By Patricia Woodbridge
As I made stir-fry dinner in my rental apartment on West End Avenue, my husband and I listened to the entire discussion of Community Board 7’s Parks & Environment Committee on the evening of March 20, 2023.
At that Zoom meeting, the New York City Parks Department (Parks) presented to the committee revised ideas for their Riverside Park 79th Street Boat Basin renovation. Parks was moving toward a design for a slightly smaller, two-story “dock house,” a euphemism for a large administrative building to house all the facilities and people they determined necessary to service the modern marine facility they envision in Riverside Park.
Some in the community of the Upper West Side of Manhattan have been horrified at the idea of a huge box supported by tall, fat columns placed between the Hudson River Greenway and its views of the sunset over the Palisades.
The Boat Basin is in a particularly beloved area of Riverside Park, where benches line the walkway under the canopy of crab apple branches that flower gloriously pink and white in the spring. Here views extend north towards the George Washington Bridge and south towards the Statue of Liberty. The benches gather elderly people, resting skateboarders, young lovers canoodling, loners reading or listening to music, and children with parents. Daily, a throng of walkers, skateboarders, bikers, and baby strollers surges along the path in both directions.
The Hudson River, once a commercial water highway, in the 20th century became New York’s sewer, filled with industrial contaminants and raw human waste. Local environmental activism inspired court action. Fifty-three years ago, Congress overrode President Richard Nixon’s veto of the Clean Water Act. Atlantic sturgeon and other fish have returned, the wild oyster population has recovered, and humpbacked whales have been seen. Once a year the river fills with splashing New York City Triathlon competitors. Like its great, civilized sister rivers, the Loire in France and the Rhine in Germany, the Hudson is now understood as a great natural public treasure to be protected.
Which brings us back to Parks’ Boat Basin Marina and Dock House project. The marina was for decades a motley collection of live-aboards who made their primary residence a motorized structure and paid a small slip fee. They were fun and funky boats with window boxes and dogs and neighbors having cocktails on the deck at sunset.
The current $90 million renovation project closed the marina in 2021, with the live-aboards forced out. The wood docks were rebuilt with more slips. With more transient boats, the Parks department wants a much larger administrative and service facility. But it’s not clear who will use this expensive new facility. They talk about ADA compliance and storm-surge design, septic hookups, and the necessity for offices and storage and meeting rooms, showers, and tool storage, but it’s looking a lot like a comfortable gas station on the Hudson River with docking for wealthy yacht and sailboat owners.
Parks says they considered a small building at the basin with administrative and storage functions inside the city-owned underground parking garage across the walkway. It’s part of Parks’ current renovation of the rotunda and the Boat Basin Café, and the two projects could be combined. They found this solution lacking. They have a vision of a splendid single structure servicing a state-of-the-art new marina.
But why put a modern marina on the edge of Riverside Park on the Hudson River? Why should the desires of a relatively small group of boaters be more important than the park experience of all the nearby apartment residents and all the visitors traveling the walkway? Why in this age when we are trying to mitigate climate change and continue our cleansing of the waters of the Hudson should we allow parking for gas-propelled boats?
Why not discard the idea of a fancy marina. Leave the existing docks for local groups to organize occasional kayaking or for people to enjoy walking on a dock farther into the Hudson with longer views.
Simply build nothing.
Patricia Woodbridge is a retired Movie Art Director who has lived on the Upper West Side for 50 years.
Agreed. Aesthetically and financially, the proposal just doesn’t make sense. Just leave as is, encourage small time local boat rentals.
Necessity: The boat basin can’t be left as is because it is in a state of disrepair that borders on unsafe. This is a result of it having had very little upkeep for decades and subsequently sustaining significant damage from Hurricane Sandy. It also isn’t ADA-accessible.
Aesthetics: Contrary to the disinformation being spread, the dock house will be located over 500 feet down river from the rotunda, so the impact on sight lines from the Boat Basin Café will be negligible. There are things to criticize about the design of the dock house, but past reporting indicated that the architects are constrained by new energy efficiency and storm resiliency requirements.
Cost: The price tag for the city is actually $60.9M, not 90M, and was budgeted years ago. The remaining $28.3M is coming from the federal government and was allocated long ago by FEMA due to the damage from Sandy. $60.9M is still a significant amount, but is not as big when you consider how little upkeep the boat basin has had in the eight decades of its existence, as well as the revenue that will be generated from slip rentals.
Then we’ll get the expense of boat rescues.
Because they’re so common??
Simply factor that expense into the boat rental fees.
