaged in discussions with the trust to expedite the Sanitation Department’s departure from the site.

"There’s an agreement in place that Sanitation will move into the garage across the street within three years," Mr. Barowitz said. "And in the short term, we have identified some improvements that will enhance access to the park and [solve] some transportation issues."

The short-term improvements Mr. Barowitz referred to include the Sanitation Department’s purchase of the second of two plots—at 57th Street and 12th Avenue—for their new facilities. The second plot will house some of the trucks that now park on the street next to Pier 97. However, one of the principal reasons the trucks are parked on the street—as opposed to the pier itself—is that construction is currently taking place on the pier. Many of the wooden supports for the concrete structure have deteriorated to the point that they need to be replaced immediately. This has yielded the ironic situation of Sanitation tossing money into a sinkhole to keep up a pier that it isn’t even lawfully entitled to occupy—and which the trust intends on destroying as soon as possible.

A Long, Troubled History

The Hudson River Park emerged from the ashes of Westway, the failed plan to build a submerged highway along the Hudson River out of landfill, which would have extended Manhattan’s western border by 1,000 feet. (West Side activists famously killed the project in 1985 by exploiting the dangers that the project might have posed to the river’s striped-bass community.) In the wake of the project’s defeat, West Side activists—many of whom were Westway opponents—proposed as an alternative the grand, landscaped boulevard that would become the West Side Highway and the Hudson River Park. In 1992, after much haggling, Governor Mario Cuomo and Mayor David Dinkins committed $200 million to the project. The park didn’t start in earnest, however, until the Hudson River Park Conservancy, the precursor of the Hudson River Park Trust, finalized a financial and design plan for the entire park in 1995.

At that point, park advocates on the conservancy were aware that $200 million would cover only about half of the park’s costs, but the group expected to garner other revenue from a variety of other sources: the federal government, development fees imposed on new projects rising up along 11th and 12th avenues, and private contributions.

In September of 1998, Governor Pataki signed the Hudson River Park Act into law at Pier 25 in Tribeca, where he was flanked by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and community activists. The signing formalized many aspects of the park’s development—parts of which had been underway since 1992.

"Years from now, this project will be seen as the turning point in the development of Manhattan’s West Side waterfront," Mr. Giuliani said at the time.

The legislation also ushered the Hudson River Park Trust into existence as stewards of the park. The trust broke up the park’s construction into six segments, from Battery Park City to 59th Street. Aside from the completed Greenwich Village segment and some maritime commerce, like the Circle Line ferry and the Intrepid Air and Science Museum, much of the water frontage still consists of old piers, broken-up concrete and gnarled patches of weeds. (The bicycle/pedestrian path that runs through the park was completed in 1999 by the state Department of Transportation.)

Almost from the group’s inception in 1999, it seemed to many in the Friends group—who were allowed to attend but not comment at trust board meetings—that the trust wasn’t being sufficiently proactive in going after the sources of revenue that would be needed once the initial $200 million was gone. Their fears proved prescient: To date, just about the only private money has come from developer Douglas Durst, who has a development in the West 50’s, and who made a $1 million contribution to the park fund.

Despite the trust’s visible progress, over the years the organization has still fallen short of the hopes of many park advocates. In December of last year, The New York Times reported on a public hearing in which Mr. Butzel, among others, criticized the trust for not actively seeking out other sources of funding. Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, chairman of the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, called the trust "an agency in crisis."

Most members of the Friends group, however, say they are heartened by the efforts of the trust’s new president, Connie Fishman, who was one of the trust’s longtime vice presidents. Under Ms. Fishman’s tenure, according to the Friends’ Mr. Butzel, the trust has become more aggressive in seeking out sources of funding, and Ms. Fishman seems to be serious about bringing a swift resolution to the Sanitation Department situation at Pier 97.

You may reach Blair Golson via email at: bgolson@observer.com.

This column ran on page 1 in the 4/12/2004 edition of The New York Observer.

[Edward]

Bike path around 42nd Street, with the Helena (http://www.wirednewyork.com/real_estate/helena/default.htm) in the background. 18 April 2004.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/parks/hudson_river_park/images/hudson_helena_18apr04.jpg (http://www.wirednewyork.com/parks/hudson_river_park/default.htm)



Hudson River Park (http://www.wirednewyork.com/parks/hudson_river_park/default.htm)'s bike path.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/parks/hudson_river_park/images/hudson_river_park_18apr04.jpg (http://www.wirednewyork.com/parks/hudson_river_park/default.htm)



Hudson River Park's Pier 46 (http://www.wirednewyork.com/piers/pier46/default.htm) on 18 April 2004.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/piers/pier46/pier46_hudson_18apr04.jpg (http://www.wirednewyork.com/parks/hudson_river_park/default.htm)

[Robinegg]

My friends and I had a lovely stroll along the Hudson River from Rector ST/Place to Chambers Street. It was heavenly. We felt so cut off from the hubbub of the City. I look forward to a return trip when more of the Hudson River Parkway is completed.

[Kris]

Volume 73, Number 52 | April 28 - May 4, 2004

Trust fund could get more flush with Hillary and Chuck’s support

Big push is on for funds to complete Hudson River Park

By Lincoln Anderson

It’s no mystery the Hudson River Park has a serious budget shortfall.

The park’s estimated price tag is $400 million, and the $200 million allocated for the park by the city and state — $100 million from each — is almost used up.

