Testimony for Waterfront Park 3-16-06

ULURP Hearing on the Reconstruction of the Willis Avenue Bridge
Offering opportunity for waterfront access, recreation and revitalization
Friends of Brook Park Testimony
March 16, 2006

Good morning. My name is Harry J. Bubbins, Director of Friends of Brook Park (FoBP), the South, South Bronx based environmental, arts and sustainable development organization. FoBP is committed to ensuring that our Mott Haven, Melrose and Port Morris communities enjoy waterfront access and amenities.

The Reconstruction of the Willis Avenue Bridge is an important priority that will unfortunately have significant negative impact on our natural environment and on our local community. As outlined in the proposal by the New York City and State Departments of Transportation the currently proposed project calls for a large amount of infill into a fragile ecosystem of the Harlem River. The location of the infill, just north of Randall’s island and the Bronx Kill will detrimentally impact the wildlife of the area, the aquatic life of the water as well as the hawks, herons, egrets and swans that thrive is this immediate area. There will need to be some kind of mitigation of this infill on the natural habitat.

In addition, traffic in our community, which already has the highest rates of asthma in the nation, will further impact our overburdened community.

Fortunately, the lead agencies are ready and able to offer a package of community benefits that could do much to allay the burdens our Gateway to the Bronx must endure. It has been made clear by the NYC and NYS DOT and the lease holder of the Harlem River Rail yards, that the government agencies are preparing a package that could amount in the millions of dollars to selected entities impacted by this proposed reconstruction. Waste Management, one of the largest and most profitable garbage handlers in the world, will be paid market rate for land and structures it operates on the waterfront, and the Harlem River Rail Yards will also be compensated to some undisclosed amount.

It is entirely reasonable then for our elected officials to include in any support of this ULURP item a comparable series of benefits for the actual community, to offset the environmental and other impacts of this $300 million plus project.

The immediate area of concern has very little tree canopy and no official waterfront access. Our Bronx Borough President and City Council members from the 8th and 17th Districts as well as the entire Bronx can include in any support for this project:

• Creation of a Waterfront Park on NYSDOT held land
at the terminus of Park Avenue

• Monies to implement community designed site

• Shoreline restoration and natural habitat on and along proposed infill area

The support of Community Board #1 for this project was specifically contingent upon the first two of these items.

The Park Avenue site was identified after much evaluation as a short term achievable goal and is included in the recently passed Port Morris Rezoning Plan as a “Priority Access Point”. There has been an extensive planning and design series in partnership with the New Yorkers for parks to create a design vision for the site that will include green space, tree plantings, benches and seating areas, a sculpture garden corridor and canoe and kayak launching.

The role of local elected officials in the ULURP process is to evaluate initiatives and offer input, suggestions and requirements along the way. We are confident that our elected officials will spearhead a creative collaboration with the NYC and NYS DOT’s to ameliorate significant impacts and address longstanding inequities with this unique opportunity.

Thank you.

We Stay in our Space!

Hey friends, here's some great news...

Thanks to a flexible property owner, an anonymous contributor and an exciting reconnection, we are able to maintain the Green Corner through December!

We will be sharing the space with our longtime friends and collaborators in the movement from Vamos la Pena. I used to live in the same homestead as Nieves and Victor, the co founders of la Pena. La Peña reaches out to the most disenfranchised, especially the hungry, homeless, unemployed, undocumented and HIV-positive. All are welcome with no papers required and no questions asked. La Peña activities include food distribution, help with the citizenship process, English and Spanish classes, artistic workshops and attention to issues such as domestic violence, drug addiction and homelessness. La Peña is open daily and is staffed by community residents and volunteers. They have been selected for the Union Square award and the open Society Fellowship, among other recognitions. To learn more about their important work, see: http://www.fcny.org/scripts/usq/getpage02.pl?orgid=9801


We have an exhibition of waterfront visions by new Yorkers for parks and City College grad students on display, and much more to come.

