City of Water Day

We’re Getting Closer to the Water, But at What Cost?

New York City is, by nature, a city of water, but as most residents of this bustling metropolis can attest it doesn’t always feel that way. Unlike so many states, and so many cities therein, New York is blessed with 578 miles of waterfront, the result of multiple bodies like the East and Hudson Rivers bordering our shores. The Greenpoint/Williamsburg area is especially lucky; Situated on the banks of the East River, North Brooklyn is practically a beach community—well, almost. Except that the majority of the Greenpoint/Williamsburg waterfront has been blocked, barred or obstructed from access for as long as most residents can remember.

However, for one day a year, the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance and their partners re-imagine waterfronts like ours and explore their possibilities at City of Water Day, an event that stretches across Brooklyn, Manhattan, New Jersey and Governors Island, inviting city-dwellers to go boating and kayaking, and partake in other waterfront activities. And, in light of the approval of such waterfront developments as the New Domino, which will include a sweeping waterfront esplanade purportedly open to the public, the fantasy may not be so far from a reality after all. But the question remains: Will newly-paved pathways leading to the water’s edge give North Brooklynites a sense of ownership over their long sought-after waterfront, or will the 40-story towers that come along with the promenade further alienate residents from their surroundings?

“That’s the rhetorical question, isn’t it,” said Roland Lewis, the president and CEO of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, a coalition of organizations dedicated to the revitalization of the New York waterfront. “We want to transform this waterfront—the best in the world—into a place New York will know and love. It’s spectacularly beautiful, but relative to other cities it’s not part of our daily lives.”
Especially in such a turbulent economic climate, opening the Williamsburg waterfront to the public is not as easy as it seems, and as a result private investment is relied upon as one of the only financially feasible options to aid in the transition. However, with waterfront access oftentimes comes high-rise development.

Earlier this year, the MWA testified in favor of the New Domino development before the Landmarks Preservation Committee, though Lewis was careful to make the distinction between supporting renewed access to the waterfront and supporting a large-scale waterfront development.

“We’re not the anti-development waterfront alliance—we have to be agnostic towards that. We’re not against the development, and we’re not particularly for the development, but we’re for the waterfront park and it’s an awkward position, because eventually building a wall of high-rises along the waterfront in Brooklyn and Queens may not yield the best result,” Lewis said. “The organization I represent does not have a position on the upland development, but we are very much in favor of the park. It will bring people to the water, but I wrestle with this issue.”

Councilmember Stephen Levin, in whose district the New Domino development will be built, also expressed concern about the adverse effects of high-rise buildings along the water’s edge, even if it means the waterfront will be more physically accessible.

“I’m skeptical,” Levin said. “I think the community should have access to the waterfront alongside responsible development; waterfront access means having the ability to get to the shore, but also to the water itself. That means having piers and the ability to kayak and to boat, and have educational uses. All those things are possible without having a 40-story building. The fear is that by giving somebody proprietary rights to the waterfront, it will take away the public’s right to it.”

The New Domino will go before a full city council vote on Thursday, July 28, after which the development will begin the first stages of construction.
“For so long our waterfront was cut off by industry, rail and highways. New York has always focused its energy inwards,” Lewis said. “But now neighborhoods like Greenpoint represent the foremost example of the conversion of industrial space. But it is New York, and we have big buildings, though we are conflicted.”

Lewis echoed some of Levin’s concerns, about the eventual privatization of waterfront properties adjacent to large-scale developments. However, he said, he hopes the positives outweigh the negatives.

“The amenities on the waterfront—piers, esplanades—have to be paid for by developers,” he said. “But then, at the end of the day, we will have a wall before our waterfront. There is no immediate solution to these problems. But there is a blue movement happening. This waterfront should be as diverse as the city around it, and it should be ours.”