For several years, park activists have sounded the alarm, raising fears that the park’s Greenwich Village segment, which opened last summer, may be the only section that gets built, while the Tribeca, Chelsea and other sections of the five-mile-long park will be left as barren asphalt strips along the waterfront with dilapidated piers unsafe for public use.

But there could soon be a sea change in the park’s finances. The Hudson River Park Trust, the organization building and operating the park; politicians; and Friends of Hudson River Park, the park’s main advocacy organization, are now all pulling together to secure the needed funds. The fundraising blitz is being waged at all levels of government, city, state and federal.

Connie Fishman, the Trust’s new president, said that within the past month, New York’s two senators, Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, supported a request by Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki to seek federal funding for the park through the Waterfront Resources Development Act.

Fishman said the WRDA (pronounced “warda”) bill, which was supposed to have passed last year, is still in committee in the Senate. The House passed its own version of WRDA last year. The Trust doesn’t anticipate getting the full amount but hopes for something.

“The request was for $115 million,” said Fishman. “They won’t give you that much — but why not ask?”

Privately, some say it’s realistic to expect the park might get $20 million from WRDA.

There is no request for funds for Hudson River Park in the House version of the WRDA bill, which was passed last year.

“The governor’s office asked us the night before the bill was going to go to the floor if we could put a request in — but it was just too late,” said Jennie McCue, a Nadler aide. “Congressmember Nadler is very supportive, but there wasn’t enough time.”

McCue said the Senate should consider the WRDA bill in the next few weeks, and the two versions of the bill will then be conferenced to iron out the differences, during which time Nadler will try to get the request for Hudson River Park into the House version.

“Congressmember Nadler will do all he can to get it into the bill,” McCue said.

In 2000, Pataki wrote a letter in support of getting WRDA funds for the park, but it didn’t pan out. Some questioned then how hard he pushed for the funds.

Asked how much more money the Trust needs to finish the park, Fishman said $200 million.

The Trust has also requested $70 million from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the agency doling out money for post-9/11 recovery and rebuilding projects, to build the park’s Tribeca segment.

“We’re just waiting to hear,” Fishman said of the L.M.D.C. request. “They haven’t put us on their monthly agenda, and without being on their monthly agenda, they can’t vote on it.”

Joanna Rose, an L.M.D.C. spokesperson, said of the Trust’s request, “It’s under consideration.” Rose noted the L.M.D.C. already made a commitment of $25 million for 12 park projects in Lower Manhattan, for restoration of existing park spaces and building new parks. Asked whether the Trust’s request for the Tribeca segment would be heard at the corporation’s May 27 meeting, she said she couldn’t say.

Albert Butzel, president of Friends of Hudson River Park, said the lobbying effort has also been occurring at the city and state levels. Under Speaker Gifford Miller, the City Council has come out strongly for the park, allocating $50 million for the project in its current budget. Meanwhile, the mayor, who announced his budget Monday, has allocated $10 million for the park. The Council and mayor must reconcile the two amounts in the final budget. Butzel hopes Mayor Bloomberg ups his ante.

“It would be nice to get it up to $50 million, but if it was $20 million, that would be nice,” offered Butzel.

In the state budget, where more legislative bodies negotiate on the budget, expectations are a bit lower for Hudson River Park funds. Like the mayor, the governor in his budget has proposed $10 million for the park. The State Senate has also budgeted $10 million for the park. Butzel said the Friends are lobbying Pataki and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno to bump up this amount, hopefully to at least $15 million.

As for the L.M.D.C. funds for the Tribeca segment, Butzel said, “We’re all expecting it to come. But the longer the wait, the more the concern. We’ve been waiting two years.”

Butzel said the full-court press for funds, especially federal funds, comes from necessity.

“Now the park has no money — everyone’s behind this,” Butzel said. “For five years, everyone knew they were going to run out of money this year. Now we have two senators there and we have a substantial voice; they’re on powerful committees.”

Schumer and Clinton also made a request for $25 million for building the Hudson River Park esplanade in the current annual federal transportation bill, but it failed.

Change at the trust

The active push for more cash came after Fishman took over as president of the Trust in January, following the departure of Rob Balachandran, the Trust’s former president, for the private sector.

“Connie is doing a good job,” said Butzel. “The fact that she’s been down to meet with Schumer and Clinton’s staff is terrific. It’s going to take time, but I finally think things are finally back on track. Connie, when she came to our board meeting, said her priority is to get the park built.”

In the past, the issue of requesting federal funds was problematic because of fears it would require an environmental impact study under the National Environmental Review Process. The study, it was feared, would slow down the start of construction on the park.

Nadler made waves in 1998 when he advocated seeking federal funds for the park, for which he said a federal E.I.S. would likely be needed. Park advocates were angered, fearing a lengthy study.

Said Linda Rosenthal, a Nadler aide, “Jerry was trying to get the funds and the governor and the Trust said No because there would be another E.I.S. Even if it caused another E.I.S., the E.I.S. would have been done by now. We didn’t think it would have necessitated an E.I.S.”

“That was a long time ago,” said Butzel, recalling the disagreement with Nadler. “We wanted to get the park going. It’s different now: They’re working through the Senate, the park is a lot further along, the governor is behind it — there’s a lot more coordinated effort.”

