East River Esplanade

The Daily Plant : Wednesday, January 31, 2001

PARKLANDS AND PLANNING IN 2000

Parks are growing, and the more land we acquire the more they can thrive. The 110-acre Ocean Breeze Park in Staten Island, acquired in 2000, is a property with tremendous potential. In all, our Parklands division helped secure 22 new properties in 2000. This translates into an additional 156.93 acres, bringing our total acquisitions under Mayor Giuliani to 1,779.138 acres, of 28,312 acres total.

In particular Parks secured 60 acres of the former federal military base, Fort Totten in Bayside Queens. The beautiful waterfront property includes historic fortifications unique to New York City. They will distinguish Fort Totten as a place of both beauty and cultural interest. Environmental review is scheduled to be completed by the end Mayor Giuliani's term.

Across the city, Parks is building upon the greenway system first created by Robert Moses. This year we forged a link in the trail between Fort Washington and Riverside Park in Manhattan. We joined two separate stretches of trail to create unprecedented public access to the waterfront. To complete the puzzle, 2001 will see new trail from 59th street to 72nd street, which will feed directly into Riverside Park. When the Riverside South Greenway is completed, walkers and bikers will be able to follow uninterrupted trail from Battery Park to the George Washington Bridge, a substantial contribution to the Hudson River Valley Greenway that will eventually stretch from Battery Park in Manhattan, to Battery Park in Waterford, New York.

In the works for 2001 is more Greenway in every borough. The city's master plan outlines 350 miles. Through a combination of federal, state and city funding, many miles of this system have already been created. This year we completed Greenway along the Soundview Park Esplanade in the Bronx, the Cherry Walk in Manhattan, and 21 miles of the Queens Greenway. Some portion of Mayor Giuliani's allocation of $11 million toward the restoration of the Bronx River will go toward a new Bronx River Greenway that will link Soundview and Hunts Point to Bronx Park, and north to the city line. The network of greenways puts Parks on the map as an innovator in greenway design, particularly in areas of dense use.

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO IN THE PLANT
(Wednesday, February 3, 1988)

Move over Punxsutawney Phil, New York City has "Woody the Woodchuck." Parks' Official Ground Hog. Woody is unusually a modest and unassuming creature. But yesterday was Ground Hog Day and the four-year-old squirrel-like rodent whose normal abode is the Central Park Children's Zoo made an appearance near the Model Boat Pond in Central Park, and handled the paparazzi like an old pro. First, Woody predicted a short winter. (In the light drizzle, he couldn't see his shadow.)

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"Grab this land! Take it, hold it, my brothers, make it, my brothers, shake it, squeeze it, turn it, twist it, beat it, kick it, kiss it, whip it, stomp it, dig it, plow it, seed it, reap it, rent it, buy it, sell it, own it, built it, multiply it, and pass it on-can you hear me? Pass it on!

Toni Morrison (b. 1930)