In recent days, workers have been chopping down mature trees along this corridor adjacent to the track and field...
The latest Construction Bulletin (click on the image to go big) lists "Ongoing Con Edison utility work" ... it's not immediately known what kind of Con Ed work would necessitate removing the trees...
In the weeks ahead, workers will install protective fencing along the Greenway up to the 10th Street pedestrian bridge and continue "clearing and grubbing" (cutting down trees)...
As of now, you may no longer access the Greenway below the Sixth Street pedestrian bridge...
The track and field area is still accessible ...
The outdoor gym area below the track and field is open, though you need to enter it via the walkway along the river.
There aren't any specific dates at this time attached to gutting the remaining 57.5-acre East River Park — burying the existing park under fill and elevating it by 8-to-10 feet above sea level — north of Sixth Street. A presentation from last fall (at this link) shows the area north of Sixth Street closed in the summer of 2024 ... at which time the new amenities designated for the currently gutted park below Stanton Street would be available to the public.
The city has said that it will maintain public access to a minimum of 42 percent of the park throughout construction.
Opponents of this version of the reconstruction project continue to speak out, stressing there's a better path forward to protect the Lower East Side and surrounding neighborhoods from a 100-year-flood event and sea-level rise — one that doesn't cause 1,000 mature trees to be chopped down.
I can't imagine living along the park looking out the window to see towering flowering/leafy healthy, cooling trees being destroyed. Traumatizing, especially come hot summer months when there's no place to go to cool off! To see this wasteland seems much like facing ground zero post 9/11. I wondered if this man couldn't take it anymore?
ReplyDeletehttps://nypost.com/2022/04/28/man-drops-3-dogs-before-leaping-from-manhattan-building/
This destruction is PTSD inducing and our community leaders need to do something to help minimize this traumatic event.
At the least, check in on people facing the park!
This leaves me gutted with rage and despair. I feel we are screaming into a void and no one in this city (our reps, the Mayor, city council, residents outside the immediate area) just don't care. The callousness and stupidity of this whole thing will do so much damage in the long term. I know people are numb after what we've endured over the last two years, but we cannot allow ourselves to be silenced.
ReplyDeleteThanks for cutting down my favorite tree that I USED to hang by - y'all are jerks with no souls .
ReplyDeleteThis is so crazy.
ReplyDeleteWhat astonishes me is that you can destroy a 57 acre park in Manhattan, and no major news reports on/investigates it. Can you imagine what would happen if they tried to do this to Riverside or Central Park? The difference of course is that this is a poorer neighborhood, so it can be sacrificed- especially when there's a potential massive real estate windfall to be had.
ReplyDeleteTotally. No hat luncheon here…
DeleteThe NY Times is absolutely complicit in tipping the scales on this project, trying to pass the biased Ford-Foundation-sponsored Kimmelman piece off as fair, investigative journalism, while they write about all the failures of the plan only in the framework commenting on OTHER cities...
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ReplyDeleteI think it’s important to mention some of the reasons the ESCRP “Community based Plan” was summarily dismissed by every city agency. Here’s a grouping of some of those reasons.
1.) Councilwoman Rivera as well as city auditors said the community based plan was far over budget. She also thought it was bad for NYCHA — and remember it’s the 80,000 units in NYCHA that elects her and why the New York Democratic Club refers to our neighborhood as “the Spanish language district.”
2.) If the “Cover The FDR” portion of the plan was developed, it really would have just been an open tunnel that cut off views of the river — and dumped all that exhaust & noise into NYCHA. The elevated portion of the park over the FDR would have had to close at 7 p.m. because it would create too much noise & light for NYCHA residents. It would also need year round, 24/7 security to prevent folks and kids from throwing things (or their friends) over the edge. In addition, don’t expect barbecues or large gatherings up there — and no athletic fields. Parks Department also said it would be too hot since there would be no shade
3.) The other part of the community based plan showed a large, steep berm — ostensibly the real flood protection — along the eastern edge of the FDR. This large berm would be built over the densest grove of trees so we would still see the bulk of mature trees cut down. It would also need to extend a good third of the way into the existing park — otherwise it would be too steep and send children and adults tumbling into the emergency room. This berm would eliminate most of the usable park space and athletic fields. It would also be built over existing CON ED lines which city engineers rejected.
4.) Lastly there was the cost of ongoing maintenance. The current park has a minimal staff and landscaping budget. The community based plan would require round the clock security, a maintenance & landscaping budget we don’t have and require more irrigation than is currently used in all NYC parks combined.
Again, these aren’t my opinions. Just pointing out some of the many reasons the community based plan was rejected
I'd like to know what the plans are for the opposite, Brooklyn-side of the river?
