[East River Park as seen last month]
A CB3 committee meeting that wasn't on anyone's radar is now receiving attention.
This is the third item for discussion during tonight's Parks, Recreation, Waterfront, & Resiliency Committee meeting:
• Rebuild By Design proposal RFP for stewardship of East River Park.
It's not exactly clear what is being discussed tonight. (This 6sqft piece from the summer is a good primer on the RFP process.)
In any event, one neighborhood activist is sounding the alarming to help raise awareness in an email sent last night:
This is a devastating NEW PLAN that the City wants to shove through regarding the East River. After a carefully studied plan, The Coastal Resiliency Project, since 2014, after Hurricane Sandy, with Millions of dollars committed by the City...The Mayor's Office in October 2018 wants to scrap that plan, instead will close the East River Park for 2-3 years, trashing all plantings, trees, and wildlife habitats to "raise" the park up 8 feet in land fill. The cost is $1.45 billion. This is an expedited "plan" because there is money to spend — however it is thoughtless, in the end won't work, and will destroy the East River Park as we know it.
The email included a wrinkled flyer...
As previously noted, the city's new resiliency plan calls for "lifting" East River Park by up to 10 feet from Cherry Street to 13th Street when work starts in March 2020.
However, to do this, the city will need to close East River Park for up to three and a half years, bulldozing all the current amenities, including the recently unveiled new running track and soccer field, according to multiple published reports. (The Post and CBS 2 had stories on these plans.)
The meeting starts at 6:30 tonight (third agenda item) at the BRC Senior Services Center, 30 Delancey St. between Chrystie and Forsyth.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: The reality of storm-proofing East River Park in 2020