Steve B, How much do you thing a charge should be for the diminished experience for millions of park users? How much for the greenhouse gasses the users of this boatyard will generate? How much for the inevitable water pollution these boats will generate? If these costs are really factored in, the project would not move forward.
Well-written & well-thought-out: Building nothing is surely the most desirable & reasonable solution. In fact, I’d say that Parks’ proposed building is actually a solution in search of a problem.
But if we must build — & that’s what we ALWAYS end up doing in the city — let it not be that proposed solution. Bring on the Petition!
Would that a petition ever did anything – would that we build with confidence rather than whatever. Would that we just save a lovely space which by the buy (pun intended) might be improved with a well lit path for those of us who would like to walk to the basin without getting mired down in the muck of unlit yet beautiful arches. My oh my – it just isn’t safe to walk under those beautiful arches – it never was. Still, as an anecdote – never actually had any issues – just felt unsafe. So I suppose in hindsight, it was just me channeling Kubrick, never getting even a cat call – just feeling weird about how empty it was. Loved the basin. Not the restaurant they opened and closed – that food was gross.
Wonderful article. Simply tear down what’s there and build nothing. If we’ve learned anything from the last 3 years, it’s that all of us need calm and natural beauty.
If they are going to build another restaurant establishment where the old Boat Basin restaurant was for many years… why would they want that eyesore building be the view of diners? I miss the Boat Basin.
The administrative and service facilities should either be underground in the garage or where the restaurant used to be in the rotunda. Any new restaurant should be in a new structure on the water. I don’t think Parks Dept employees should have the river views. All along the rivers, there are bustling restaurants and facilities that the public has full-on embraced.
Had me beleiveing the story until you said, ” . . . where benches line the walkway under the canopy of crab apple branches that flower gloriously pink and white in the spring. Here views extend from the George Washington Bridge to the Statue of Liberty. ” I’ve been a resident on the same block for over 55 years here in the UWS, and I grew up playing in the Boat Basin. Trust me, you are unable to see the Statue of Liberty from any bench along the boat basin. The furthest south one can view on a clear day is Hoboken in NJ.
The article has been tweaked to reflect the accuracy of your comment.
There is no money in simply building nothing.
And in the words of New York’s own Cyndi Lauper, “Money changes everything.”
They can’t do basic repairs on the park or properly maintain the trees and hillsides. That 90mil should go towards basic repairs and maintenance not a 1%er amenity
And I’d like to see the Parks Department figure out how to turn off the streetlights in Riverside Park during the daytime.
Spot on!
“Parks says they considered a small building at the basin with administrative and storage functions inside the city-owned underground parking garage across the walkway.”
The alternative was to have employees working in an underground garage? Why can’t it have glass walls? That way everyone will have a view.
glass walls in an underground garage for views?
The boat house should have glass walls. I’ve seen it done on other shorelines in Michigan and Maine and it didn’t obstruct the views.
In previous coverage of this issue, the architects indicated that they felt the same way, but that their hands were tied by recent changes to energy conservation regulations.
She’s right
I couldn’t agree more. ALL the points are valid, but my favorite is: Being back local, free kayaking!!!
The government isn’t able to stop spending money. It’s a machine that eats money. Building is just the dish; the food is money.
Meanwhile the Soldiers and Sailors monument is left to self distruct.
It’s being restored (finally)
Great idea, and while they’re at it maybe rethink what type of restaurant they are putting in where the old boat basin cafe was, last I read it was going to be high end, which makes no sense but then again DiBlasio signed off on it so not really surprising.
Totally agree. As the saying goes, Keep It Simple, Stupid. The Boat Basin was great being what it was. A low key place for people of all ages to gather, eat slightly over priced and fairly average (but perfectly fine) food, and enjoy dining outdoors next to the water a few blocks from their homes.
Not everything has to be fancy. And as much as I love the Boat Basin and its location, I would not pay a lot of money to eat there if it was fancy.
The fact the parks department can’t justify “why” they need such a big building is telling. Where’s the business plan and projections for the marina? What administrative functions are required? And why do they need that much space? Also, what was wrong with what was there before? This is a poorly thought out boondoggle that will blight the park. Great essay. CB7 should vote no!
I attended the CB 7 meeting because I didn’t like the big boxy dockhouse we were shown in 2021. I learned a lot, and appreciate the responsiveness and efforts that have been made to improve the aesthetics of the re-build.
The Parks Department certainly justified what the planned activities are, and who they serve.
Launching for kayaking and other “human powered” boating. School groups and summer camps. Sailing school. Location for the Billion Oysters Project and instructors and student monitors. Open houses, swimming and triathlon competitions. Annual multi-week visits of education vessels, like the Sloop Clearwater.
