A Trifecta Of 2006 Openings At Hudson River Park
Photo by Edward Reed; www.nyc.gov
2006 has been quite a year in the development of Hudson River Park. On July 5, the first section of "Promenade South" opened. This striking walkway travels along West Street between Battery Place and West Thames Street. On October 17, Pier 84 opened providing 98,000 square feet of recreational amenities and open space at West 44th Street. The hat trick of ribbon cuttings culminated on December 11 with the opening of the northern Chelsea section of Hudson River Park between West 26th and West 29th Street.
Attendees of the December 11 ribbon cutting included Governor George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Congress Member Jerrold Nadler, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, State Parks Commissioner Bernadette Castro, City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Hudson River Park Trust Chair Charles “Trip” Dorkey III, and many other members of the community. With the completion of the northern Chelsea section, Hudson River Park moves closer to its destiny - five miles of beautiful waterfront parkland stretching from Battery Park to 59th Street.
The northern Chelsea section of the Park encompasses Pier 66, the historic Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Float Bridge (Pier 66a), and three blocks of habitat enhancing landscape designed to attract birds and butterflies.
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Float Bridge was originally used as means of transporting goods by rail car via cross-Hudson barges from New Jersey for delivery to the B&O Freight Terminal in Manhattan. It was frequently used to transport cars containing cattle and sheep to stockyards that existed just north of its current location. The Float Bridge fell into a state of disrepair after its final use in 1973 and became partially submerged until 2001 when the New York State Department of Transportation and the Hudson River Park Trust teamed up to lift it from the water and transfer it to Staten Island for restoration. In 2003, the restored Float Bridge returned to Chelsea and began its new life as a viewing platform, a small boat launch, a fishing spot and an historic educational element of Hudson River Park.
Just north of the Float Bridge is Pier 66, which stretches 500 feet into the Hudson River and has many extraordinary features including a new boathouse for kayaks and canoes and will include slips for sailboats and other small crafts.
Perhaps the pier’s most unique feature is a dynamic and kinetic public artwork -- Long Time, by local artist Paul Ramirez Jonas. Long Time, a 26-foot diameter water wheel constructed of stainless steel, harkens back to the river’s milling history and turns unpredictably with the tide. The piece presents a striking vision as the sun sets behind it and light is reflected off its spokes and paddles.
A second work of art, Tables and Chairs, by Allan and Ellen Wexler, is located in the upland area near 29th Street. The work is a functional two-part piece that encourages the visitor to become part of the sculpture itself. The first part of the piece contains a large horizontal plane supported by a series of chairs under which patrons can sit, as if underneath a table. The second part of the piece consists of a zigzagging table within which are irregularly placed chairs, allowing one to sit inside the table. The placement of the two sets of chairs choreographs ones views of the river, the landscape and the highway.
The completion of Chelsea North marks the arrival of the first phase of the larger Chelsea section of Hudson River Park. The next phase will incorporate Chelsea Cove, which includes Pier 64 – currently under construction at 24th Street – and Piers 63 and 62, due to begin in Spring of 2007 and slated for completion at the end of 2009. Chelsea Cove will feature more than nine acres of open space, a 3.5 acre “great lawn”, groves of trees, a beautiful waterside garden, a skate park and carousel, a public art piece called Stone Field by Meg Webster, and one of the most remarkable views up and down the Hudson.
QUOTATION FOR THE DAY
“The wit makes fun of other persons;
the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself.”
James Thurber
(1894 – 1961)