Community Board 1 has its own list of pet projects for the city’s East River Waterfront redevelopment plan and it made them known in a resolution at last week’s full board meeting.
Reaching back to its own 2002 Concept Plan for the East River Waterfront, the board made a list of recommendations to be included in the project, which has been estimated to cost as much as $150 million and the City Planning Dept. is hoping to get most of the financing from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.. The board called for using half of the F.D.R. Drive as an esplanade waterway and using the Battery Maritime Building for a “significant cultural destination,” according to the resolution. The resolution requested a community building for a swimming pool, a boathouse, indoor recreation, and bike and boat rentals. The resolution also suggested a fleet of floating barges “to be outfitted with a public facility such as a swimming pool, skating rink, performance stage and a green park.”
According to the board’s district manager, Paul Goldstein, the city’s plans focus on the area surrounding the Battery Park Maritime building. The improvements the board has suggested improve the area as a whole for residents, workers and tourists in the area. “It is far more important to create some open space and some real popular destinations around the East River to bring people to our East River waterfront rather have them pass through it to the West Side waterfront,” he said.
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