Four years ago, the Army Corps of Engineers, before issuing a permit for the park’s “in-water” work — rebuilding of the piers and bulkhead (seawall) — had to determine if a full-scale federal environmental impact study would be needed. The Corps found the park’s impact would not be significant and only required a relatively short environmental document to be done. As a result, based on the Corps’ previous ruling, Butzel said, if park funds are allocated under WRDA, it’s unlikely a major federal E.I.S. would now be required.

Then there are also the major piers that are to be redeveloped by private developers. Butzel said there are hopeful signs at Pier 40, the 15-acre pier at W. Houston St. He said he believes the Trust is looking to issue a request for developers for the pier by the end of the year. The Trust’s last effort to redevelop the pier with a park ended last year without a developer being chosen. Also, a developer is expected to be chosen for Pier 57 in Chelsea by this summer.

Chris Martin, the Trust’s spokesperson, did not respond to questions about Pier 40 by press time.

Fan of federal funds

Tom Fox, who was the first president of the Hudson River Park Conservancy, the Trust’s predecessor, from 1992-’95 and who was on the early planning committees for the West Side waterfront’s redevelopment, said he called for federal funds as early as 1986.

“We assumed early on that it would be $100 million, $100 million and $100 million — from the city, state and federal government,” Fox said.

However, he recalled of the former opposition to funds from Washington, “There was fear of NEPA, and there was still controversy over the park and there was a reluctance from the city and state to have the feds involved.”

Fox had another idea to generate revenue for the park that never got adopted: a tax on inboard real estate value in the area between 14th and 59th Sts. and 12th and 10th Aves. This tax of $3 to $5 per sq. ft. would have been an assessment on the amount real estate would have benefited from being near the new park, and would have applied to the new high-rises, for example, now sprouting on the Village waterfront.

“You’re seeing this with Greenwich Village right now,” said Fox. “There would have been a park tax, if you will, where we could capture some of the appreciation that would be happening as a natural effect of the park.”

Fox, who today runs New York Water Taxi and is a Friends board member, estimates this tax would have netted the park $80 million to $100 million.

Nevertheless, his hopes are high the Trust is at last taking the right approach for getting the rest of the funding.

“Connie now is taking a very active role in going to Washington and pleading her case,” Fox said. “It just didn’t happen before. She’s doing a very good job.

“But,” he added, “it ain’t over till it’s over —Where’s our L.M.D.C. money ?”


EDITORIAL

Hudson River Park’s future is looking brighter

For years there has been growing concern among Hudson River Park activists that the funds for the park’s construction were running low. Now, the park’s funds have almost run out.

Going back to previous administrations, the city and state pledged $100 million each for the park, and that money was allocated. Last summer, the Greenwich Village segment of the park, costing $59 million, was opened; thus far, it remains the only section of the five-mile-long park to have been built.

There is money left to construct some Uptown portions of the park, which stretches from Chambers to 59th Sts., but there is none on hand to build the Downtown sections in Tribeca and Chelsea.

However, things have started to look brighter since January, when Connie Fishman took over as president of the Hudson River Park Trust, the organization building and operating the park. Most notably, the Trust has reached out for federal funding in a major way. The Trust — along with Friends of Hudson River Park, the park’s chief advocacy and lobbying group — prevailed upon Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki to get Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer to request $115 million for the park in the Water Resources Development Act.

Seeking to obtain federal funds is a departure for the Trust, which in the past was reluctant to do so. The Trust, and others, including the Friends, feared the possibility that a lengthy environmental impact study would be required to get federal funds. However, the Army Corps of Engineers’ assessment four years ago, when reviewing whether to issue permits for in-water work for the park, that a full E.I.S. wasn’t needed indicates a federal E.I.S. would likely not be required if WRDA funds are indeed allocated.

To come back up to date, we hope Senators Clinton and Schumer will do everything in their power to secure as much of the requested $115 million as possible.

On another front, it’s high time the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation decide on whether to grant the Trust’s request for $70 million to construct the park’s Tribeca segment. We’re aware there’s great demand on the L.M.D.C.’s remaining $1 billion, with the strongest call coming from backers of improved rail links from J.F.K. and the Long Island Rail Road to the Financial District.

While creating better connections and reviving Downtown’s economy is obviously critical, this park project is just what the community needs to spur its rebirth after 9/11. It’s a project that fulfills exactly what the L.M.D.C. is charged to do.

Things were looking bleak for Hudson River Park for a while. But if the WRDA and L.M.D.C. funds come through, the outlook will change 180 degrees. We hope Congress and the L.M.D.C. can appreciate the inherent importance of this project and how it will benefit New Yorkers, and will help move to make the full park a reality.

www.thevillager.com

[NYatKNIGHT]

I suppose the future is bright, but I was looking forward to more completed park and piers around Chelsea nad Tribeca this year. Guess not. Dang these money wasters! (Hooray for the money chasers).

[ZippyTheChimp]

The park needs a Conservancy. Maybe some of the Perry West residents.

[TLOZ Link5]

The park needs a Conservancy. Maybe some of the Perry West residents.

Agreed. Though I thought the the HRP Trust was essentially that. But if there is no Conservancy, how do they pay for the park's maintainence?

[ZippyTheChimp]

As part of the city and state park systems, it will get budget money. Also, some commercial uses (pier 40 etc) will generate revenue. I know we have a thread about this somewhere, the percentage of park maintenance funds that come from donations.

[TLOZ Link5]

You guys know that bow notch between Piers 45 and 46, somewhere around there? The bridge over it has been closed for a long time now; does anyone know what's going on?