If you have an idea, or want to engage in some community beneficial use of our green Corner, let me know. This is a resource for us all.

Ongoing are yoga, tai chi and tango classes, and many meetings. A fundraiser for the CSA project is being planned, and what else?

Spring is soon to spring! So come and visit and many thanks to our supporters!

A special presentation on our Brook PARK Capital Plan

Hey friends,

We are pleased to share this special presentation with you summarizing the
extensive efforts that have gone into designing and advocating for the City
resources to continue the revitalization of Brook Park.

Please check out the link below:

http://www.friendsofbrookpark.org/Capital_Plan/


And let us know what you think!

Thanks to generous support to allow us to implement and expand a diverse
array of programming, our elected officials (Council Members Arroyo, Reed
and soon Viverito, and Boro President Carrion) have channeled capital
resources to the tune of over one million dollars into this effort!

It will be appreciated if you have any ideas and suggestions as to further
programming and organizational support for this critical phase of our
growth.

We are now nested on 11 Bruckner Boulevard till the end of the year so we
look forward to seeing you anytime!

Sincerely,

Harry J. Bubbins

A proposed theme park would occupy 26 acres of Randall’s Island.

Here's an investigative article I wrote for the recent issue of the
Indypendent, available at fine bookstores like Bluestockings or we will have
a stack in our space... Also on-line at:

http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/03/65954.html

Visit that website and post some comments!


Then cut and paste the addresses and message and email the Comptroller
Thompson and Council Member Viverito this message below...

viverito@council.nyc.ny.us, abridge@comptroller.nyc.gov

Dear Elected Officials,

I am aware of the proposal to privatize 26 acres of Randall's Island to a
commercial enterprise with a horrendous track record and connections to the
former Mayor. Please stop the Randall's Island Theme Park. Instead, the
government could build the bridge from South Bronx and open the bridge to
East Harlem. The park is wrong place for this kind of non park use. I look
forward to your response."


Randall’s Island Rip-Off (The Indypendent)

A proposed theme park would occupy 26 acres of Randall’s Island.

By HARRY J. BUBBINS

Originally proposed in 1999 as a 12-acre initiative at less than one third
the current projected cost, this theme park project has metastasized into a
$168 million, 26-acre enterprise with a 35-year lease, requiring ten of the
island’s already overcrowded baseball and soccer fields to be bulldozed.

Keywords: Government, Nature, Analysis, Local, Space,

For New Yorkers who have come to enjoy their open, green spaces, public
fields and gardens, the meaning of the word “park” has come under increasing
challenge. From the proposed new Yankee Stadium to the water filtration
plant in Van Cortlandt Park, officials are targeting parks for corporate
projects and infrastructure needs. On March 7, a public hearing could
determine the fate of a proposed theme park that would occupy 26 acres of
Randall’s Island.

Originally proposed in 1999 as a 12-acre initiative at less than one third
the current projected cost, this theme park project has metastasized into a
$168 million, 26-acre enterprise with a 35-year lease, requiring ten of the
island’s already overcrowded baseball and soccer fields to be bulldozed. A
review of the Draft Agreement between the developer, Aquatic Development
Group, and the NYC Parks Department is troubling: The most important pages –
those outlining the size, scope, site and details of the proposed
multi-story structures, totaling more than 133,000 square feet – are blank.
What the agreement does indicate is that the price of admission to this
private enterprise will be more than $60.

The courts have repeatedly ruled that if land has been dedicated as a park
it cannot be “alienated,” or taken for a non-park use, without legislation
from the NYC City Council and then authorization from the state legislature.
This scheme to alienate public park land without due process has been
criticized and is being contested by local and citwide advocates like New
Yorkers for Parks and Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, as well as elected
officials like Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito.

Nevertheless, the city is pressing on with its hasty schedule. “Ideally,
we’d like a groundbreaking before the summer of 2006,” said Parks
Department’s spokeswoman Dana Rubenstein. But closer scrutiny might scuttle
the deal altogether.

