City officials and Community Board 3 claim they are working with the community on the $1.45 billion East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR). In fact, they are engaging in a ‘conspiracy of silence’ about the massive park-topped flood wall has becomes less transparent to community partners all the time: • no town hall by electeds in…
Tag: East Side Coastal Resiliency
East River Park Oak Tree
(after Marianne Moore’s “The Camperdown Elm”) by Marcella Durand Dear Mayor Bill de Blasio, I choose as my treean oak that standssomewhat alonein a triangular lawn-like spacefacing the East Riverin East River Park,which is slatedto be demolishedthis coming Septemberper your opaque and confusingplans to, at some point,protect the Lower East Sidefrom floodingduring superstorms. The oak…
Interim Flood Protection
Wrecking East River Park can wait, but the Lower East Side and East Village need storm surge barriers for the hurricane season coming up. The East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) plan that would demolish East River Park is likely to be delayed. “In New York City, which was crippled in 2012 by Hurricane Sandy, the…
Pandemic Refuge
Sarah A, an East River Park advocate writes, “The park’s been a tremendous source of comfort and relief to everyone during this pandemic. We go there daily and see many people from all walks of life using it and enjoying the spring beauty now erupting in the flowers and trees. It’s truly become a place…
Suing
How to stop the city from demolishing East River Park with an environmentally disastrous, climate damaging flood control project that is needed, paradoxically, because of climate change. East River Park ACTION and 15 other community groups along with some 75 individuals filed suit Feb. 6 to force the city to pursue Alienation from the state….
Alienated
It’s how we feel and also a legal term that can help East River Park First, some background Last fall the City abruptly jettisoned a plan formed by Lower East Side residents and experts working together, to shield our community from the negative impacts of flooding caused by extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy. They…
Imagine All the People–and the Flood Control Plan for East River Park
A conversation with the planners at a public event Why Not the Old Plan? What happened to the berms (the earlier, accepted plan for the park featured grassy embankments alongside the FDR Drive)? I asked Eric Ilijevich, Associate Project Manager at NYC Department of Design and Construction. Why couldn’t we stay with that plan? Parts…
“Hey Dude, don’t be afraid,
Take a sad plan And make it better Remember To let us into our Park Then you can start To make it better” That was the anthem, sung to the tune of “Hey Jude” composed by Marie de Cenival for our demonstration before the City Planning Commission hearing July 31 about the fate of our…
A Green New Deal for the Lower East Side and East Village
How to Save East River Park, Provide Transportation Equity, Clean Our Air and Address the Climate Crisis. by Howard Brandstein This is the testimony to Community Board #3 Manhattan on ULURP (Universal Land Use Resiliency Plan) to facilitate the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project, June 25, 2019. VOTE NO 1. TIME TO ACT ON THE…
EAST RIVER PARK SONG
(inspired by Michael Jackson’s Earth Song) What about sunriseWhat about gamesWhat about all the things that you said We were to gain? What about playing fieldsIs there a timeWhat about all the thingsThat you said were yours and mine Did you ever stop to noticeAll the dust we’ve had beforeDid you ever stop to noticeThis…