[Edward]

Here is the list of summer events from FRIENDS OF HUDSON RIVER PARK


SUMMER 2004 TALKS, WALKS & BOAT RIDES


Tuesday, June 8th
Manhattan
The History of Hudson River Park (Part 1): Lecture and Walking Tour
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

LOCATION: Pier 40 lobby (at West Houston Street)
Directions: By subway, take the 1 or 9 train to Houston Street, then walk west. By bus, take the M21 to West Houston and Greenwich Street, then walk west.

Join the Friends of Hudson River Park at Pier 40 for an early evening lecture, the first of two on the history of Hudson River Park. Tonight’s program will focus on the Westway Highway project and its defeat, which in turn led to the birth of Hudson River Park. Lecturers include key players in the Westway saga: journalist Jack Newfield, architect Craig Whitaker, and lawyer Mitchell Bernard. The talk will be followed by a 30-minute walking tour of the beautiful new Greenwich Village section of the park. Cost is $5 per person, which includes light refreshments. (FoHRP members will be admitted for free.)

Contact information: contact Friends of Hudson River Park at 212-757-0981 extension 200, email info@fohrp.org, or visit www.fohrp.org. Advance reservations are encouraged but not required.



Tuesday, June 15th
Manhattan
The History of the Tribeca Waterfront: Walking Tour
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Location: Pier 25 (at North Moore Street)
Directions: By subway, take the 1 or 9 train to Franklin Street, then walk west. By bus, take the M20 to North Moore Street, then walk west.

Join the Friends of Hudson River Park at Pier 25 for a lunchtime walking tour led by the distinguished Tribeca historian Oliver Allen. Oliver will describe some of the historical highlights of the area, from Native American settlements to the Washington Market to the heyday of the Tribeca piers. A light lunch will be available. For those who have time, after the Tribeca tour there will be a walk north to the beautiful new Greenwich Village section of Hudson River Park. Cost is FREE. Please arrive at least five minutes before the scheduled departure time.

Contact information: contact Friends of Hudson River Park at 212-757-0981 extension 200, email info@fohrp.org, or visit www.fohrp.org. Advance reservations are encouraged but not required.



Tuesday, June 22nd
Manhattan
The High Line and Hudson River Park: Walking Tour
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Location: 23rd Street and 11th Avenue, Southeast Corner
Directions: By subway, take the C or E to 23rd Street, then walk west. By bus, take the M23 to Chelsea Piers (22nd Street and 12th Avenue) then walk one block east and one block north.


Join the Friends of Hudson River Park and our co-sponsors, the Friends of the High Line, for an evening walking tour led by architectural historian Matt Postal. Beginning at the corner of 23rd Street and 11th Avenue, the tour will follow the route of the High Line south, and end in the new section of Hudson River Park. During the tour Matt will discuss the relationship between the two projects, their history, and their impact on the surrounding neighborhoods. Cost is $5 for FoHRP members and $8 for non-members. Please arrive at least five minutes before the scheduled departure time.

Contact information: contact Friends of Hudson River Park at 212-757-0981 extension 200, email info@fohrp.org, or visit www.fohrp.org. Advance reservations are encouraged but not required.


Wednesday, June 23rd
Manhattan
Sunset Boat Cruise
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Location: Pier 40 (at West Houston Street)
Directions: By subway, take the 1 or 9 train to Houston Street, then walk west. By bus, take the M21 to West Houston and Greenwich Street, then walk west.

Join the Friends of Hudson River Park for a two-hour sunset cruise! This relaxing and entertaining evening will begin at the north side of Pier 40, where passengers will embark on the Queen of Hearts, a classic Mississippi Riverboat which can accommodate 350 passengers. The Queen will glide down the Hudson River, into New York Harbor, to the Statue of Liberty, and back to Pier 40. The cruise includes a 40-minute onboard discussion of the maritime history of the west side waterfront, led by Ted Scull of the World Ship Society. The remainder of the cruise is yours to enjoy the water and superb views of the city. Dinner will be provided. Cost: $10 per person (family discounts are available).

Contact information: contact Friends of Hudson River Park at 212-757-0981 extension 200, email info@fohrp.org, or visit www.fohrp.org. Advance reservations are encouraged but not required.



Tuesday, July 6th
Manhattan
The Marine Environment of Hudson River Park: Lecture and Walking Tour
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

LOCATION: Pier 40 lobby (at West Houston Street)
Directions: By subway, take the 1 or 9 train to Houston Street, then walk west. By bus, take the M21 to West Houston and Greenwich Street, then walk west.

Join the Friends of Hudson River Park at Pier 40 for an early evening lecture on the marine environment of Hudson River Park and the estuary. Lecturers include John Waldman of the Hudson River Foundation, Mike Ludwig of the National Marine Fisheries Service, and Noreen Doyle of the Hudson River Park Trust. The talk will be followed by a 30-minute walking tour of the beautiful new Greenwich Village section of the park. Cost is $5 per person, which includes light refreshments. (FoHRP members will be admitted for free.)

Contact information: contact Friends of Hudson River Park at 212-757-0981 extension 200, email info@fohrp.org, or visit www.fohrp.org. Advance reservations are encouraged but not required.

Tuesday, July 13th
Manhattan
The History of Tribeca: Walking Tour
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Location: Pier 25 (at North Moore Street)
Directions: By subway, take the 1 or 9 train to Franklin Street, then walk west. By bus, take the M20 to North Moore Street, then walk west.

