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A while back, the Municipal Arts Society unveiled its dreamy vision for a waterfront park within developer Sheldon Solow's massive East River project just south of the UN. Yesterday, they went all official with it, as the new Coalition for an East Side Waterfront Park held a press conference to re-unveil the renderings and show off the future site of the proposed park in all of its rubble-strewn, freezing-winds-off-the-river glory.
Given the costs involved, the East Side Waterfront Park is a long shot, but Coalition members were optimistic as they discussed the steps they need to take to make the plan a reality, and positively giddy when bantering about the idea of gearing up and riding bikes together (yeah, we were confused, too). The steps involve getting Solow to grant an easement, raising around $100 million, and working out the simple matter of getting the Department of Transportation to realign the FDR Drive so a big ol' deck can be built over it for optimal frolicking. The Coalition folks seemed pretty confident that Solow would grant the easement, but all seemed wary of the bureaucratic mess inherent in asking the DOT to move a highway.
Three major hurdles to the East Side Waterfront Park. >>
