City Takes Stock Of Its Waterfronts

New York City contains over 500 miles of the most valuable waterfront property in the world. Yet only an expert could navigate the Citys records to find out which land parcels are privately owned and which municipal plots could someday be transformed into open spaces for the public.
"Each City agency that has property in its jurisdiction keeps records separately," said City Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn), chair of the Councils Select Committee on Waterfronts. "The city publishes a list every year of city-owned property, but you didnt know which ones were on the waterfront."
Yassky hopes that will change, now that Mayor Michael Bloomberg has signed into law the Waterfront Inventory Bill, which requires the Dept. of City Planning (DCP) and the Dept. of Citywide Administrative Svcs. (DCAS) to publish a bi-annual list of all municipal waterfront properties. The list would be made available to civic groups looking for ways to improve the waterfronts, whether with parks, open spaces or housing.
"Its good to know who owns some of these properties and who we can work with," said Mark Caserta, director of the Waterfront Park Coalition (WPC), a group within the League of Conservation Voters that seeks to increase public access to waterfronts in the five boroughs.
"This helps to clarify and target sites that might be city-owned salt piles and parking lots and turn them into parks and esplanades," he added.
Finding out exactly what properties could be used for those purposes is a "good first step," said Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens), who co-sponsored the bill with Yassky. Gioias district includes Long Island Citys waterfront. "Long Island City presents New York Citys best alternative to New Jersey, our best tool to keep business from fleeing the City," said the Councilman. "The idea of greenspace goes hand in hand with the way we re-invent Long Island City."
The biggest re-invention taking place is the fresh look city policymakers are taking at the use of waterfronts, long neglected and filled with abandoned properties, salt piles, tow pounds and other areas inaccessible to the public.
Community Board 2 Chairman Joseph Conley cited a salt pile on Vernon Blvd. as an example of wasted waterfront space. "We have the million-dollar views here, not from Manhattan," he said. "We just dont have those areas available. Why not turn it over to the public?" he asked.
Groups like the WPC would like to see those areas turned into parkland and open space, and recently published a "Waterfront Blueprint" that highlights nearly 150 sites in the city that are suitable for those uses.
In northwest Queens, the report identifies four such places: the Hunters Point East River Esplanade; Anable Cove, a former dock repair facility on the East River near 44th Dr.; parts of Queens West; and the streets that end along Newtown Creek.