City Unveils Master Plan for Northern Manhattan Parks
The Parks Department unveiled its master plan for Northern Manhattan Parks at a CB12 meeting this week.
By Carla Zanoni
UPPER MANHATTAN — A massive plan to retool parks throughout Washington Heights and Inwood is nearly ready for its official launch following a year's worth of community input.
The plan would add amenities ranging from water fountains at smaller green spaces like Inwood's Isham Park to bringing food and drink concessions to High Bridge Park in Washington Heights.
Charles McKinney, principal urban designer for the Parks Department, told Community Board 12's parks and cultural affairs committee on Monday he looked forward to seeing the plan turn into reality.
Implementation will take 20 years to complete as individual plans are funded, according to Jennifer Hoppa, administrator for Northern Manhattan Parks. Some of the projects are already underway.
The Parks Department worked with the community at various design forums that included civic leaders, park experts, community planners and residents.
Areas of concern centered around ecology, recreational facilities, health and fitness, waterfront access, park security, pedestrian and bicycle traffic and accessibility for people with mobility issues.
Residents also added suggestions online throughout the year.
After viewing a presentaiton about the plan, CB12's parks and cultural affairs committee passed a resolution recommending the plan.
Next, the full board will vote on the matter at its June 28 general meeting.
These are sampling of some of the proposals included in the 20-year master plan, which can be viewed in full courtesy of the Parks Department.
High Bridge Park:
- Rebrand as an adventure park
- Connect middle path from 158th Street to Dyckman Street
- Restore High Bridge Water Tower for public use
Riverside Oval
- Restore fence and fountain
Fort Washington Park near 155th Street
- Create accessible pathway for people with mobility issues
- Renovate ball fields for baseball and soccer
- Restore comfort station
- Create small boat launch
Fort Washington Park near 170th Street
- Improve bicycle and pedestrian path to Henry Hudson shoreline
- Create kayak launch
Fort Tryon Park
- Restore historic structures for public use
- Continue restoration of historic FreOlmstead landscape
Dyckman Marina
- Restore pier for large vessel tie-up
- Create mooring field
- Redesign parking area
- Add ramp to pedestrian bridge so bikes and "Gators" can easily access the path to the Henry Hudson Bridge
Sherman Creek
- Create food concessions
- Create high marsh habitat
Inwood Hill Park
- Implement landscape changes, such as adding a creek to the lowland, to increase wildlife
- Improve open views of waterfront
- Develop comprehensive trail marking system to increase use and safety of park
- Improve bike and pedestrian access to Henry Hudson Bridge
- Promote northern tip as kayak stopping point
http://www.dnainfo.com/20110610/wash...#ixzz1OwlfBR34
I live in Morningside Heights but work in Washington Heights. This is great! The northern Manhattan parks are already amazing. While I'm glad that they are not usually too crowded, I hope the new amenities encourage more people to take advantage of them.
Washington Hts. Board Resists Plan for 4 Towers
By JOSEPH BERGER
Pedestrians walk by the Quadriad Realty Partners' proposed site for an apartment complex in Washington Heights.
Local residents call the neighborhood the Heights because of its steep terrain and riverside bluffs, not because it has vertigo-inducing buildings.
So a developer’s plan to build four apartment towers ranging from 23 to 39 stories tall has set off alarms in Washington Heights, where buildings typically run 6 to 10 stories. Some residents have protested that the proposed towers, with a total of more than 800 apartments, would darken the sky and introduce more residents than the area’s schools and subways could accommodate.
“It looks like a Stalinist-era project — gigantic towers sitting atop a fairly sedate neighborhood,” said one opponent, Vadim Moldovan, an associate professor of social work at York College who has lived in the neighborhood for 30 years. “It would dwarf the landscape and blot out the sun.”
The proposed complex has also aggravated persistent worries that progressive gentrification in Washington Heights is eroding the neighborhood’s role as the heart of the nation’s Dominican community, most of whose members are working class and cannot afford the rents the planned apartments will carry or those that nearby landlords might imitate.
“I definitely think we have to create conditions for Dominicans to be able to hold onto their apartments and not get pushed out of their apartments because they cannot afford the rent,” said Ydanis Rodriguez, a local councilman and a Dominican native.
Last month, the local community board unanimously rejected a proposal for the four towers, which would have required a zoning change by the city, and it urged the developer, Quadriad Realty Partners, to return with a scaled-down blueprint for shorter buildings at the site, at Broadway and 190th Street.
