Riverdale Nature Preservancy
Directors
and Officers
Gilbert Kerlin
Paul J. Elston
Honorary Chairmen
Donald J. Cohn
Chairman
Robert Lynch
President
Barbara R.
Michaels
Vice President
Sandy Shalleck
Vice President Treasurer
Franz W. Paasche
Secretary
William Abramson
Marcia Allina
Paul J. Anid
Richard W. Baldwin
Stephen F. Byrns
Charles D. F. Cohn
Jodie Colon
Peter J. Davies
E. Allen Dennison
James H. Fogel
Sara Follett
Rosemary R. Ginty
Steve Hammer
Lorance J. Hockert
Peter Joseph
Hilary Kitasei
Peter Kohlmann
Robert Kornfeld
Barbara R. Michaels
Susan Morgenthau
Robert Reich
Eric A. Seiff
Laura Spalter
Dart Westphal
Barry Willner
Mary Bandziukas,
AICP
Program Director
Newsletter
Staff
Charles D.
F. Cohn
Chairman Communications Committee
Mary
Bandziukas
Editor
The Riverdale Nature Preservancy
is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting
the natural features historic resources, and residential
character of the community.
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P.O.
Box 239, Bronx, NY 10471
718-884-5903 |
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Movement
To Restore (continued)
criss-crossed with stone overpasses and tunnels connecting people
to their parks and waterfront.
The parkway's original vision is most visible in Riverside Park,
between West 72nd St. and West 129th St.— a section already
designated a NYC landmark and listed on the National Register of
Historic Places. There, the parkway offers motorists unmarred vistas
of river, Palisades, and cityscape, and its residents the full use
of their park and greenway.
This computer enhanced photograph shows the West
239th Street overpass as it might be under parkway design standards.
- Photo by Massimo Strino
In Riverdale, by contrast, motorists experience the blight
of an expressway: huge signs mar the stone bridges and loom from
overhead stanchions even on local service roads. The parkland buffer
is paved over or eroded, if not altogether gone. The once landscaped
median is now miles of Jersey barriers topped with chainlink.
The future of the parkway in Riverdale promises more of the same:
In an effort to fortify the bridges according to current safety
standards, NYC-Department of Transportation (DOT) is contracting
to cover the stone walls of Riverdale's overpasses with concrete
topped with chain link. Alerted by the Riverdale Nature Preservancy,
the Art Commission of the City of New York is pressing DOT to come
up with a design sensitive to the rustic character of this parkway
and in recognition of its candidacy as the city's first New York
State Scenic Byway.
Scenic Byway
The Scenic Byway initiative is being spearheaded by the Riverdale
Nature Preservancy as offering the best hope
of halting the degradation of the parkway and restoring its original
vision. Scenic byways are roadways recognized by the state as having
distinctive characteristics that merit protection. |
As a scenic
byway, the parkway will have a master plan to guide its future and
the means to implement it. It will be eligible for state and federal
funding for enhancements.
The process of designation will include careful documentation of
the elements that distinguish the parkway and creation of the master
plan. The process is unprecedented in a case involving as rnanj
agencies as in New York City. Nevertheless, the initiative has been
greeted with enthusiasm by affected parks groups, residents, elected
officials, and the agencies who appreciate the problems of working
without an overarching plan. The Riverdale Nature Preservancy has
received funding from Con Edison and the New York Community Trust
to conduct public outreach.
Public opinion sought
Developing consensus among all of the interested parties on a vision
for the future of the parkway is a crucial step in the Scenic Byway
process. The Riverdale Nature Preservancy will be holding six public
meetings along the corridor, two of them in Riverdale, to solicit
the ideas of residents, park users, and motorists. One of these
meetings will be co-sponsored by Friends of Van Cortlandt Park and
focus on the impact of the parkway on the park. Another will be
co-sponsored by the Association of Riverdale Co-operatives and the
Riverdale Community Association and focus on the parkway in the
residential areas of Riverdale. Please plan to attend one or both
of these meetings. Dates will be publicized in local newspapers.
Contact the Riverdale Nature Preservancy if you want to be notified.
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