Any new dock building *MUST* be A.D.A compliant. Any new building *MUST* meet flood zone & building codes , as well as US Coast Guard public access facility regulations. Building small is not an option, building low is not an option. The facility has to be 24/7 to serve the boaters at the marina.
Please, recognize that the renovated marina is going to serve many more people than in the past. The scope (and environmental regulations) requires an adequate dock house. And the stated goal of the new architect is to provide “design excellence”.
“Simply build nothing.”
And that, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with the entire neighborhood, city, and country. It’s why we have half a million homeless in America. Thank you NIMBY’s.
Denton. That is why we have national parks.
So you support industrializing a residential neighborhood, bringing in the fumes and buzzing noise of motorboats and blocking the view of the Boat Basin Cafe, which was the most beloved summer gathering place for UWSiders since WWII? Why not enhance the view, rather than destroy it, and attact recreational use for the neighborhood instead of commercializing the area for people who don’t even live here?
The plans shown at the CB7 meeting show that the dockhouse site has been moved *off* the sightline from the Rotunda and whatever restaurant goes in there.
The information at the meeting included the myriad community programs providing recreation for the neighborhood — while not taking away an iota of Riverside Park space.
I don’t understand how this can be characterized as industrializing and commercializing. All along coastlines and lakefronts throughout the world are boatyards with boat-related facilities. It’s ludicrous to claim that every inch of our Hudson River coastline is so unique and special that it must be devoid of structures.
If you build it they will come. That is the CB7 mantra. Maybe they can make it a transit hub? Im sure our Trans Alt Board already has eyes on this
Build Nothing!!!
I thoroughly agree! Something 1/8 the square footage would be PLENTY to serve the function required! Before there was a shack the size of a 3-stall bathroom. Worked for 40 years.
The marine engineers (Moffatt & Nichol) and design architects (ARO) would disagree. You can probably get the Design Constraints and Project Considerations from CB7.
Amen!
Commenter opinion: what a terrible, horrible, whiny take.
Agreed— don’t build anything— it’s so much better as just a River park
If everyone had that attitude, we wouldn’t have any recreational opportunities for many to enjoy. The National Parks are a great example of building structures and facilities so that people can participate in activities like boating, skiing, hiking, rafting to name just a few. Forests, mountains, lakes, and rivers are not just for looking at.
To the don’t just sit there do something folks who are about to muck up a beautiful stretch of our Hudson River landscape, I humbly request that you don’t just do something and sit there.
Thinking some more about Parks plans for the marina, knowing that they want to keep the parking lot and hearing rumors of a very high-end café to replace the funky Boat Basin Cafe, it begins to feel all of one piece. If that’s so, there is huge money behind the creation of a yet another delightful dining spot for the 1%. But a very special one, where you can safely park your yacht in the marina or your Mercedes in the underground lot and view the sun setting over the Palisades while you dine. Possibly higher dining prices during golden hours.
Bring back the funk! It belonged to the people! (I miss that cafe, and the free kayaking). So much of what money buys is ugly and benefits very few of us. Joni Mitchell sang it best.
Build something low and small with docks and water access for both at 79th Street and 125th Street.
Maybe expand NYC ferry to 79th and 125th Harlem Piers as part of the upgrade.
Would love ferry access af 79!
Having boats and ferries stop at 79th Street and 125th St would be fantastic.
I appreciate your column and agree with your common sense thoughts. But I have to laugh. Since when have city administrators and CB7 ever considered the majority? It’s always a small minority that rules the day. Look at helicopters flying over our parks. Look at e-bikes terrorizing our sidewalks. Look at bike lanes. Look at criminals not being charged. It goes on and on.
How about Trump City on West End Ave. and the 70’s? The community did not want it….but it was built anyway.
NIMBYs don’t usually get their way. And now there’s a vibrant new community from 59th-72nd St.
You have done a great service informing us who cannot listen to those meetings but will have to live with their senseless plans. Thank you for that clear explanation and your thoughtfulness
“Why in this age when we are trying to mitigate climate change and continue our cleansing of the waters of the Hudson should we allow parking for gas-propelled boats?”
We should also apply this logic to gas-propelled cars as well.
You’d have a greater impact on the cleansing of the waters of the Hudson if you would help us prompt City and State officials to fix the Combined Sewer Overflow (“CSO”) problem.
Why an eye-sore structure to totally spoil our majestic views and gorgeous sunsets?
One could just retrofit that underground garage by the rotunda and convert it into a storage area and workshop so boat owners can do the much-needed maintenance on their vessels. That is all we need. But offices? Meeting rooms? What is next?