ReplyDeleteIf science class memory serves, a rising tide not only lifts all boats, but floods both sides of a riverbank. Or am I missing something.
"Again, these aren’t my opinions."
ReplyDeleteExcuse me, who stated these "opinions"? Link please. And you left out this plan was summarily thrown out without ANY community input for the new plan. And even if the Rivera opinions are stated accurately, she's a REBNY tool, a joke.
"Berman quickly issued a rebuttal, stating, in part:
The requirement of a special permit for hotels will have little to no effect on the development problems the Tech Hub will exacerbate. First, any hotel can still be built with the approval of the City Council. Second, this really only applies to a portion of the affected area, since the zoning for about half the area already prohibits or restricts hotels. Third, hotels are only one of many forms of bad development this area is experiencing which this measure will not address, such as office buildings and high-rise condos, as well as doing nothing about affordable housing which the community rezoning plan Rivera promised to hold out for would have."
https://evgrieve.com/search?q=rivera+union+square
The negative health effects associated with the loss of this green space is especially heightened for those of us who cannot afford a summer home in the country and with electricity prices soaring and no place to cool off, the loss of this park is going to cost us locals more money in air-con use expenses. Increased use of air-conditioners can't possibly be good for the environment and may also increase the risk of power outages.
ReplyDeleteDon't be fooled for minute that the "new" park will be for the people living nearby. I predict corporate takeover and the natural environment as only a second thought. We might start calling it "Hightline East" because that's what it will be.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Hopefully whatever development they build will get flooded and end up under water. And then we can gather and plant new trees.
Deletere anonymous @1:10
ReplyDeleteYour points make no sense:
1- "Councilwoman Rivera as well as city auditors said the community based plan was far over budget.the current plan is currently over twice the amount of the community plan"
The current plan is over twice the amount of the community-led plan
2- "If the “Cover The FDR” portion of the plan was developed, it really would have just been an open tunnel that cut off views of the river — and dumped all that exhaust & noise into NYCHA. The elevated portion of the park over the FDR would have had to close at 7 p.m. because it would create too much noise & light for NYCHA residents. It would also need year round, 24/7 security to prevent folks and kids from throwing things (or their friends) over the edge. In addition, don’t expect barbecues or large gatherings up there — and no athletic fields. Parks Department also said it would be too hot since there would be no shade"
Where to start here? Where do you think the noise and exhaust are going now? The Park would create more noise and light than the FDR? Really? There are currently walkways open 24/7 over the FDR, so the throwing things part doesn't make sense. Finally, for the shade issue: if only there were magical things that made shade.
3- "This large berm would be built over the densest grove of trees so we would still see the bulk of mature trees cut down. It would also need to extend a good third of the way into the existing park — otherwise it would be too steep and send children and adults tumbling into the emergency room. This berm would eliminate most of the usable park space and athletic fields. It would also be built over existing CON ED lines which city engineers rejected."
I guess if you'd have to cut a few trees, why cut all of them, right?
To hell with Con Ed; they are the main polluters in our neighborhood, and shouldn't be dictating the community's priorities.
4- "Lastly there was the cost of ongoing maintenance. The current park has a minimal staff and landscaping budget. The community based plan would require round the clock security, a maintenance & landscaping budget we don’t have and require more irrigation than is currently used in all NYC parks combined."
Here's an idea: maybe the Parks department concern itself with keeping and maintaining parks; otherwise, why does it exist?
I never thought myself naive when it came to New York City greed and politics driven by real-estate and construction interests, but the way this plan has been carried out has taken callous corruption to a new level. The elected officials who are supposedly in charge of their constituents' health and well being have been utterly silent on every issue associated with ESCR including: lead found in soil test results, air pollution including a diesel fuel generator running black smoke for hours, not releasing air quality results in a timely manner, not planting street trees promised as mitigation, construction workers mocking residents and activists, not preserving 42% of *usable" green space (not treeless sports fields surrounded by fencing), cutting trees down AHEAD of publicly released schedules without advisories or notices, no signage, no visible signs of any oversight, and SO ON. It's utterly disgusting and has destroyed my faith in city government, which apparently exists only to facilitate the development of land and not to serve and protect its communities.
