DDC and NYC Parks showcases East
River Park resiliency construction
BY DEAN MOSES
The Department of Design
and Construction (DDC)
and the Parks Department
recently took The Villager on a
tour of the East River Park construction
areas where the agencies
externalized their plan for a
grander greenspace that will also
double as greater protection for
the Manhattan waterfront.
“Welcome to the largest and
most ambitious urban climate
adaptation project in the world,”
Commissioner of the City’s Design
and Construction Jamie Torres
Springer said as he pointed to
the aging, fl aking footbridge that
takes pedestrian traffi c over the
FDR Drive and into East River
Park. “No more zigzagging,” he
added, describing the easy new
way New Yorkers will one day be
able to access the bridge.
This overpass is but one of
many new amenities both the
DDC and the Parks Department
are touting as improvements that
will come as a result of the East
Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR)
Project, a $1.4 billion plan that
would reconstruct approximately
57 acres of coastal parkland from
East 25th Street to Montgomery
Street.
“We’ve got this project completed
in the design and bided
out so that we are ready to start
construction in East River Park
this fall. We’ve also started construction
in the Northern part
of the project where you can see
we’ve already built 500 feet of the
fl ood wall,” Torres-Springer said,
describing the area near Stuyvesant
Cove Park along the East
River. Sheet piles were installed
in this wall construction along
with large steel beams creating
both a strong anchor that protects
against water infi ltration.
This longstanding and embattled
project to protect the
Lower Manhattan area from climate
change hasn’t been smooth
sailing for the proponents, in
fact, construction has faced
several setbacks due to the global
COVID-19 pandemic, design
revisions, and pushback by those
who would rather the land remain
undisturbed with a less invasive
plan that was overturned in 2018.
However, now, as work is
Construction near Stuyvesant Cove Park along the East River
Alda Chan, director of resiliency at the NYC Parks Department and Commissioner of the City’s
Design and Construction Jamie Torres-Springer.
fi nally set to begin this fall, top
agency offi cials say they believe
the plan is in the best interest of
New Yorkers.
“It makes a lot of sense to us
to ensure this really valuable
neighborhood amenity can continue
to be here into the future as
sea levels rise and that we don’t
lose it to fl oods,” Alda Chan,
director of resiliency at the NYC
Parks Department, told The
Villager.
Both Torres-Springer and Chan
say the 2012 superstorm Sandy’s
devastation of the Lower East Side
served as the catalyst for the ESCR,
affecting more than 110,000 local
residents, including 28,000 who
live in public housing. In order to
prevent future power loss, fl ooding,
and other issues caused by
storm surges and heavy rainfall—
which has been further induced
due to climate change—the ESCR
will include a fl ood wall, moveable
fl oodgates, improving the sewage
drains, and reconstructing the
entire recreation areas.
“By raising the park, we are
not really touching the fi ll that’s
under the existing park, which
is fi ll from a historic period. Of
course, any time you touch it you
are very careful with it. We will
be bringing in new fi ll, and that
fi ll is heavily regulated by local,
state, and federal environmental
regulations in terms of being
clean,” Torres-Springer said.
For years, protesters have held
rallies throughout Lower Manhattan
with demonstrators chaining
themselves to trees at City Hall
demanding construction be
stopped.
Both Chan and Torres-Springer
say they take these concerns
seriously.
“Our waterfront parks, like
East River Park, are seeing a lot
of risk and decline post-Sandy.
It’s been a number of years now,
but our tree canopy hasn’t fully
PHOTOS BY DEAN MOSES
bounced back,” Chan said, adding
that the Parks Department plans
on planting over 1,800 trees—
nearly double what is in the park
now—as well as including diverse
species of plants (over 50).
Additionally, a complete inventory
of all the plant beds have
been made and those that can be
successfully transplanted will be
placed in local parks. Chan also
shared that they will be working
with a vendor who focuses on
wood reuse and salvage for the
trees removed from East River
Park.
While construction has heavily
begun at the 2.44-acre Asser Levy
Playground, it is one of many
recreational areas that will see
vast improvements beyond simply
making the area more resilient to
water damage.
Park access has been another
argument made by those who
oppose the ESCR plan, stating
the need for open greenspace
is greater now more than ever,
especially during the COVID-19
pandemic.
“We’ve been able to phase this
plan so that there’s always about
half of East River Park open at
any given time during construction.
We’re working right now
as we fi nalize the phasing plan
on what will close and what will
be open and how you will you
access things will be out in a few
weeks,” Torres-Springer said,
adding that th
Opponents against the ESCR
plan feel differently regarding
transparency, underscoring that
in March 2021 after months of
FOIL requests, they fought to
review a “Value Engineering
Study,” which was conducted in
2018. However, when the report
was released, it was heavily
redacted. It wasn’t until April
that a more readable version was
released.
“We’re rebuilding all of those
ballfi elds and courts for community
use, and they will be much
improved because they have been
under-invested in over the years.
Also, a park for today needs more
than ballfi elds and courts. There
aren’t very many lawn spaces
for people to sit, look out at the
waterfront and spend time with
family and friends. We’re going
to have much more passive
recreations with barbeque pits
incorporated into it, more playgrounds,
and play areas for kids.
That’s all a part of the new plan
and it’s not part of the existing
East River Park. This is really
about improving East River Park
to serve local residents who really
deserve a world class park,”
Torres-Springer said.
Commissioner of the City’s Design and Construction
Commissioner Jamie Torres-Springer explained how many of
the fields have not received proper renovation in decades.
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