Friends of Brook Park: World Beneath the Pavement

A living blog and composting archive of updates, fun announcements, crucial reports and other wonderful information for new volunteers, recent participants and stalwart supporters alike!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

On the Water with Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance



"Hey, where you going with those boats?" from the driver of a moving van and "You need water for those things," from a man standing on the corner. These are the things you here when you wheel canoes on trailers through the South Bronx. That is exactly what a few friends of Brook Park did last Friday, along with Roland Lewis and Jennifer Stark-Hernandez from the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, an organization whose mission is to make New York waterways more accessible.

Our day on the river introduced Roland and Jennifer to the challenge of accessing the waterfront from the South Bronx (navigating canoes-on-wheels through traffic!) and the reward that is a beautiful and refreshing paddle through the Harlem River, Bronx Kill and East River. The midpoint of our trip was a picnic on Randall's island with view of North and South Brother Islands as well as the old docks and piers that give a snapshot of a time when the South Bronx waterfront was accessible and active.

Wheeling our canoes back to the park after our sunny afternoon on the water, we answered those questions- "We're taking these boats to the Harlem River. We''ve got water right here."

by Emily Sandusky

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Saturday, September 06, 2008

FoBP in NY Times article for Randall's Island Connector


On the Water, a Tight Fit and Nervous Boaters

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/nyregion/thecity/07kaya.html?ref=thecity

Photo by: Rob Buchanan/newyorkharborbeaches.org

“It’s tricky to time it, to get under the conduits,” Rob Buchanan said of navigating the Bronx Kill.


By KATHERINE BINDLEY
Published: September 6, 2008
THERE are times when the narrow strait known as the Bronx Kill, which separates Randalls Island from the southern tip of the Bronx, looks neglected. At low tide one recent Saturday, for example, a T-shirt and a surge protector lay on the bottom, along with the remnants of a car that had turned the exact color of the rocks it had settled on.

But for canoers, kayakers and other boaters, who know to come when the tide is just right, the Bronx Kill is home to blue crabs and schools of fish, and serves as a precious passageway connecting the East and Harlem Rivers.

“It’s a natural day trip — float through, have a picnic and come back,” said Rob Buchanan, the president of the Village Community Boathouse in Manhattan.

But navigating the kill can be tricky. Directly over the water are two concrete beams, built by Con Edison in the 1960s, that contain cables that carry power to Randalls Island. Sometimes a boater has about a foot of clearance under the beams, but at other times it’s down to inches. “It’s tricky to time it, to get under the conduits,” Mr. Buchanan said.

Now, in light of significant changes planned for the area, boaters’ concerns have turned to this tight fit.

The first challenge was a plan to build a pedestrian bridge over the kill as part of the South Bronx Greenway project. When local officials and boating representatives heard the idea, they lobbied the city’s Economic Development Corporation to ensure that the bridge would be high enough for boat traffic. After seeing preliminary renderings of the bridge, the concerned parties were satisfied.

But now there is a second construction plan for the Bronx Kill. Con Edison wants to build more electrical conduits to Randalls Island to supply more power to a water treatment plant there.

The boaters say that if Con Ed proceeds with this project, it might as well raise the relatively low height of the current conduits. “If they’re going to do a big investment here, let’s do it all,” said Harry Bubbins, the director of Friends of Brook Park, a community environmental group that frequently runs boats through the kill. Noting that the undersides of the Con Ed beams show signs of decay, he added, “There’s a sense they’re just going to throw these things in.”

Chris Olert, a Con Ed spokesman, said that the utility hopes to finish the project by next summer. “We’re working with the city E.D.C., and I’m sure we and they together will address concerns,” he added. “There has to be sound engineering and the project has got to be affordable. Occasionally, people request things that just aren’t affordable for all of our customers.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Bubbins plans to continue to take people through the strait.

“We’re taking more people out to the site, introducing people to the project and raising awareness about it,” he said. “It’s very different when you’re on the water.”

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Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Welcome Forward to School!




From the youth at New Settlement's Bronx Helpers:

Welcome to Brook Park
When you first walk in you see flower beds
But not the kind where you lay your head

When you wish that you was in bed
And you know that you was never fed

When you go to Brook Park
You don't come to play
You come to work all day.

And my name is Trene
Here is what I have to say
Everything is green
That is all I see

All the bees in the trees
The dirt on our shirts
And the rocks in our socks

That's what happens in Brook Park!

Posted by:
Jennifer Classon, MSW
Bronx Helpers Program Director
New Settlement Apartments
1512 Townsend Avenue
Bronx, NY 10452
T: 718-716-8000 x. 116
F: 718-294-4085
j.classon@newsettlement.org

http://www.youtube.com/BronxHelpers

"Working for the Community to Better Our Lives!"

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