ReplyDelete100%. I’ve never been more jaded. I don’t get it and it’s hard to have any faith in government. I never understood how people just didn’t care about elections or being connected to local/ state/ national government but this really removed the scales. I try to get over there as much as I can now and know that if I continue to vote it will just be in protest of whoever is the incumbent. They are all terrible, terrible people
DeleteThe comment above linking the current devastation to the gaping hole in lower Manhattan, while hyperbolic, gives rise to another critical health issue for those Manhattan residents most affected. The NYCHA apartments house many affected by the toxic air quality in the aftermath of the terror attacks. These 9/11 victims suffer from much higher rates of asthma, hyperreactive airway syndromes, copd, certain cancers, mental health issues, and autoimmune disorders than many living further uptown. The ConEd pollution and the exhaust/noise/particulate pollution from the FDR exacerbate these maladies and disproportionately have adverse impacts on the health of those born post-9/11 as well. The expensive and ongoing city, state, and even federal efforts to help 9/11 survivors are thwarted by this economic inequity and agencies from all levels of government should be investigating this ill-judged plan and ongoing park destruction/arboricides with vigor.
ReplyDeletere anonymous @1:10 If you think that this park design is to benefit NYCHA residents and improve their air quality or quality of life then you obviously haven’t been anywhere near these projects for awhile, if ever. Take a walk though the Riis Houses right now, it is an absolute environmental disaster area with dirt, constriction debris, broken sidewalks and chain link fencing everywhere due to the “stormproofing” projects that have turned the area into a living nightmare. Much of the green space has now been taken over by all the new structures which house the backup power equipment. This project has taken years, and was supposed to be finished by mid-2022 but looks like it will take much longer than that now.
ReplyDeleteWhat's happening to the park sucks. Communication to the public has been atrocious. But.
ReplyDeleteUnderneath the Shared Use Path are Con Ed lines that supply a lot of power to downtown. A big reason for rejecting the old plan is that it would have buried those lines under 8-10 feet of berm. What was Con Ed supposed to do if they needed to work on them? If one of those lines failed and put thousands/millions of people in the dark, and Con Ed had to dig the berm up to make repairs, we'd all be raising hell about why such an idiotic design was approved. And about gentrification: imagine another hurricane damaging NYCHA worse than last time. Goodbye, low-income homes. Hey there, waterfront luxury housing that regular people would never, ever be able to afford.
Here's an idea; screw Con Ed. Why should hundreds of thousands of residents lose a real park for decades to come because they're too lazy and cheap to upgrade and move their lines. Again, would they pull this on Riverside or Central Park? No way. Con Ed is already the worst polluter in the neighborhood. It would be best if they got out of our neighborhood altogether. Is no politician brave enough to tell them this?
ReplyDeleteThis is part of United Nation's Agenda 21: they plan to turn NYC into a "Smart City." FMI: check out Rosa Koire videos on YT. Given what is happening in Shanghai - 373M Chinese - in lockdown this project should raise eyebrows.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, screw Con Ed. As for their underground cables, there is such a thing as a tunnel to enclose such lines. That could have been installed along with the berm, with access points. It's not hard, any engineer could figure that out.
ReplyDeleteThe community-approved plan was scrapped solely so DeBlasio could grease the palms of his buddies. Period. He will be remembered for many stupid things, but in my opinion, destroying this park is the most egregious and evil thing he has done. Carlina as well.
I've lived in NYC all my life and on the Lower East Side for much of it. This is the first time I've ever become so discouraged that I wish I could leave. Not that I can afford to. The East River Park was my sanctuary. They even chopped down trees in Corlears Hook Park with no reason given. Like many of my friends and neighbors, I'm filled with feelings of loss and fear for the future.
ReplyDeleteOn the eve of 51% of the people in this country having their basic rights to bodily autonomy thrown away by the Supreme Court, our allegedly "progressive" local officials are voluntarily creating an environmental crisis right here, jeopardizing the health of us all. The heat island effect isn’t just unpleasant—it kills hundreds of people in NYC each year. The toxic sites being unearthed by the massive craters of what was East River Park are documented in the city’s own report. Let’s just finally stop pretending this about resiliency. This is a dangerous, toxic real estate deal. Want evidence that there’s NO SCIENCE behind the ESCR? 1.) Chopping down trees is bad policy if you don’t want people to die in heat waves: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/02/climate/trees-cities-heat-waves.html 2.) Only poor neighborhoods get their trees chopped down: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/nyregion/climate-inequality-nyc.html
ReplyDelete3.) Absorbent, green parks like the old East River Park mitigate flooding: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/28/climate/sponge-cities-philadelphia-wuhan-malmo.html
4.) Global leaders agree it’s a freaking dumb idea to decimate trees: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/02/climate/cop26-deforestation.html
God, I’ve started to hate NYC. And the NY Times, for not writing about any of this a propos of East River Park.
Deblasio just announced he's running for the congressional seat for the new 10th district which includes this park. W T actual F?
ReplyDelete