Surprisingly, there has never been a Request for Proposals or a clear and
transparent solicitation process for this Giuilani-era pitch. Comptroller
William Thompson’s office stated that the city’s process is “flawed and
inconsistent with well-established principles of public bidding” and asked
how the project was allowed to swell from a 12-acre, $45 million water park
in 1999 to a 26-acre, $168 million venture today without being put up for
rebidding.

It may be that the financial ups and downs, previous bankruptcy, conflicts
of interest and other issues will throw up insurmountable road blocks. The
financial backer who has bailed out the main players at Aquatic Development
Group (ADG) in the past is Jared Abbruzzese. Since 2000, Abbruzzese and
numerous family members and ADG President Herb Ellis have contributed more
than $100,000 to various Republican committees, in addition to entities
controlled by former Mayor Giuliani, including Friends of Giuliani and
Solutions America. As part of the review Process now under way, “If the
Comptroller raises certain objections such as irregularities within the
agreement or concerns of corruption, the implementation deadline is void.”

For now, the March 7 hearing is still set, and the project must win five
votes from the city’s Franchise and Concessions Review Committee (FCRC),
which consists of mayoral appointees, the Comptroller’s office and the
affected borough president, in this case Manhattan’s Scott Stringer, whose
opposition to the plan is on record.

The project would be inaccessible to residents of nearby neighborhoods that
are underserved by city parks, such as East Harlem and the South Bronx,
which has no official waterfront or shore access. Most absurd is the
proposal for an indoor “river,” on a site adjacent to a real river.

Indicative of the politics attached to this project, in 2001 then-Parks
Commissioner Henry Stern was compelled to say that “the great recreational
potential of Randall’s and Ward’s Island Park will now be fulfilled with the
amphitheater, track and field center, and water park. We are pleased to see
these projects
get under way.”

Today, free of such constraints, he offers this noncommital yet distinctly
different position: “I think it would be no problem if it was left alone,”
he said. “It doesn’t have to be a happening. It’s an open space, an island
in the heart of the city.”

Developing Brownfields along the Harlem River Waterfron

Check out this event, I will be speaking on the introductory panel... Harry


Subject: Developing Brownfields along the Harlem River Waterfront - March
22, 2006

BCEQs 5th Annual Water Conference:

Creating a Community Vision:
Developing Brownfields along the Harlem River Waterfront
Wednesday, March 22, 2006 from 3:00 to 7:00 PM
Bronx Community College
Roscoe C. Brown, Jr. Student Center, Room 207 & 208
181st Street and University Avenue

Program: After a presentation of the Harlem River BOA Program and existing
conditions, the community creates a visioning plan, including goals and
objectives for the future waterfront.

Displays / Presentations
A Light Dinner will be served.
.
Sponsors: Borough President's Office, Bronx Council for Environmental
Quality, Community Boards 4, 5 , 7 and 8, Con Edison, Manhattan College,
Metro Forest Council, NYC Soil and Water Conservation District, NY
Restoration Project, NYS DOS & DEC, Riverkeeper, Friends of Brook Park,
Urban Divers (list in formation).

This year, we will introduce the NYS Brownfield Opportunity Areas Program
and how it is being used for the revitalization of the Bronx waterfront of
the Harlem River.
What should be preserved?
What should be developed?
How will it all be accessed?
We need to hear from YOU.

Central to this effort will be improving the River's water quality and
promoting sustainable watershed protection activities, while at the same
time, developing community-based collaborations to promote environmental
restoration, appropriate waterfront development and enhanced recreation.

Developing Brownfields: Creating a Community Vision

The public is invited to attend this free event.
Photo ID required.

RSVP to 718-324-4461 or email harlemriver2004@aol.com,

To reserve parking, please call with car info.
Directions from/to mass transit available.