Join the Friends of Hudson River Park at Pier 25 for a midday walking tour of the colorful history of Tribeca. A light lunch will be available. Cost is FREE. Please arrive at least five minutes before the scheduled departure time.

Contact information: contact Friends of Hudson River Park at 212-757-0981 extension 200, email info@fohrp.org, or visit www.fohrp.org. Advance reservations are encouraged but not required.



Saturday, July 17th
Manhattan
Lunchtime Boat Cruise
1 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Location: Pier 40 (at West Houston Street)
Directions: By subway, take the 1 or 9 train to Houston Street, then walk west. By bus, take the M21 to West Houston and Greenwich Street, then walk west.

Join the Friends of Hudson River Park for a midday boat cruise! This relaxing and entertaining trip will begin at the north side of Pier 40, where passengers will embark on the Queen of Hearts, a classic Mississippi Riverboat which can accommodate 350 passengers. The Queen will glide down the Hudson River, into New York Harbor, to the Statue of Liberty, and back to Pier 40. The cruise includes a 40-minute onboard discussion of the waterfront history of the lower west side, led by NYC Tours doyenne Joyce Gold. The remainder of the cruise is yours to enjoy the water and superb views of the city. Lunch will be provided. Cost: $10 per person (family discounts are available).

Contact information: contact Friends of Hudson River Park at 212-757-0981 extension 200, email info@fohrp.org, or visit www.fohrp.org. Advance reservations are encouraged but not required.




Tuesday, July 20th
Manhattan
The History of Hudson River Park (Part 2): Lecture and Walking Tour
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

LOCATION: Pier 40 lobby (at West Houston Street)
Directions: By subway, take the 1 or 9 train to Houston Street, then walk west. By bus, take the M21 to West Houston and Greenwich Street, then walk west.

Join the Friends of Hudson River Park and our co-sponsors, the Municipal Art Society and the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, at Pier 40 for an early evening lecture, the second on the history of Hudson River Park. Tonight’s program will focus on the advocacy that secured governmental support for the Park and the design and construction of the Greenwich Village section. Lecturers include key players in the Park’s development: Tom Fox, the first President of the Hudson River Park Conservancy; Connie Fishman, President of the Hudson River Park Trust; and Al Butzel, Director of Friends of Hudson River Park. The talk will be followed by a 30-minute walking tour of the beautiful new Greenwich Village section of the park. Cost is $5 per person, which includes light refreshments. (FoHRP members will be admitted for free.)

Contact information: contact Friends of Hudson River Park at 212-757-0981 extension 200, email info@fohrp.org, or visit www.fohrp.org. Advance reservations are encouraged but not required.



Wednesday, August 4th
Manhattan
Sunset Boat Cruise
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Location: Pier 40 (at West Houston Street)
Directions: By subway, take the 1 or 9 train to Houston Street, then walk west. By bus, take the M21 to West Houston and Greenwich Street, then walk west.

Join the Friends of Hudson River Park for a two-hour sunset cruise! This relaxing and entertaining evening will begin at the north side of Pier 40, where passengers will embark on the Queen of Hearts, a classic Mississippi Riverboat which can accommodate 350 passengers. The Queen will glide down the Hudson River, into New York Harbor, to the Statue of Liberty, and back to Pier 40. The cruise includes a 40-minute onboard discussion of the waterfront history of the lower west side, led by NYC Tours doyenne Joyce Gold. The remainder of the cruise is yours to enjoy the water and superb views of the city. Dinner will be provided. Cost: $10 per person (family discounts are available).

Contact information: contact Friends of Hudson River Park at 212-757-0981 extension 200, email info@fohrp.org, or visit www.fohrp.org. Advance reservations are encouraged but not required.



Tuesday, August 10th
Manhattan
The Waterfront History of Chelsea and the Village: Walking Tour
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Location: Pier 62 (at 22nd Street)
Directions: By subway, take the C or E to 23rd Street, then walk west. By bus, take the M23 to Chelsea Piers at 23rd Street.

Join the Friends of Hudson River Park and co-sponsors, the Municipal Art Society, at Pier 62 for a lively walk led by NYC Tours doyenne Joyce Gold. The tour will take in the piers from which the doomed Luisitania departed and survivors of the Titanic arrived; the site of New York’s first state prison; the departure of Robert Fulton’s Clermont, the first operational steam ship; and much more. The tour will end with a walk through the beautiful new section of Hudson River Park. Cost is $5 for FoHRP members and $8 for non-members. Please arrive at least five minutes before the scheduled departure time.

Contact information: contact Friends of Hudson River Park at 212-757-0981 extension 200, email info@fohrp.org, or visit www.fohrp.org. Advance reservations are encouraged but not required.




Tuesday, September 14th
Manhattan
Greenwich Village History: Walking Tour
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Location: Gansevoort Street and the West Side Highway, Southeast Corner
Directions: By subway, take the A, C, or E line to 14th Street and 8th Avenue, then walk west. By bus, take the M14 to West 14th Street, then walk west.

Join the Friends of Hudson River Park and co-sponsors, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, at the southeast corner of Gansevoort Street and the West Side Highway for a lively walk led by a distinguished mystery guide! The tour will explore the little-known history of Greenwich Village, including but not limited to the waterfront, and will include a visit to the new section of Hudson River Park and the 800-foot long Christopher Street Pier. Cost is $5 for FoHRP members and $8 for non-members. Please arrive at least five minutes before the scheduled departure time.

