The duo hoping to rebuild Pier 13 has added a 60-foot rope ladder to their whimsical plan, but it will still be a tough climb to get funding.
The economy has not been kind to Al Landzberg, a sculptor, and Anthony Walmsley, a landscape architect, who teamed up two years ago and started campaigning for a new $26 million pier in the East River. Called Rivers Alive at Wall St., their pier would include an aquarium of fish native to New York Harbor; a wet boardwalk that floods at high tide; glass-enclosed computer kiosks; and now, in their latest iteration of the plan, a crow’s nest at least 60 feet in the air that would give the public incomparable views of the waterfront.
Landzberg and Walmsley won preliminary support from Community Board 1’s Waterfront Committee two years ago, but the committee was much more hesitant when the pair returned this week.
“It’s a wonderful utopian design,” said Bob Townley, chairperson of the committee, but given all the city and state budget cuts, Townley added that the board would be foolish to push for such an expensive new project.
Landzberg said he would try to get several hundred thousand dollars of private funds first, and he hoped to have a firm government commitment within a few years.
Pier 13, which once held indoor tennis courts, was demolished in 2007. The city is rebuilding much of the East River Waterfront but has no plans to replace Pier 13.
