NYCkayaker Water trail

[Rob Buchanan]

Erik asked me to post this in reply to Nancy's post--apparently his emails
are bouncing. Apologies if it's already up...




Hi All,

WANT A WATERTRIAL? THEN PROTECT THE HARBOR BEACHES! Okay, now that
I've got that out of my system...  :)

Commissioner Lewandowski has been a great friend to paddling in Queens
and follows through on her commitments without fail. When I mentioned
this to some folks, they reacted with a wee bit of cynicism, but
happily such sentiments are out of place.

The NYC Water Trail is a serious initiative that furthers the dream
set out by the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club for commuter paddling and
exceeds my earlier attempts to have the Hudson River Watertrail
extended to include the estuary as defined by the NYS DEC: East River
below Hell Hell Gate, the Harlem River, Kill Van Kull, and Upper Bay
and Lower Bay. 

When Commissioner Lewandowski told me of her vision at a Queens event
earlier in 2006, I was stunned and thrilled.

In addition to swarming out there with cameras and any other volunteer
work needed by Parks, one critical element that we should emphasize is
to include private lands and greenways under development, and SOFT
EDGES. The Guggenheim that failed to materialize on the Lower East
Side might have included a dock for kayakers, according to its
planners. All cultural sites opening on the waterfront, not just
parks, should have docks and perhaps tie ups. South Street Seaport has
been quite an oddity on this count.

Having cultural institutions, reacreational centers, restaurants and
such on the water will break up the greenway monotony. One fun idea to
make sure it all harmonizes is to have the bike path greenway run
right through these complexes, even indoors. The greenway might pass
under a glass atrium in the style of the Winter Garden or Morgan
Library, for example, or cut through the heart of a building as does
the west side's coming High Line park or the monorail in (dare I speak
it?) Disney World. 

This way the waterfront might come to real life, with an uninterrupted
greenway, culture and zest on the water in addition to quiet places
for nature, and paddling right up to these destinations!

This is all very exciting!

Warm regards,

Erik
 
Erik Baard

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

Nature Calendar
http://www.naturecalendar.com

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