Come See New York City Waterfront Documentary, City of Water, Being Screened May 14 on Roosevelt Island/ Help Stop Louis Kahn Memorial Being Built!

"City of Water" trailer from MAS on Vimeo.

Tomorrow night, the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance (MWA) and Municipal Art Society will show their wonderful New York City waterfront documentary, City of Water, at Roosevelt Island's Gallery RIVAA (527 Main Street - 7:30). I know it is wonderful because I have seen it screened before and had a very small role in helping to put it together as a participant in MWA's East River Agenda.

City of Water describes the past, present and future of New York City's varied waterfront uses and constituencies including its role as a port and industrial center, transportation network, garbage dumping ground, residential neighborhood as well as a place for parks, open spaces and recreational activities. According to the MWA:

... City of Water explores the aspirations of public officials, environmentalists, academics, community activists, recreational boaters and everyday New Yorkers for a diverse, vibrant waterfront at a time when the shoreline is changing faster than at any other time in New York's history. The film features interviews with former Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, Representative Nydia Velazquez, MacArthur Prize winner Majora Carter, author Phillip Lopate, Sandy Hook Pilots Captain Andrew McGovern and many others, and includes footage from Jamaica Bay, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and many other places on the waterfront.

The City of Water documentary illustrates many past mistakes made by NY City officials that blocked New Yorkers access to and views of our magnificent waterfront as well as recent waterfront success stories. This is of particular concern to Roosevelt Islanders because the proposed FDR memorial (which everyone knows is really a memorial to its architect, Louis Kahn) repeats these same mistakes of blocking waterfront views and access. This is probably not surprising since it was designed in the early 1970's, a period of time when waterfront access and views were not particularly valued. Blogger Nature Calendar describes the Louis Kahn memorial as a "concrete press-on nail for Roosevelt Island" and writes:

The sterile, largely paved and walled Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial and Four Freedoms Park designed by Louis I. Kahn would run counter to our city’s progress toward reconciliation with the estuary, restoration of both marine and uplands habitats, and recreational enjoyment of the harbor. One look at the model in the image at top reveals the travesty awaiting the island, one that ends in what is literally a high-walled room.

... “It looks like a Soviet era, Eastern European thing. It will impede the views of the UN and surroundings. The focus should be on looking out, not looking in.”

For those interested in more information on New York City waterfront development as it relates to parks and open spaces, the Regional Plan Association produced a very informative study titled "Spring 2007 - On the Verge - Caring for New York City's Emerging Waterfront Parks and Public Spaces. Below are the Summary of Recommendations from the report.

Ensure equitable funding for management of all waterfront parks

➜ The surest, most direct route toward ensuring public control, improving parks maintenance and meeting the demands generated by new waterfront parks is to increase the management budget of Parks & Recreation as well as other agencies managing public spaces on the waterfront.
➜ A specific fund – separate from Parks and other agency operating budgets - should be established to pay for expensive and critical repair required by shoreline bulkheads, piers, and other maritime infrastructure of waterfront parks and public spaces.

Capture revenue from licenses or leases on or adjacent to parkland

➜ The City should generate revenue received from licenses or leases on parks and adjoining public property for the maintenance and management of public spaces.
➜ The public’s ability to gauge the costs and benefits of prospective agreements and enforce their provisions should be addressed through better performance standards in the guiding RFP and by ensuring Parks & Recreation’s jurisdiction on public access sites.

Assess feasibility of waterfront Park Improvement Districts (PID)

➜ The feasibility of new waterfront PIDs should be assessed by the City, Local Development Corporations and non-profit partners in waterfront areas with prospective new development, an ability to pay an assessment fee, appropriate zoning and use, and an economic and physical connection between the park and adjoining property.

Create public access through zoning

➜ The City should amend the 1993 Waterfront Zoning text to extend the transfer of ownership provisions established in the Greenpoint-Williamsburg zoning to other waterfront areas.
➜ The Department of City Planning and Parks &
Recreation should collaborate to develop overall “Waterfront Master Plans” in specific waterfront areas to create a programming and design vision, consider upland access areas, streamline government approval processes and identify areas for rezoning. A waterfront improvement fund should be created to provide incentives for landowners to meet the goals of these plans.

Make non-profit management partnerships work better

➜ In general, standard costs such as infrastructure, insurance, utilities, and security, as well as nonrecurring capital expenditures are best handled by City agencies. Non-standard elements, such as programming, maintenance of non-standard items, and supplemental care are well suited for local non-profit groups.
➜ Parks & Recreation should assist non-profit organizations managing space on the
waterfront, especially in lower income areas, by leveraging bulk discounts on supplies, providing roving horticulturists, training for local staff, and allocating funding that can be matched by volunteer hours.
➜ A park administrator jointly responsible to a community based non-profit and to Parks &
Recreation should be established in the most important waterfront areas to help coordinate these arrangements.

Promote common waterfront park design and performance standards.

➜ Parks & Recreation should develop a specific set of design standards for waterfront public spaces to help ensure that materials and designs are sustainable and well-suited for waterfront locations and that those organizations responsible for construction can accommodate Parks &
Recreation’s requirements before time and design monies are invested in non-conforming elements. Help greenways and roadways connect us to the waterfront.

➜ Parks & Recreation, NYC DOT, EDC, and other public and non-profit partners should create non–governmental greenway stewardship entities that could coordinate stewardship of all agencies along a single route. As warranted these entities could be directed by new park administrators and overseen by a City Greenway Director within the Mayor’s office.
➜ Roadways adjacent to waterfront parks should be subject to park-appropriate design standards and the same maintenance standard of the adjoining park.