I’d like to address my dismay at the Hudson River Park Trust’s (HRPT) ongoing pursuit of locating a Bier Garten directly next to the Chelsea Children’s Carousel (Pier 62, at W. 22nd St).
The rational put forth by the HRPT is misdirected and unsuitable. Their claims of Pier 62 as being “underused” should not be grounds to install a bar on park land — especially one next to a children’s area.
There are already many commercial operations that liberally serve alcohol near the Chelsea Children’s Carousel. Between Pier 61 and 59 is a bowling alley, at least six party cruise boats, and three very large catering halls that lock up all the best views of that portion of the river — Pier 61 (Lighthouse), Pier 60 (a 2,000-seat venue) and the new Currents that took the space of the city’s largest microbrewery (the failed Chelsea Beer Brewery). Also, just north of the Chelsea Children’s Carousel is the Frying Pan, a popular drinking establishment that is rich in maritime history.
If the HRPT is so desperate to reinvent the end of Pier 62, they should explore ideas that would be in harmony with the existing Chelsea Children’s Carousel, a one-of-kind ride that spins children clutching to poles atop carved renderings of various Hudson River animals and fish.
Below are a few suggestions of alternate uses near the carousal:
–A Hudson River Wild Life Museum in keeping with the carousal’s educational mission.
–A Tug Boat Museum with an interactive control room showing tugs docking big ships on a screen (maybe called the John Doswell Museum). The museum could be inside a small, dry-docked, gutted tugboat.
–A Shipwreck Museum that details the Coast Guard’s lifeline method used in saving thousands of passengers from the hundreds of shipwrecks that stretch from New York City’s Lower Bay to Montauk and also on Long Island Sound. The museum could be inside a stranded small two-masted schooner that could include Coast Guard lifeline demonstrations.
–Or maybe all three museums, with a cafe menu featuring aquatic life that inhabitats those wrecks today.
Please join me, and other members of the community, in saving the Chelsea Children’s Carousel. A CB4/WPE meeting will be held to discuss this matter on Thurs., Nov. 5 at 6:30 p.m. at Fulton Center Auditorium (119 Ninth Ave. btw. 17th & 18th Aves.).
I beg you to voice your concerns.
Sincerely,
Donathan Salkaln
–Communications Chair, Chelsea Reform Democratic Club
–Secretary, Chelsea Waterside Park Association
–Treasurer, 458-460 W. 23rd St. Owners Corporation
