by Alex Marshall, Senior Fellow, RPA
Cycling is a great way to get to know any area from the bottom up. Like changing the f-stop on a camera, it alters your perspective, in this case allowing you to see more things in finer detail then if you either walked or drove for the same amount of time.
Two weeks ago, I got to know a part of Brooklyn better when I cycled along the coastline with the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway Initiative. The group wants to establish part of the coastline for a public park and cycling trail, and has partnered with RPA to provide technical planning and advocacy assistance. To build momentum for the project, we cycled along the path that the group would initially like dedicated to the proposal.
We started in Greenpoint, with its streets of low-rise buildings that lead down to the waterfront on Newtown Creek. From there, we traveled through Williamsburg past the many industrial properties along the shoreline. We then detoured around the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which imposes itself on the shoreline like a fat man taking up several seats on the subway. After a mile or two, we regained the waterfront by cycling through the cobble-stoned streets of Vinegar Hill near the Brooklyn Bridge. We then cycled along the edge of Cobble Hill, until we arrived at a new park in Red Hook, Valentino pier, which juts out into the water seemingly almost to the skirt of the Statue of Liberty.
What the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway folk would like to do is establish a safe, off road bicycle and pedestrian path along this twisty coastline. This ribbon of parkland would connect the neighborhoods all along the waterfront - from the Queens border to the Shore Parkway in Bay Ridge - to the parks and open spaces being planned along the waterfront. This includes the planned Brooklyn Bridge Park - the large state park now being constructed around Fulton Ferry - as well as smaller green spaces in Greenpoint, Red Hook, and elsewhere. Eventually the greenway should work much like the hugely successful Hudson River Park greenway - which is used both by commuters as well as people meandering between the piers and riverfront attractions.
This would doubtless take a sizable ice-cream scoop of public money to buy the rights of way, and then clear a portion of the land and construct the park. But while money is important, as important is a conceptual purchase of getting the state and city to agree on some key precepts.
First in importance is that the waterfront must be opened to the public. Private uses should not be allowed to restrict public access. This concept is key as the waterfront areas move from industrial uses dependent on water transport to mixed use neighborhoods that depend as much on amenity and place-making. It made sense to allow a wire factory or a grain storage facility to monopolize the waterfront when the East River was a highway, and the factories there employed thousands and were building blocks of the city economy.
But these factories are largely closed now, and we are moving into an era of a waterfront that generates value through amenity. To maximize that value, we need to ensure that the waterfront is as public as possible - a front yard on the Harbor - and not allow condominium owners or others to privatize it for the sake of a few.
This is such a simple bedrock principle that it's hard to believe that anyone would oppose it. In fact City policy supports this view - but the trick is getting landowners and public authorities to deal with the spirit, and not just the letter of the law. One way to do this is by getting the city and state to buy the rights to the waterfront ahead of development, and not rely piecemeal on private investments subject to individual negotiations. Public expenditures could be recouped later through tax increment finance zones or other mechanisms that spread the costs through property owners throughout the district.
The second principle is similar, and similarly obvious. Just as private interest should not be allowed to restrict access to the waterfront, they should not be allowed to restrict the views of and to the waterfront. So, in this spirit, tall buildings should be kept a half mile or so away from the waterfront. Some agreed upon height restriction should be in effect that is in keeping with the character of Greenpoint and Williamsburg. There's no reason to allow a 20, 30, or 40 story building to restrict the views of others for miles inland.
The steps outlined above might be hard, but they are worth it. When the park does happen, groups like the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway Initiative will deserve a lot of the credit. They are doing great work, and having fun doing it. They are setting a great model for others, both in their blend of community work and fun, and in the specifics of the principles for which they are working.
Cycling is a great way to get to know any area from the bottom up. Like changing the f-stop on a camera, it alters your perspective, in this case allowing you to see more things in finer detail then if you either walked or drove for the same amount of time.
Two weeks ago, I got to know a part of Brooklyn better when I cycled along the coastline with the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway Initiative. The group wants to establish part of the coastline for a public park and cycling trail, and has partnered with RPA to provide technical planning and advocacy assistance. To build momentum for the project, we cycled along the path that the group would initially like dedicated to the proposal.
We started in Greenpoint, with its streets of low-rise buildings that lead down to the waterfront on Newtown Creek. From there, we traveled through Williamsburg past the many industrial properties along the shoreline. We then detoured around the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which imposes itself on the shoreline like a fat man taking up several seats on the subway. After a mile or two, we regained the waterfront by cycling through the cobble-stoned streets of Vinegar Hill near the Brooklyn Bridge. We then cycled along the edge of Cobble Hill, until we arrived at a new park in Red Hook, Valentino pier, which juts out into the water seemingly almost to the skirt of the Statue of Liberty.
What the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway folk would like to do is establish a safe, off road bicycle and pedestrian path along this twisty coastline. This ribbon of parkland would connect the neighborhoods all along the waterfront - from the Queens border to the Shore Parkway in Bay Ridge - to the parks and open spaces being planned along the waterfront. This includes the planned Brooklyn Bridge Park - the large state park now being constructed around Fulton Ferry - as well as smaller green spaces in Greenpoint, Red Hook, and elsewhere. Eventually the greenway should work much like the hugely successful Hudson River Park greenway - which is used both by commuters as well as people meandering between the piers and riverfront attractions.
This would doubtless take a sizable ice-cream scoop of public money to buy the rights of way, and then clear a portion of the land and construct the park. But while money is important, as important is a conceptual purchase of getting the state and city to agree on some key precepts.
First in importance is that the waterfront must be opened to the public. Private uses should not be allowed to restrict public access. This concept is key as the waterfront areas move from industrial uses dependent on water transport to mixed use neighborhoods that depend as much on amenity and place-making. It made sense to allow a wire factory or a grain storage facility to monopolize the waterfront when the East River was a highway, and the factories there employed thousands and were building blocks of the city economy.
But these factories are largely closed now, and we are moving into an era of a waterfront that generates value through amenity. To maximize that value, we need to ensure that the waterfront is as public as possible - a front yard on the Harbor - and not allow condominium owners or others to privatize it for the sake of a few.
This is such a simple bedrock principle that it's hard to believe that anyone would oppose it. In fact City policy supports this view - but the trick is getting landowners and public authorities to deal with the spirit, and not just the letter of the law. One way to do this is by getting the city and state to buy the rights to the waterfront ahead of development, and not rely piecemeal on private investments subject to individual negotiations. Public expenditures could be recouped later through tax increment finance zones or other mechanisms that spread the costs through property owners throughout the district.
The second principle is similar, and similarly obvious. Just as private interest should not be allowed to restrict access to the waterfront, they should not be allowed to restrict the views of and to the waterfront. So, in this spirit, tall buildings should be kept a half mile or so away from the waterfront. Some agreed upon height restriction should be in effect that is in keeping with the character of Greenpoint and Williamsburg. There's no reason to allow a 20, 30, or 40 story building to restrict the views of others for miles inland.
The steps outlined above might be hard, but they are worth it. When the park does happen, groups like the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway Initiative will deserve a lot of the credit. They are doing great work, and having fun doing it. They are setting a great model for others, both in their blend of community work and fun, and in the specifics of the principles for which they are working.
@RegionalPlan