Access to the East River has long been a greater challenge than in other parts of the city because of the presence of waterfront highways, the preponderance of privately owned land, and in some cases heavy industry along its banks. On the Hudson River, the concept of a contiguous greenway has been in development for well over a decade from New York City all the way to Albany. However, on the East River, Greenways are only started to be realized in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx. Some are farther along than others. The goal of this program is to examine some of these "missing links" in each borough, discuss what is happening now to open up this big blue space to the more than 2 million New Yorkers living along its banks, and build consensus towards what needs to happen to ensure that waterfront access is created in all communities, and stewarded for future generations.
Following an introduction by Hon. Scott Stringer, Manhattan Borough President, there will be a series of presentations on the South Bronx Greenway, Williamsburg-Greenpoint, Con Ed / East River Realty site and United Nations area (Manhattan) and Long Island City - Astoria Greenway. Confirmed panelists include:
- Carter Craft, Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance
- Joshua Laird, NYC Parks
- Menaka Mohan, Sustainable South Bronx
- Milton Puryear, Brooklyn Greenway Initiative
- Ed Rubin and John West, Manhattan Community Board #6
- Rob Pirani, Regional Plan Association