Contact information: contact Friends of Hudson River Park at 212-757-0981 extension 200, email info@fohrp.org, or visit www.fohrp.org. Advance reservations are encouraged but not required.




Saturday, September 18th
Manhattan
Lunchtime Boat Cruise
1 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Location: Pier 40 (at West Houston Street)
Directions: By subway, take the 1 or 9 train to Houston Street, then walk west. By bus, take the M21 to West Houston and Greenwich Street, then walk west.

Join the Friends of Hudson River Park for a midday boat cruise! This relaxing and entertaining trip will begin at the north side of Pier 40, where passengers will embark on the Queen of Hearts, a classic Mississippi Riverboat which can accommodate 350 passengers. The Queen will glide down the Hudson River, into New York Harbor, to the Statue of Liberty, and back to Pier 40. The cruise includes a 40-minute onboard discussion of the history of Hudson River Park. The remainder of the cruise is yours to enjoy the water and superb views of the city. Lunch will be provided. Cost: $10 per person (family discounts are available).

Contact information: contact Friends of Hudson River Park at 212-757-0981 extension 200, email info@fohrp.org, or visit www.fohrp.org. Advance reservations are encouraged but not required.


Tuesday, September 21
Manhattan
The Manhattan Waterfront by Philip Lopate: Lecture and Walking Tour
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

LOCATION: Pier 40 lobby (at West Houston Street)
Directions: By subway, take the 1 or 9 train to Houston Street, then walk west. By bus, take the M21 to West Houston and Greenwich Street, then walk west.


Join the Friends of Hudson River Park at Pier 40 for an early evening lecture, led by distinguished author Philip Lopate, whose recent work Waterfront has received glowing reviews. Phillip will share his views on the Manhattan waterfront, followed by a group discussion. The lecture will be followed by a 30-minute walking tour of the beautiful new Greenwich Village section of the park. Cost is $5 per person, which includes light refreshments. (FoHRP members will be admitted for free.)

Contact information: contact Friends of Hudson River Park at 212-757-0981 extension 200, email info@fohrp.org, or visit www.fohrp.org. Advance reservations are encouraged but not required.

[NYatKNIGHT]

You guys know that bow notch between Piers 45 and 46, somewhere around there? The bridge over it has been closed for a long time now; does anyone know what's going on?

I know what you mean, they just opened that Crepe stand near there. I don't see any visible reason for having it closed off, I wish they'd fix it already.

Good list Edward, those $10 cruises look like a good deal.

[RandySavage]

The HRP Board will continue to be paid their ridiculous salaries while the major segments (Segments 3, 6, Pier 40) sit idle. For once, I support that crazy lawyer in the West Village who is threatening to sue again.

[TLOZ Link5]

The Christopher Street Water Taxi stop on Pier 45 is now open. Rode it today.

[billyblancoNYC]

http://thevillager.com/villager_55/trusttrimsprposals.html

Trust trims proposals for Pier 57 down to 4

By Albert Amateau

The Chelsea Piers proposal for Pier 57 would offer art galleries, a dance center, a 25-meter indoor pool and a nine-court tennis center.

The Hudson River Park Trust expects to select a development team this summer to transform Pier 57, the former city bus depot on the Hudson River, into a cultural destination, according to Noreen Doyle, executive vice president of the state and city agency building the 5-mile-long riverfront park.

The Trust began its two-step selection process last September when it issued a request for expressions of interest for the pier on the Chelsea waterfront and received responses from eight development teams early this year. None of the teams expressing interest has been eliminated, but the Trust last month invited four of them to outline their plans at an April 21 public meeting.

The Trust’s broad development goals for the 300,000-sq.-ft pier off W. 17th St. are for a combination of “quality park-enhancing” cultural, educational and maritime recreation uses, commercial and noncommercial, according to the R.F.E.I. issued in September.

“We’re drafting a request for proposals which we’ll share with the Advisory Council before we issue it later this month,” Doyle said on Monday. The Hudson River Park Advisory Council is made up of elected officials, members of Community Boards 1, 2 and 4, whose districts include the park, park advocates and members of the Trust’s board.

All four teams that made presentations last month proposed to have historic ships, marinas, maritime and environmental programs, art galleries and public space. Two have significant performing arts programs and three have swimming pools.

One of the four teams, Original Ventures, is a consortium including Hudson Guild — the Chelsea neighborhood settlement house — which proposes to establish the Hudson River Performing Arts Center, with space for music, dance and theater events. Also part of the Original Ventures plan, the National Maritime Historical Society would have a Sea History Maritime Center with revolving exhibits. In addition, Riverkeeper, the nonprofit group headed by Robert Kennedy Jr., would establish its headquarters on the pier with an environmental education and outreach center in the pier head house.

The Cipriani group’s Leonardo at Pier 57 plan includes an Italian retail, crafts and cultural center, a ballroom that would double as a restaurant and event space and a resort-style rooftop pool.

The Performing Arts Center would include a two-level auditorium with seating for 2,500 guests and flexible enough to accommodate 5,000 standing. Hudson Guild would develop an incubator arts complex for local nonprofit arts groups and set up an employment center for Chelsea youth in connection with commercial tenants on the pier. Music, theater and television production studios are also part of the Original Ventures project, along with a swimming pool, a marina and berths for visiting historic vessels. Michael Kramer, a Chelsea resident and former member of Community Board 4, is a principal. The design and construction members of the team include HRH Construction, KeySpan and the architectural firms of Richard Dattner, Dan Ionescu and Buckhurst, Fish & Jaquemart.

