NYC Parks celebrates the redesign of Waterside Pier
BY HAEVEN GIBBONS
On Oct. 25, NYC Parks celebrated
the redesigned Waterside Pier
along Manhattan’s East River
Esplanade.
The redesign of “New Wave Pier” has
transformed the grey, underutilized concrete
walkway into a colorful waterfront
space. The pier spans from E. 38th to E.
41st streets. The esplanade offers views
of the East River and neighboring Long
Island City, Queens.
“What’s old is new again,” said Gabrielle
Fialkoff, NYC Parks commissioner.
“Our retro-fi tted Waterside Pier is the
perfect spot for New Yorkers to take a
stroll, have a picnic, or bask in the East
Side’s scenic views of the river. This
project advances our commitment to
making sure the community has access
to quality open space while ESCR (East
Side Coastal Resiliency) construction is
underway.”
The renovation project gave New Wave
Pier a colorful new design, new passive
turf areas, picnic tables and new signage.
“Designers took inspiration from the
bright colors and quirky patterns of the
1980s to bring some fun nostalgia to the
pier,” the release said.
The small signs along the waterfront
railing translate “Wish you were here”
into more than 25 of the languages spoken
in New York City. The signage was
inspired by the nearby United Nations
Headquarters.
“The enhancements at Waterside Pier
The redesign of “New Wave Pier” has transformed the grey, underutilized concrete walkway into a colorful waterfront
space.
represent progress in our goal for a continuous
greenway along Manhattan’s East
Side,” said Council Member Carlina Rivera.
“My Council colleagues and I requested
these improvements and other open-space
mitigation opportunities in advance of the
resiliency projects on the waterfront to
ensure that the City maintains – and in the
long term expands – access to recreation
and enjoyment at new or revamped sites in
our communities.”
The upgrade is part of NYC Parks’
open space mitigations responsive to the
community’s need for supplemental recreational
resources during the East Side
Coastal Resiliency.
“The East Side Coastal Resiliency is a
$1.5 billion park improvement project that
DANIEL AVILA
will save lives and provide much-needed
fl ood protection for more than 100,000
New Yorkers in the area,” the release
said. “Parks also recently installed three
new turf fi elds at St. Vartan Park, Robert
Moses Playground, and Peter’s Field.”
The redesign was also partially inspired
by the success of Parks’ Cool Pools NYC
initiative.
Food, yard waste pickups comes to Midtown, UWS next week
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
The city is expanding its curbside
organics pick up to three more
districts in Midtown and the Upper
West Side next week, according to the
Department of Sanitation.
New York’s Strongest will start collecting
food and yard scraps from brown bins
starting the week of Nov. 1 around neighborhoods
in Manhattan community boards
6 and 7, which cover areas on the Eastside
of Midtown and the Upper West Side.
Sanitation relaunched its dormant
curbside composting collection program
in Brooklyn’s CB6 (Park Slope, Carroll
Gardens, Gowanus) on Oct. 4, where more
addresses signed up for the opt-in program
than in any other part of the city.
Mayor Bill de Blasio paused organics
pickups for almost a year in May 2020
due to the pandemic, and initially didn’t
plan to relaunch it until after he leaves
offi ce in 2022, but following pressure
from politicians, he announced the brown
bins would return this fall on a voluntary
basis.
That means DSNY will start to pick up
your organics if enough people in your local
community district sign up onlineor through
311, and if your neighborhood wasalready
part of the old program.
DSNY is rolling out pickups based on
the number of people who signed up and
their concentration in a given area to allow
for effi cient truck routes, but the agency
noted there is no “magic number” of registrations
that will trigger service.
Advocates such as former Sanitation
Commissioner and mayoral candidate
Kathryn Garcia have pushed for a citywide
universal program rather than an opt-in approach,
warning that the latter would turn
composting into a “luxury” available only
for New Yorkers who have the resources to
organize community support.
FILE PHOTO
A DSNY truck picks up organics.
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