East River Park Action opposes the East Side Coastal Resiliency plan that will demolish East River Park. This project is an environmental injustice against our crowded low-and-middle income Lower East Side and East Village neighborhood that will suffer the effects of losing our only large green space and the effects of outsized construction on our health.
• We support a plan that provides flood control with minimal destruction of existing parkland and biodiversity. It should also be constructed in an environmentally forward-thinking manner that will give us a resilient coastline to help absorb storm surges. Previous plans and suggestions from the community and experts can be adapted. See our post, “Whaddaya Want Anyway?”
• We support interim flood protection to protect the neighborhood and to protect the park from the city’s rushing to start the current misguided flood control plan.
• We support further expansion of East River Park over the FDR and new concepts for use of the highway as a way to improve the health of our neighborhood and our world climate.
We can find creative and greener solutions that enhance rather than devastate the health and beauty of our Lower East Side and East Village Communities.
Who We Are
Several Lower East Side residents started East River Park Action in June 2019 to demand a revised flood control plan that will not deprive our neighborhood of our glorious park for years. We were founding members of East River Alliance in early 2019, an organization that decided to advocate responsible stewardship and accountability working with the new East Side Coastal Resiliency project. East River Park Action formed to express vocal opposition to the project when less destructive plans are possible. Several of our activists are also affiliated with East River Alliance.
Many others residents from the neighborhood–and from around the city–were eager to join the effort. Our all-volunteer group grew.
• Hundreds participated in rallies, protests, hearings, and outreach campaigns. Read about and see videos from our latest march and rally: https://eastriverparkaction.org/2021/04/19/big-march-to-save-the-park/
• We have a LES Breathe Team that is developing a people’s air monitoring system to protect our neighborhood.
• We are lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that is appealing for alienation from the state to gain oversight and demand accountability from the City. Read about it: https://eastriverparkaction.org/2021/05/03/alienation-lawsuit-appeal/
• We are also suing the city to see the three-year-old unredacted Value Engineering Study that we uncovered via a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) and appeal. Read about it here: https://eastriverparkaction.org/2021/04/05/lawsuit-filed-for-unredacted-value-engineering-report/
• We have become a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
• More than 16,000 have signed various petitions with us and other informally affiliated groups, and more than 2,300 people have signed up on our mailing list.
• We have raised more than $50,000 from more than 600 donors for our legal fund and other activities. Most donations are in the $10-$25 range, reflecting the modest-income nature of our neighborhood. We are not Brooklyn Heights that could raise $100,000 in a few days to squash the idea of demolishing the Brooklyn Heights promenade for a few years for rebuilding of the BQE. Please donate to our legal fund.
• We’ve generated press coverage (some 50 stories and op-eds in the first quarter of 2021) and on social media at @ERPaction.
The city is determined to bury East River Park. Say no.
Please email if you want to be on our general list to participate:
OurPark@EastRiverParkAction.org
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