BY SEAN EGAN | With the fair weather seemingly here to stay, the warm, clear night of April 20 was a perfect evening for the Chelsea Waterside Park Association’s annual meeting. At around 6pm, members of the group — as well as local electeds and community members — gathered in the halls of St. Paul’s German Evangelical Lutheran Church (315 W. 22nd St., btw. Eighth & Ninth Aves.) for a pre-meeting reception, enjoying each other’s company, as well as a spread of refreshments.
A little after 7pm, Zazel Loven, the group’s president, called the meeting to order, welcoming everyone, and joking that her love of horticulture had somehow “turned into a full time job.” Loven then introduced Dave Conover to talk briefly about the Clearwater, a replica of a historic cargo sloop. The ship, which is used as an educational platform, is currently undergoing extensive renovations, and Conover (Interim Executive Director of the Clearwater) was seeking support to complete these efforts by highlighting various fundraising programs. Visit clearwater.org for more info.
After this, Loven introduced City Councilmember Corey Johnson. Asserting “I think it deserves a makeover,” Johnson revealed that he has pledged $825,000 towards the renovation of the Chelsea Waterside Park playground.
“Chelsea Waterside Park is getting a lot of love…A lot of money and a lot of love,” Johnson said with a laugh.
Next up was Assemblymember Richard Gottfried. “The fact that we have Chelsea Waterside Park is really a testament to this community,” Gottfried stated, also revealing that, through his efforts, the park would be receiving a new comfort station in the near future, an announcement that received a great amount of applause.
The evening’s keynote speaker was Rashid Poulson, the Horticultural Supervisor of Brooklyn Bridge Park. His presentation, entitled “Resilience at the Waterfront,” addressed the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. A highlight of the presentation came when Poulson drew attention to the kinds of plants that could — and couldn’t — survive the stress brought onto them by the storm.
Following Poulson’s presentation was a short speech from Greg Wasserman, a member of the Playground Committee of Friends of the Hudson River Park. “The playground at Chelsea Waterside Park is well used and well loved by kids,” said Wasserman of the facility, installed in 2000, but noted, “along with love and use comes wear and tear.”
The proposed renovation project is estimated to cost $1.6 million, and after the money pledged by Johnson, and another $400,000 in private donations secured by Wasserman, about another $400,000 is still needed to make the budget. Wasserman encouraged people to donate, and to send him any information that might help lead to more private donations in order to “fill the rest of the gap.” Visit hudsonriverpark.org/playgrounds for more info.
Closing out the meeting were presentations from two members of the Hudson River Park Trust, Horticultural Manager Peter Kelly and Vice President of Marketing and Events Tom Lindon. Kelly’s speech and PowerPoint went over the general accomplishments of the Trust over the past year. Chief amongst the highlights was news of the park’s new electric composter, which Kelly dubbed “the way of the future.” The composter, which was donated to the park last year, helps keep a half-ton of organic waste off the road every day, and saves $40,000 a year in organic litter collection. Trust employees have also taken to bringing in hundreds of pounds of organic waste from home every week, to be compacted.
“It’s a big deal,” Kelly said proudly, noting that Chelsea would benefit from the compost, as it was to be used along the Chelsea “buffer” between W. 17th and W. 22nd Sts.
Lindon used the platform to draw the crowd’s attention to some of the upcoming summer programming coming to the park soon. Highlighted programs included the popular weekly movie night, kids’ programs, dance performances, and a new senior fishing program. He also announced that the “Summer of Fun” would have its own app, as well as a presence on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram (visit hudsonriverpark.org for all social media info).
And with that, all the speakers had said their piece, and the meeting was drawn to a close for another year.
