NYCkayaker Outdoor Activity Centers

[Erik Baard]

Hi All,

We've had a lot of good discussion of the difficulties we face in
getting and keeping water access for small boats. One option that hasn't
been explored much in this forum is that of forming partnerships with
compatible users with whom piers or near-shore property could be shared.
After all, grant makers now routinely expect applications to be
submitted in collaboration between nonprofit groups.

My first instinct was to link paddling and rowing with wetlands
restoration groups, but sadly we've seen such restorations abused by
bureaucrats as a subtle means to cut off access. This is especially true
of Pataki's metro-area NY State parks officials. But within the NYC
outdoor recreational/environmental subculture paddlers and rowers can't
find a better match than bicyclists. We should work together to create
Outdoor Activity Centers (pronounced "oak"). An OAC would be centered on
paddling, rowing, and biking (a strong nucleus) but also include a rock
climbing wall, community garden, and other activities. 

I'm thinking specifically of Manhattan's East River waterfront, Hoboken,
northern Staten Island, the Rockaways, eastern Queens, the Brooklyn
waterfront, and Jamaica Bay. There are also strong possibilities in
Yonkers and the Hudson River Park, but I defer to local knowledge there.

Paddlers, rowers, and bikers are all growing strongly along the new
greenways, love the autonomy of our self-propelled modes of
transportation, and care deeply about the local ecology and global
environment. There's also an enormous amount of overlap between the two
groups and that should be encouraged. This is especially to the
water-side benefit, since there's a much vaster volunteer pool to tap in
the biking community than the boating one. The knowledge base for
dealing with city and state agencies is also far richer.

Bikers and boaters are certainly already cohabitating here and there.
Friends of Brook Park in the South Bronx arranges both biking and
paddling tours, keeping a small fleet of each on hand. The LIC Community
Boathouse has a few spare boathouse bikes, but more importantly partners
with Recycle-a-Bicycle, a group that we brought to our Anable Basin
location through advocacy in the local business community, our landlord,
and grant making groups. Now Recycle-a-Bicycle even has a "Sunday Ride
Club" once a month where volunteers lead free group outings for all
ages, providing rent-free bikes and helmets to those without. This
summer will arrange East River tours in which participants paddle and
bike from Anable Basin to Hallets Cove and then switch places to return!
The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance has also devoted enormous skills
and energies toward establishing both boat launches and bike trails. 

Some of our community's most prominent Individuals cross between these
worlds -- Bob Huszar, Tim Gamble, Carter Craft, Monica Schroeder, and
other active volunteers and pioneers tend to arrive at the shore on a
bike. So maybe it's time to stop living in sin and get our biking and
boating worlds officially hitched? I suspect proposing OACs will
strengthen our applications for waterfront space in many key areas of
the harbor.

Just an ideearrrr...

Warm regards,

Erik



Erik Baard

LIC Community Boathouse
http://www.licboathouse.org

Nature Calendar
http://www.naturecalendar.com

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