Waterfront on Wheels

The Waterfront on Wheels (WoW) was a series of workshops, conducted by Hester Street Collaborative, in partnership with the Lower East Side Waterfront Alliance, that engaged local residents around envisioning the future for public park space on the East River waterfront. Please visit Paths to Pier 42 to learn about the interim public park at Pier 42.

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Last Wednesday, on February 27th, students at the Lower East Side's PS 134 worked together to design their dream park on the East River waterfront. The New York City Parks Department, along with Mathews Nielsen, the landscape architects developing the park's master plan, and Hester Street Collaborative, asked students what they wanted to see at the new park planned for Pier 42, currently underutilized space owned by the city. 

40 students made models and collages of what they wanted to see on the river. The students envisioned swimming pools, open space, basketball courts, wetlands, and a wide variety of other uses for the new space. Their finished models were displayed in Hester Street's Waterfront on Wheels scale model of the East River waterfront, and each group had the opportunity to present their park vision to their classmates. Mathews Nielsen will be incorporating the students' visions, as well as other ideas from the community, into the park's master plan, which they will present this Spring to Community Board 3. Stay tuned. 

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A little view into some of the models that  participants have created through the Waterfront on Wheels workshops over the last year. We'll be continuing to analyze new models that get made in future workshops this summer and fall. That analysis will help us to advocate for temporary uses at Pier 42 and permanent design features in the new park that ultimately gets built there!

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Pier 42 Public Meeting at Community Board 3

Wednesday, February 22 at 7:00pm -- BRC Senior Services Center - 30 Delancey Street (btwn Chrystie & Forsyth Sts)

* CB 3, Parks Department, Senator Daniel Squadron and East River Blueway to engage the community in a discussion on next steps for Pier 42 planning

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East River Waterfront projects covered in the Times

The New York Times writes about the multiple projects coming together to create the East River Greenway. See how Pier 42, which will be one of the biggest components of the greenway, fits in.

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This week the Waterfront on Wheels is in residence at P.S. 134. The school’s third graders are going to build models of their dream park at Pier 42, which happens to be 4 blocks from the school, by the end of the week. Today we talked about where our neighborhood is in the city and where the model is in the neighborhood. 

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On Monday evening November 28th, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP) is hosting a panel discussion about the East River Waterfront redevelopment. Featuring Anne Frederick, Hester Street Collaborative, Damaris Reyes, GOLES (Good Old Lower East Side), and Esther Wang, CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities and moderated by Kaja Kühl, GSAPP.

11/28, 6:30pm-8:30pm

Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall, Columbia University GSAPP

1 train to 116th Street

About Where is New York: Each month, one program at GSAPP will identify a site within the five boroughs that has been important to their discipline within the past year and bring designers, policymakers, developers, community activists, and other New Yorkers together to discuss the site and question where we are.

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$14 Million for Pier 42

We just came from a press conference with U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer and NY State Senator Daniel Squadron who announced that $14 million had been secured for Pier 42 from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. This exciting news is the result of many years of advocacy on the part of community leaders from the O.U.R. Waterfront Coalition (which HSC is a part of) and Community Board 3. Schumer, Squadron, and along with Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe reinforced the idea that planning for the public space on Pier 42 should come from the ground up through a community process. This is exactly the role that the Waterfront on Wheels plays. Ultimately the LMDC estimates that $40 million is needed for the entire refurbishment and transformation of the pier into a public park, but Senator Squadron stressed that this 14 million will allow the abandoned pier shed building to be demolished and for interim public access to the site as soon as a year from now.

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In 2009 HSC and the O.U.R. Waterfront Coalition released A People's Plan for the East River Waterfront, a report that outlines recommendations for the redevelopment of Piers 35, 36, and 42 based on extensive input from local residents. The Waterfront on Wheels process expands upon the People's Plan to focus specifically on Pier 42. 

Poster campaign created by HSC, design by Meryl Friedman

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WoW was in Sara D. Roosevelt Park on Thursday afternoon, July 28th. We had a lot of interest from kids and teenagers in the park, so much so that a two year old godzilla attacked WoW, we managed to save the city though.

Three youth from CAAAV:Organizing Asian Communities helped gather up participants and did outreach about the developments happening on the waterfront. WoW will next be traveling back to the East River Waterfront this Friday evening. 

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On Friday July 15th the Waterfront on Wheels joined up with the Lower East Side Ecology Center's regular Fishing Clinics in East River Park. WoW had a friend in the Ecology Center's heavy duty fishing tricycle, and the crowd really was interested in the waterfront redevelopment. A lot of people passing through the park stopped to learn more as well. A great way to end the week. WoW will be at another Ecology Center Fishing Clinic on Friday August 5th from 5pm-7pm. We'll be in East River Park on the water near the 10th Street entrance. Come on by after work! If you'd also like to register for the Ecology Center's fishing Clinic, learn more here!

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WoW in Sara D. Roosevelt Park rescheduled.

The Waterfront on Wheels will not be traveling out to Sara D. Roosevelt Park today, its trip has been rescheduled for this Thursday 7/28 from 4-6pm. Join us then with youth from CAAAV:Organizing Asian Communities!

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On Sunday July 17th, WoW was parked in front of CAAAV:Organizing Asian Communities office on Hester Street for their monthly members meeting.

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An overview of what's included in the NYCEDC's East River Waterfront redevelopment project (in green) And the current uses for Piers 35, 36, and 42. Pier 42 was originally designated as the largest parcel of new open space to be created in EDC's plan, but has since been put on the back burner.

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On Thursday July 14th, the Waterfront on Wheels was in it's natural habitat, the East River Waterfront. The Local Spokes Youth Ambassador's used it to envision a new park for Pier 42, at Pier 42. The Youth Ambassador's are learning all about the built environment and public spaces in the Lower East Side this week to help understand how they can be part of the conversation about the future of biking in our neighborhoods.

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How the Waterfront on Wheels gets around the neighborhood.

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Welcome to WoW

Welcome to the Waterfront on Wheels' online home. Learn where WoW has been, where it's going, and how to get involved!