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Turning the Tide: New York's Waterfront in Transition

Hunter College Faculty Dining Room, 8th Fl
New York, NY

In 1609, New Yorks future waterfront was an arcadian shore of forests, wetlands, beaches, and sand bars, according to Eric Sanderson's book Mannahatta. That landscape is lost forever, but visions of a post-industrial, neo-natural waterfront are longstanding. In 1944, futurists Paul and Percival Goodman proposed that Manhattan "open out toward the water, lining its gritty waterfront with new parks. They were prescient: today the waters edge of Manhattan is evolving from a "no-man's-land" into a "highly desirable zone of parks," in the words of writer Phillip Lopate.

The newly designated Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is cobbled together from many bits and pieces like Battery Park City, Hudson River Park, Riverside Park South, restored Harlem River parks, and tiny Stuyvesant Cove Parkeach with its own chronicle of past and present struggles among property owners, community groups, developers, politicians, planners, lawyers, and other stakeholders. Elsewhere in the city, Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, Governors Island, the South Bronx Greenway, Pelham Bay South Waterfront Park, the Bronx River Greenway, and Gateway National Recreation Area are among many waterfront works in progress.

The colloquium series will address selected topics and issues relating to what has been achieved and what remains to be done to continue the transformation of New Yorks waterfronts.

Organized by: Dr. Rutherford H. Platt for the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities, in collaboration with the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College and the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance

When: Wednesdays, Feb. 24, March 17, April 7, and April 28 from 5:30-7:30 p,m.

Where:
Session I: Faculty Dining Room, Hunter College West Building, E. 68th St and Lexington Ave

Session II, III, IV
The Roosevelt House for Public Policy Institute at Hunter College , 47-49 E. 65th Street

Session 1: Wed. Feb. 24, 2010:

"Opening Out Towards the Water": The Big Picture
Moderator: Dr. William Solecki, Director, CISC
Speakers/Panelists:
-Dr. Rutherford H. Platt, Senior Fellow, CISC
-Robert Yaro, President, Regional Plan Association
-Linda Cox, Executive Director, Bronx River Alliance
-Wilbur L. Woods, Director, Waterfront and Open Space Planning,
New York City Department of City Planning
-Roland Lewis. CEO, Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance

Session 2 Wed. March 17, 2010:

Waterfront Parks: Old, New, Green, Blue
Moderator: Dr. Rutherford H. Platt
Speaker/Panelists:
-Amy Gavaris, Executive Vice President for the New York Restoration Project
-Dr. Vicky Gholson, Friends of Riverbank State Park
-Thomas Balsley, FASLA, Designer of Riverside Park South
-Connie Fishman, Executive Director, Hudson River Park Trust (Invited)
-Jeanne DuPont Rockaway Waterfront Alliance, Queens

Session 3 Wed. April 7, 2010:

Seizing Opportunities: Waterfront Works in Progress
Moderator: Dr. Melissa Checker, Queens College, CUNY
Speaker/Panelists:
-Robert Pirani, Regional Plan Association and Governors Island AllianceGovernors Island
-Kate Van Tassel, NYCEDC and Miquela Craytor, Sustainable South BronxSouth Bronx Greenway
-William J. vanden Heuvel, Four Freedoms Park
-Nancy Webster, Acting Executive-Director, Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy
-Joshua Laird, Asst. Commissioner, NYC Parks and Recreation

Session 4 Wed. April 28, 2010

Reviving the Estuary: Science, Politics, and Education
Moderator: Dr. John Waldman, Queens College
Speaker/Panelists:
-Deborah A. Mans , Executive Director, NY/NJ Baykeeper
-Christopher J. Collins, Executive Director, Solar One
-Murray Fisher, Urban Assembly New York Harbor School (Invited)
-Cortney Worrall, Director of Programs, Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance
-Others TBA

Kid Friendly: No

Dog Friendly: No

Non-Smoking: No

Wheelchair Accessible: No

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