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by Claudio Cabrera
Parkland. An amphitheatre. Restaurants. Residents brainstormed ideas for the unused industrial stretch of Inwood shoreline known as Sherman Creek at a workshop on Sat., March 20.
Over 60 residents packed into the Manhattan Bible Church on 9th Avenue for the session, the first public outreach by the New York Economic Development Corporation. The EDC is working on a master plan for the stretch of land between Swindler Cove at the east end of Dyckman Street and the University Heights Bridge at W. 207th Street.
“I live west of Broadway and we have two or three playgrounds by me and not as many families. The East Side doesn’t have places for their children to play, yet they have many more families. It’s just not fair,” said Anthony Walmursy. A local resident for over a decade, he believes that the east of Broadway community desperately needs parkland.
“We would love to go to [Inwood Hill Park] and Fort Tryon [Park], but it’s a bit far. I hope this plan goes through because it’s so much closer to home,” said Gladys Marx an older resident who lives on W. 204th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues.
EDC representatives believe the stretch of land could one day look like Stuyvesant Cove, Brooklyn Bridge Park or the West Harlem Piers. They presented images from those projects to residents to get the creative juices flowing.
A plan, any plan, for Sherman Creek has long been elusive.
The esplanade is the left over chicken bone of an effort to rezone a larger area that stretches from the waterfront west to Broadway and south to Dyckman Street. For decades numerous community members have been working with the city to decide what building rules, or zoning, to implement for Sherman Creek. Some envisioned 20-story market rate and affordable apartment buildings along the waterfront; others preferred the six-story buildings and shopping more in line with the rest of Northern Manhattan. Affordable housing was a contentious issue.
At the end of 2008 the Department of Planning announced they were ending the rezoning effort, leaving the fingernail of the esplanade as the only hope for development in the industrial area.
Back in the Manhattan Bible Church, residents broke up into groups of five to brainstorm for an hour and learn more about the process as EDC employees moderated the discussion. The groups then presented their ideas to the whole.
Seating areas, boats, bike lanes, and basketball and handball courts were all ideas offered for the esplanade.
Paul Flair, who owns various properties on 9th Avenue, believes an esplanade could be dangerous.
“With all the trucks that pass through here daily, it can be a danger for children. I’m for the community having a place to relax and enjoy themselves, but this is an industrial area,” he said.
Others believe that new parkland might cause rents to go up, pushing people out.
“I read somewhere that $9.1 billion is being allocated for this project. It would be put to much better use for affordable housing,” said Manuel Esteban, who has lived in the neighborhood for years and is feeling the rent pinch.
In fact no money has been allocated to the esplanade. What is being developed is a master plan – one that could remain a few pages of paper unless funding is found. However, even the idea of an attractive waterfront space engendered fears of gentrification.
“Building a waterfront is a great idea, but not at the expense of the community,” said Assembly Member Adriano Espaillat. “Many rents will be raised as a result of à waterfront being built here and many residents will be pushed out. I'm all for this waterfront and will support it as long as affordable housing units are created to go with it.”
Even with a plan, the proposal has issues of its own. Energy supplier Con Ed and other businesses own the majority of the land. The city has rights to just small, scattered pieces along the way.
“There are still a lot of issues to be resolved. We are at the front end of this process. At the moment, this is just a planning study for a waterfront development,” said EDC Vice President Alejandro Baquero-Cifuentes.
The EDC plans to hold two more workshops within the next six months and a final public meeting at the end of the year.
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