The board also recommended that the buildings be designed for the larger families characteristic of Washington Heights and that half the apartments — not 30 percent, as the developer had proposed — be reserved for moderate- and middle-income renters, whom the board defined as earning $21,807 to $65,421 annually. The developer had defined middle income at a much higher level, with a cap of roughly $108,000.
Under both definitions, few apartments would be destined for the strivers that the popular musical about the neighborhood, “In the Heights,” describes this way: “Everybody’s stressed, yes, but they press through the mess, bounce checks and wonder what’s next.” The median household income in the northern part of Washington Heights in 2009 was $38,230.
Quadriad officials say that installing a greater proportion of so-called affordable apartments would make no economic sense. Without the revenue produced by taller buildings, virtually all of the apartments would have to be rented at market rate — over $2,900 for two-bedroom homes. Despite the community board’s opposition, the developer said it planned to apply to the city’s Planning Commission for a zoning modification in the next few weeks. But if the change is not granted, the firm says it will then build two stouter, market-rate buildings, 28 and 24 stories tall, which it has the legal right to do under existing zoning.
The plan comes against a recent backdrop of gentrification in Washington Heights, in which the vibrant hub of the city’s Dominican immigrants has become a magnet for comparatively well-off professionals. Between 2000 and 2010, the non-Hispanic white population in northern Washington Heights increased to 25.8 percent, from 21.1 percent, and the proportion of Dominican natives declined to 63.1 percent, from 67.5 percent, according to census data. One in five residents now has a college degree, double the rate of a decade ago.
A neighborhood known during the 1990s for its epidemic of crack cocaine and the resulting gunplay has seen an influx of more moneyed newcomers drawn by streets that mingle corner papaya stands with newer, more upscale shops and restaurants.
Quadriad’s chief executive, Henry Wollman, argued that unless he could rent a majority of the apartments to such well-heeled tenants he could not afford to offer less expensive apartments. “We’re taking advantage of gentrification to some degree to allow, through market rates, for the cost subsidization of the middle-income units,” he said in an interview.
Washington Heights does have some skyscrapers — the four 32-story slabs that loom over the eastern end of the George Washington Bridge at 178th Street. But north of that, the neighborhood is mostly buildings of less than 10 stories, many set partly on stilts because of the singularly craggy terrain. Manhattan’s highest point — 265 feet above sea level — is in Bennett Park at 183rd Street.
Rita Gorman, a former pension fund administrator who lives on 190th Street, said the Quadriad towers made no sense. “Visually,” she said, “it’s out of whack.”
Mr. Wollman contended that his proposal was conceived as a way to make handsome apartments designed by top-flight architects available to modest earners without the need for public financing or tax abatements. By not exploiting government affordable-housing programs, the project, formally known as the Tryon Center, would end up saving taxpayers $10 million to $14 million, he said.
“The goal is to put before the city a new way of building middle-income housing without resorting to public dollars,” Mr. Wollman said.
Councilman Rodriguez said Quadriad should tap public funds so that working-class people could afford the housing.
Quadriad was founded by Mr. Wollman, who for a decade directed the Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute at the City University of New York, and Herman Badillo, a former deputy mayor, congressman and mayoral candidate. Mr. Badillo said he was no longer involved in the firm, though Mr. Wollman continues to describe him on its Web site as honorary chairman.
Quadriad tried to introduce a 21-story tower in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that would have had 270 apartments, 90 of which would have been middle-income, but the Planning Commission balked. Instead, the company ended up constructing five-story buildings with 100 market-rate apartments.
In Washington Heights, Quadriad has not yet acquired the development site on the west side of Broadway, which is owned by a funeral home. The site on the east side, which Quadriad does own, is occupied by a parking lot and two low-rise commercial buildings that house a pharmacy, a laundry and an arts center.
Quadriad is dangling all kinds of incentives for the project, estimated to cost $335 million. It is offering to beautify the graffiti-scarred quarter-mile-long tunnel leading from Broadway to the No. 1 train at the 191st Street station. It promises to reshape a park adjacent to the proposed building, Gorman Park, which is built on a steep slope that allows scarce recreational space.
But opponents like Mr. Moldovan do not even want Gorman Park spruced up, contending that it is one of the few Manhattan parks with native trees.
“It’s where an original chunk of Manhattan is preserved,” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/ny...oard.html?_r=1
A bit of "constructive" recycling is always good.
Harvest Dome Transforms Trashed Umbrellas into Floating Art Treasure
By Carla Zanoni
INWOOD — Northern Manhattan get ready, a newcomer is sailing into town.
The Harvest Dome, a floating, illuminated dome made of discarded storm-damaged umbrellas, is set to arrive in the waters off Inwood Hill Park on Friday.