Discover 57, a team that includes LCOR Development Services, Bovis Lend Lease project managers, Meta Brunzema Architects, JM Zell Partners Museum Services and DMCD, Inc., a museum design firm, are associated with John Doswell, a member of Community Board 4 and a founder of Friends of Hudson River Park, in another proposal that was shown last month at the public hearing. Brunzema is also a member of Community Board 4.

Discover 57 would devote the pier to maritime, educational and recreation uses, public space and compatible commercial uses. The Jacques Cousteau Society would establish a visitor center and museum, with Cousteau’s historic vessel Calypso and the research vessel Alcyone as part of the permanent exhibit.

Also part of the Discover 57 plan, retail shops, art galleries and a 35,000-sq.-ft. event center would be located on the first level, with a smaller event center and a restaurant sharing the roof with public space. A public esplanade would encircle the outside of the first level and the old Grace Line waiting room would be restored and opened to the public. Discover 57 would also have docking space for dinner and excursion boats, a diving shop and teaching center, a marine supplies shop and space for U.S. Coast Guard boats and a Coast Guard classroom.

Finally, the lower level in the Discover 57 plan would include artists’ studios, gallery space and a hall for visiting exhibits. There would also be museums on the Hudson River and the maritime industry as well as and a National Geographic retail shop.

Chelsea Piers, which has been running the sports and entertainment complex on Piers 59, 60, 61 and 62 on the Chelsea waterfront for more than 10 years, also presented its plan for Pier 57 at the April meeting.

The Chelsea Piers plan calls for a row of art galleries, studios and space for on-site art handling. About 40,000 sq. ft. would be devoted to a dance center for high-profile established dance organizations and smaller dance companies. The center would serve for training, rehearsals and headquarters for between eight and 12 companies in collaboration with Dance/ NYC, the local branch of Dance/USA, the national service organization for professional dance.

Included in Chelsea Piers proposal, a River Arts Center would offer year-round classes in the plastic and visual arts for both children and adults. A 30,000-sq.-ft. aquatics center would have a 25-meter indoor pool with a diving pool. The aquatics center would have special programs for teens, seniors and the handicapped. A 100,000-sq.-ft. tennis center with nine indoor courts, two squash courts and locker rooms would be included in the plan. Chelsea Piers’ plan also includes a co-generation plant on site that would make the pier energy self-sufficient.

David Tewksbury, vice president of Chelsea Piers, who made the presentation on April 21, said the John J. Harvey, a decommissioned fire ship, and Pegasus, a 1907 tug, would be among the historic ships that would be berthed at Pier 57. A maritime center would accommodate small boats in the Chelsea Piers plan.

Leonardo at Pier 57 is the plan of the Cipriani restaurant group with Plaza Construction Corp. and The Witkoff Group for an Italian crafts, retail and cultural center.

The design calls for a two-story pedestrian street lined with Italian shops and crafts. High-end Italian companies are said to be ready to become part of the project and La Triennale di Milano, a museum and gallery, would establish a cultural center on the pier. Casa Sicilia, a Sicilian bureau promoting the art and products of Sicily, would be among the features. Milanostudio a fashion and photo studio in Milan, would also join the project with studios and classrooms.

Under the Leonardo plan, the Cipriani group plans to operate a restaurant and event space, and MarineMax, a division of Ferretti, would operate a marina and nautical store on the pier. A resort-style outdoor pool is planned for the roof of the pier. The Cipriani plan also calls for parking to address the traffic and transportation needs of the project.

The second-floor Cipriani ballroom would be available for important community events and the walkway around the perimeter of the pier would be restored with benches and lighting consistent with Hudson River Park design standards.

Other teams that submitted expressions of interest but have not been invited to make their plans public are:

Pier 57 Development Corp., a consortium of RW Consultants and MJ Properties, which would create tradeshows, an auction house, catering, ballroom and event space, restaurants and retail, a maritime museum and marina, a greenhouse and a co-generation energy facility.

Pier 57 Maritime — a team of R2 Electric and Pier 63 Maritime — which proposes open space and public recreation, charter boats and accessory parking, historic vessels, artists’ studios, offices for nonprofit groups, food and beverage cafes and snack bars, catering and events, kayak and canoe storage, boat building and a small boat marina. John Krevey, the principal in the team, currently operates Pier 63 Maritime

Another group that did not make the cut of four, U.S. Four, Inc., would organize Pier 57 Development Corp. to create a restaurant and cabaret, catering and event space, a theater, artists’ studios, commercial gallery, performance arts education, television soundstages and a public outdoor gallery on Pier 57.

Also, a team that calls itself The Hub submitted an expression of interest after the deadline but was accepted. However, Doyle said The Hub submission, which included a parking garage with an unspecified number of spaces, along with an educational and scientific center, did not meet any of the Trust’s selection criteria. She also noted that the stand-alone parking use is illegal under the Hudson River Park Act.

[billyblancoNYC]

Nice details on the plans...

http://www.hudsonriverpark.org/about/pier57.html

[RandySavage]

Those are nice details. I'm liking the Discover 57 proposal. Seems like the most interesting/fun.

