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May/June 1999, p.5 Trump Holds Missing Link in Hudson River Greenway
When the state's Route 9A greenway is completed in late 2002, cyclists will have their own car-free path from the Battery north to 59th Street. A year later, the Parks Department will complete its greenway trail through Riverside Park south from 125th Street to 72nd Street. The Trump City development, a collection of more than 10 high-rise apartment buildings to go up just east of the elevated Miller Highway, sits between the greenways. The Trump project, which is on the site of the old Penn Central rail yards, drew strong community opposition throughout the 1990's because of its enormity and density. It appeared that decades of bitter conflict lay ahead until five non-profit groups, envisioning an expanded Riverside Park, endorsed a somewhat scaled down version of Trump's original plan and joined with the developer to form the Riverside South Planning Corporation. Key to their park plan was moving and submerging the elevated Miller Highway. However, the highway was rebuilt for $45 million in 1995, and key politicians like Congressman Jerry Nadler vigorously opposed using tens of millions more in Federal funds to bury the newly completed highway. The development plan originally approved by the Department of City Planning had the bike path meandering around the complex and linking with a relocated Riverside Drive. Now, given the demise of the highway relocation, Trump and the City must devise a new plan. T.A. and Community Board 7 have two immediate goals: first get an interim path built, and second, ensure that the new development plan places the permanent path along the shoreline. T.A. members interested in helping advocate for the new path should write to the following key decision-makers and tell them: 1) to install an interim greenway path along the Trump City waterfront in 1999, and 2) to make sure that the new Trump City design plan includes a waterfront greenway. Henry Stern Joe Rose Donald Trump |
T.A. and Manhattan Community
Board 7 are working to win an interim bike path on Trump property along the
Hudson River between 59th and 72nd Streets. The organizations have asked the
Riverside South Planning Corporation and developer Donald Trump to build the
path now instead of waiting another 10-15 years to finish the permanent path
mandated under the official development plan.
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