The dome is meant to represent “a physical revelation of the city’s accumulated waterborne debris,” organizers said.
Created by a group of architects from Slo Architecture in collaboration with students from community groups in The Bronx, the 24-foot-diameter dome is set to float in the inlet, a remnant of the Spuyten Duyvil Creek’s marshland that was dredged in 1895 to create the Harlem River Ship Canal.
Architects Amanda Schachter and Alexander Levi scoured city streets after rainstorms scooping up weathered umbrellas in order to build the unusual looking dome with architect Robert Wrazen.
“Harvest Dome reveals and transfigures the workings of this ecosystem at Manhattan’s northern tip…and the real-time harvesting of the city’s manufactured debris into a large-scale curiosity of urban nature,” a statement about the project reads.
The exhibition, which was funded through a Manhattan Community Arts Fund (MCAF) grant of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in collaboration with the Parks Department, will be on view through Nov. 15 in Inwood Hill Park inlet.
The Inwood Hill Nature Center will hold an open house to discuss the installation on Sunday, Oct. 23, between 3 and 5 p.m.
http://www.dnainfo.com/20111021/wash...#ixzz1bT2lIs5R
Sorry I haven't been in this thread in a while. I have a hard time sucking myself out of the Architecture forums. Anyway! A few things that I've been rolling around:
1.) We should get together at Le Cheile that just opened on the NE corner of 181 and Cabrini. Let me know if anyone is interested so I can set something up.
2.) Not building more housing will, ultimately, drive prices much higher than building new housing. The argument that is being implicitly made when someone fights new housing as a way to keep housing costs down is that by remaining in squalor, we can keep the area affordable. That's no way to live, and this needs to stop. If we built thousands and thousands of beautiful new apartments in the heights, while keeping the stock that is here, we can easily stay affordable. The reason for a lack of affordability in many parts of NYC is not the quality, but the quantity of housing. The prices are what they are because many many many more people want to be here than housing is built for. This same phenomenon is happening in many other cities (DC, SF) because people have a hard time comprehending the numbers. They freak out when a building like Gehry's is built with 900 apts. That's such a drop in the bucket for NYC it's not even funny. Even the 10000 some odd apartments being built at queens west is nothing. That's barely 7% of the number of units Bloomberg pledged to keep affordable in the city.
3.) The redo of Riverside Dr by 181st st is all wrapped up and it came out great. It's 2 way now, so people aren't backing out of the garage there all the way to 181st (terribly unsafe!), and 181st st got sharrows, which is great, but also unexpected.
Didn't that used umbrella sphere break loose and get confiscated by prison guards off the shores of Riker's Island?Originally Posted by Merry
A bit of "constructive" recycling is always good
Harvest Dome Transforms Trashed Umbrellas into Floating Art Treasure
So it didn't get arrested and incarcerated, just confiscated?
Floating Harvest Dome Made of Recycled Umbrella Spokes Crashes Into Rikers Island
by Molly Cotter, 10/31/11
Navigating the Hudson River can be quite a challenge. From tricky winds to nasty currents, the waters are treacherous even for the most seasoned boater. This weekend, Harvest Dome, a highly anticipated public art installation made of recycled umbrella spokes was poised to set sail down the Hudson but crashed right into Rikers Island. After a quick clean up and a chat with some very confused prison guards at Rikers, the dome’s designers, Slo Architecture, are back to work on reconstruction.
Floating Harvest Dome Made of Recycled Umbrella Spokes Crashes Into Rikers Island | Inhabitat New York City
Makeover Planned for Long 'Neglected' Section of Fort Tryon Park
By Carla Zanoni
slide show
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — A desolate stretch of Fort Tryon Park is a step closer to a long-overdue facelift.
The Parks Department has announced plans for a one-year $1.6 million renovation of the southeastern section of the park that hasn't been overhauled since the 1930s.
The goal is to attract more visitors to a swath of the park that's become better known for its reported muggings and drug activity than as a scenic landmark, officials said.
"The area has been neglected," said Steve Simon, Manhattan Parks Division chief of staff and Community Board 12 member. "We have had some insecurity in the park and this work is to encourage people to enjoy the park."
Work on the area, just south of the popular Heather Garden, Cloisters Museum and New Leaf Café, is likely to start next spring.
"The plan is part of the department and Fort Tryon Park Trust's efforts to revitalize more areas of Fort Tryon for the growing community and visitors," Northern Manhattan Administrator Jennifer Hoppa wrote in an email.