[billyblancoNYC]

They are all nice and would add a lot to the park and area.

I have to say, though, I like the Chelsea Piers proposal, as it mixes sport, which is important for a park, with galleries, which is important to the city and this neighborhood in particular, with arts, retail, education, and open space. I think it's a nice design and good balance of uses. Plus, it produces it's own energy!

I think Hudson River Performing Arts Center and the Leonardo are both great and should be pursued elsewhere in the city, perhaps Brooklyn Bridge Park, or elsewhere for this park. Maybe combine the remaining 3 to develop Pier 40 finally!

[billyblancoNYC]

Call me crazy, but why spend millions on a temp development, when you have developers wanting to build the whole project?

http://thevillager.com/villager_56/contracsareissuedforpier.html

Contracts are issued for Pier 40 field, tennis courts

By Lincoln Anderson

The Hudson River Park Trust’s board of directors at their May 20 meeting approved $5.5 million in contracts to build a 3 3/4-acre, interim sports field at Pier 40. The Trust also awarded a contract of just under $900,000 to build three permanent tennis courts by the river at Spring St.

Citnalta Construction Corp. was the winner of the contract for general construction work for the field at Pier 40, located at the foot of W. Houston St. Citnalta submitted what the Trust deemed the “lowest responsible bid” for the work, $3,072,000. With contingencies, the cost could rise to $3,899,588.

The field will be 400 ft. by 400 ft., large enough for several different games to be held at once, and will be covered with an artificial grass surface, such as FieldTurf.

The Trust will pay for the work out of its general funds, plus $1.6 million from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. that had previously been slated for an ice-skating rink at Spring St. and the tennis courts.

The Trust shelved the ice-skating rink plan last year after it was rejected by Community Board 2 and Assemblymember Deborah Glick; the tennis courts, initially planned as temporary, will now be permanent.

The United States Soccer Federation and NIKE are also contributing $250,000 to the cost of building the field. As part of the agreement with U.S.S.F./NIKE, a banner will be displayed somewhere inside of Pier 40’s courtyard, facing the field, and there will be youth soccer clinics held at the pier.

A contract for electrical work for the field, including an emergency evacuation warning system — necessary as the pier will be receiving increased public use — was awarded to Seven Star Electrical, which offered a bid of $1,420,066.

A contract for plumbing and construction work in connection with the field was also awarded.

Connie Fishman, the Trust’s president, said that with approval of the contracts, work would start “immediately” on the field and it will be ready for use by early December. Fishman said the field will be used 12 months a year, and that the artificial surface’s expected lifespan is six to seven years.

She said it’s clear the field was the community’s top priority for the pier, and that any developer the Trust might bring in to fully redevelop the pier in the future will surely recognize that fact.

“Having [the field] there will show any developer that this is what the community wants,” Fishman said.

The Trust’s effort to find private developers for a full redevelopment of the 15-acre pier into a mixed park-and-commercial site failed last year without a developer being chosen.

In addition, as part of the Pier 40 interim plan, the existing rooftop field will be renovated and a new passive-use open space, also to be covered with synthetic turf, will be built to the west of the rooftop field.

The tennis courts at Spring St., two doubles and one singles, will be a hard surface, asphalt covered with Har-Tru. Citnalta also submitted the winning bid for this project, at $896,117. With contingencies, the cost for the tennis courts could rise to, but is not to exceed, $1,002,229.

Fishman said the courts will be free and operate the same way the two tennis courts formerly on Trust property near Battery Park City did: If people are waiting in line to get on the courts, those who are playing must get off after an hour.

After the meeting, Noreen Doyle, the Trust’s vice president, congratulated Tobi Bergman, president of Pier Park & Playground Association, or P3, a local youth sports advocacy organization, regarding the field. Wearing their “GV” logo baseball caps, several coaches from the Greenwich Village Little League also attended the meeting, eager to see the Trust give the go-ahead for the field’s construction.

Said Bergman in a statement, “The new fields will be a major improvement for the quality of life for Downtown families, who will for the first time have what almost every other community in the nation takes for granted, places for children to play sports…. The leadership and design staff of the Trust needs to be congratulated for staying with this project as a variety of code issues created unforeseen complications…. In the end, everyone stuck together and that’s why this is happening.”

[NYatKNIGHT]

The Christopher Street Water Taxi stop on Pier 45 is now open. Rode it today.


http://galleries.soaringtowers.org/albums/NYatKNIGHT/Water_Taxis.sized.jpg

[NYatKNIGHT]

Kayaks can be rented for free from the Downtown Boathouse (http://www.downtownboathouse.org/) on Pier 26 (http://www.hudsonriverpark.org/parkmap/p26.html).

http://galleries.soaringtowers.org/albums/NYatKNIGHT/river_kayakers.sized.jpg

[krulltime]

BIG APPLE FOR THE BIG APPLE

June 10, 2004

Donna Karan, the fashion designer, plans to unveil a giant bronze sculpture of an apple designed by her late husband, Stephan Weiss, in Hudson River Park today.

The sculpture, which is nine feet tall and weighs 6,000 pounds, will be temporarily placed in the park, which is near Mr. Weiss's Greenwich Village studio. Among those invited to the unveiling were Hugh Jackman, the Broadway and film star, and Ralph Lauren. Anthony Ramirez (NYT)

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[billyblancoNYC]

The apple's kinda cool. I saw them hoisting i