Rob Buchanan wants to take a sandy strip of land beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, currently off-limits to boaters and pedestrians alike, and turn it into a public landing.
When people told him that was too big a task to take on, he decided to start small: As a first step, he is lobbying to row across the East River and land on the small beach beneath the bridge six times this summer.
The agency Buchanan has to convince is the city Economic Development Corporation, which controls the East River Waterfront and is currently planning to develop it. But the E.D.C. has not announced plans for the beach and has said in the past that it would be dangerous to open it to the public.
Buchanan, president of Village Community Boathouse, based on Pier 40, wants to prove otherwise. He will row to the beach in a boat with several other people as part of the Brooklyn Bridge Parks Conservancy’s free summer boating program in DUMBO, starting Aug. 2.
But the E.D.C. has instructed the Harbor Police to keep the beach free of boaters, Buchanan said. He does not think the E.D.C. should be able to exclude boats from landing on the beach, and he hopes the six weekend crossings will convince the E.D.C. to make the beach a public landing. People use it already, albeit illegally, and the beach costs less to maintain than it would cost to build a dock, he said.
Buchanan said the E.D.C. is worried about taking on the liability of boaters landing on the beach, but the agency has already allowed swimmers to cross the river and land on the beach for special events, so boating should be allowed too, Buchanan said.
“With your support, E.D.C. will mellow out,” Buchanan told Community Board 1’s Waterfront Committee Monday night.
Carter Craft, the director of programs and policy for the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, wants to see less bureaucracy surrounding the waterfront.
“Why not turn it over to public space?” Craft asked.
The Waterfront Committee was enthusiastic about Buchanan’s crossing.
“It seems like a great way to test it out,” said Ro Sheffe, chairperson of C.B. 1’s Financial District Committee. “It’s a great idea.”
Several board members were hesitant to pass a resolution without hearing from the E.D.C., but Buchanan said he’d met with them and thought they were close to agreeing, and a strong statement from the community board would push them over the edge.
Janel Patterson, spokesperson for the E.D.C., declined to comment.
The Waterfront Committee passed the resolution supporting the pilot program 6 to 1. Community Board 3’s Parks Committee also supported the six trial landings, Buchanan said.
If the E.D.C. says no to Buchanan, he still plans to row across the river, but he promised not to land on the beach.
–Julie Shapiro