To improve public access, the Parks Department will focus on improving pathways near the historic Billings Arcade, which once welcomed visitors to the Billings estate that John D. Rockefeller incorporated into the design of the park.
Asphalt pavement, stairs and landings will be repaired and drainage will be installed. There will also be new benches and lighting, plus reconstructed drinking fountains, according to the Parks plan.
"It sounds like a great project for an area that’s had no work done on it for years," CB12 member Zead Ramadan said.
The department is also set to plant "a significant conifer/evergreen" population to create a one-mile horticultural "Winter Walk" trail through the park.
The proposal won the endorsement of the CB12's parks and cultural affairs committee on April 3.
The full board is expected to vote on it during its general meeting on Tuesday.
The Parks Department is also poised to restore the 150-foot stretch of rocky cliffs on the northwestern stretch of Fort Tryon Park that arches from Broadway to the upper level of the green space where the Cloisters Museum sits.
That plan is slated to be completed by the end of 2012.
http://www.dnainfo.com/20120420/wash...#ixzz1sfA2uA1X
I followed the link (http://www.dnainfo.com/20120420/wash...w/popup/175342) to see if there were any more pictures, since you only posted 2 of the 14 in the slideshow. But I see what you had to work with - the other 12 are either condoms, condom wrappers, beer bottles / broken bottles / bottle caps, or cigarette butts lol
^ LOL! Yeah, I must say I was a tad disappointed, too. It got a bit repetitive.
Hopefully the makeover will make it all magically disappear
I love the optical illusion in the second pic.
Geez, WE GET THE POINT about the beer bottles!!!
Quadriad Realty to Present City Revised Wahi Skyscraper Proposal
By Farran Powell
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS - After more than a year and a half of discussions regadring a suite of skyscrapers that could radically alter Upper Manhattan's skyline, developer Quadriad Realty said it will soon submit its revised plan to the city.
Officials from the New York-based developer Quadriad Realty said they plan to submit revised plans to the Department of City Planning for approval to build two to four 29 to 31-story skyscrapers on West 190th Street and Broadway for its project dubbed the "Tryon Center."
The developer presented a preliminary plan to Community Board 12 last month, which includes more affordable housing units and buildings that sit up to 10 stories shorter than originally proposed in 2010. Quadriad officials said they planned to submit the new proposal to the city in late July, but agency reprentatives said they have not yet seen the new plan.
Last year area residents and community leaders said they opposed the plan because of the height of the proposed buildings, which are significantly taller than most of the existing buildings in Washington Heights. Developers argued in an initial proposal that they needed the extra space to include affordable housing, but critics said their rates were pegged to Manhattan's median income levels, which are still too high for the lower income averages of Upper Manhattan residents.
Quadriad officials had argued they would move ahead with an as-of-right plan for the building, which will include no affordable housing units, if unable to hammer out a compromise with the community.
According to the developer, Quadriad's new plan was hammered out after meetings with local leaders, including State Sen. Adriano Espaillat, Assemblyman Guillermo Linares and City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, where the group attempted to determine the right mix of income levels for the neighborhood.
In addition to building affordable housing units, the developer has promised renovations to public facilities, such as a facelift to neighboring Gorman Park, and a plan to renovate the 191st Street 1-train station's entrance. The units will offer more than 400 market rate rental units.
The latest plan, which includes a mix of residential and commercial space, increases the number of affordable housing units from 160 to 184 to accommodate more low- and moderate-income individuals and families. The development will provide 52 units for low-income individuals and 132 units for moderate-income.
Moderate-income units range from $33,600 to $56,000 for studio to 3-bedroom apartments, which rent from $840 to $1,400. Low-income units will be avaiable to individuals and families who earn $33,600 to $56,000 and rent from $510 to $895 a month.
The development will also offer 350 market rate apartment, which makes up 65 percent of the apartments proposed. Originally, the ratio was 70 to 30 and included housing for "middle income" individuals.
No submission for zoning or land use has been received yet, according the Department of City Planning and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
"As such we have not made any commitments to the project, and it would be premature to discuss details before we are able to assess the feasability of the proposal," wrote HPD spokesman Eric Bederman.
The developer did not specify when the group plans to submit its new proposal to the city.
http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/2012...#ixzz232jmbtB0
I would prefer not to have tall, modern towers in this area.
Better we should have a bunch of formerly beautiful but now thoroughly past their prime buildings lying around? I'd rather have modern towers than modern lowrises. The building 192 across the street from here came out ok, but it's nothing special. Very Avalon Bay.
Incidentally, this is on the site of a parking lot, a parking garage (covered rather humorously in marble), and some 1 and 2 story commercial spaces.
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