Just keep the boat basin as “minimalistic” as it has always been. Provide electricity, clean water, and a toilet to these boat crews. But leave the peace, quiet, and pristine beauty of the mighty Hudson River with its superb sunsets to the pedestrians, picnickers, book readers, cyclists, roller bladers, gallivanting children, and peacefully-walking seniors.
Even as the owner of a 33′ powerboat, I think this $90 Million could much better be used to maintain the greenway, which would benefit the many, not just the few. Close this dock facility, establish a mooring field with a dinghy dock, put up a restroom facility, staff the place with 6 people, cost MUCH less!
I’m having trouble understanding your complaint. There’s a huge demand for waterfront utility adjacent to one of the premier neighborhoods in the country. The boho “liveaboards” may be cool but there’s a 15 year 850-long waiting list. Clearly the laws of supply and demand aren’t working. Having the parks department monetize that more effectively benefits everyone, except I guess the liveaboards. If a high-end restaurant is in demand, it will thrive. If not, it will go out of business and be replaced with something that is. But “doing nothing” with an incredibly valuable piece of public real estate may be romantic but not logical.
RKap, If this real estate is so valuable, why are taxpayers on the hook for $90 million? That is not what i call monetizing it. The money should be flowing the other way, no?
The alternative is for the City to relinquish control of the waterfront and boat basin and privatize it. You’re advocating that private investors take over?
Bravo!!!!! Well said!
Having power boats buzzing in and out of the basin and ruining the view from the Boat Basin while converting it to unaffordable “fine dining” does not serve ANYONE except a few hedge fund operators and Wall Street lawyers. Let’s stop the accelerating destruction of the Middle Class
Boats ruining the view of the boat basin? Huh?
It’s too bad that the author couldn’t express their concerns about the dock house design without resorting to the misleading and needlessly divisive rhetorical strategy of characterizing all prospective marina users as “relatively small group” of “gas-propelled” boaters. I guess it’s easier to get people to hate a project when you convince them that it’s for the exclusive benefit of rich polluters, though.
I’m a sailor and lifelong Manhattanite. As a kid in the 80s and 90s, I used to gaze upon the 79th Street Boat Basin and dream of one day being able to live aboard a sailboat there. Suffice it to say, I’ve been on the waiting list for a long time. I’m now in my early 40s and am excited about the long-overdue refurbishment and expansion of the marina. Maybe I’ll get off the waiting list and get my boat by the time I’m 50. Were it not for the Parks Department’s near-monopoly control of Manhattan’s 32 miles of shoreline, there would be plenty of places for the average Joe or Jane to keep a boat.
I would love to read an editorial on here from you about this issue. You sound much more informed about the reality of the situation than many here.
The existing building seems sufficient.
Thank you ! Do NOT build!!! I agree!
Amen! We don’t need it to be Brookfield Place
I like her proposal. NYC is being overstuffed with amenities for the wealthy. Let’s not make another one here.
Bring back the old restaurant and call it a day…
Agreed. We should protect the simplicity of natural beauty used by all over commercial use by the few and privileged. Simple.
Many of the privileged few live in those hideous eyesores along the river that blocked the sun. They got what they wanted. We need this park to be beautiful!
There are a few dilapidated marinas just a few miles upstream in Tarrytown, etc… Maybe those could be improved and used instead to serve the boating community.
To all the “do nothing” naysayers who don’t want things to change or whose aesthetic sensibilities don’t align with so many new projects …
“Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’ “
The way it was was terrific. A small marina, a restaurant, walkways and bikeways. Perfect neighborhood place for not just the neighborhood but visitors also. Whyy does this administration have to change/destroy the landscapte that works. Monies could be used to improve life not destroy it,.
Real estate interests and other special interests have finger in this pie,
I agree completely!!!
Minimize the structures and make them for the exclusive use and charging of electric powered boats only. That would be a reasonable and environmentally friendly compromise.
Why not just renovate the existing docks (much cheaper and not building anything) so that small watercraft users can enjoy it without disrupting views, etc.? From the photo they look in slight disrepair and will need maintenance at some point.
I am a boater that has utilized the boat basin for 25 years, and I must say that this essay is over-romanticized and full of inaccuracies. Most of the tenants at the boat basin are middle-class owners of small power boats and sailboats. The average-sized boat is less than 30 feet. Mega yachts would never fit in this spot, as the water is not deep enough, even after future dredging. The promenade has changed a lot over the last 10 years. While it was formally a tranquil and quiet spot prior to the connection of the West Side bike path, it is now essentially a bike track that is constantly full of speeding bikes, scooters, and other motorized 2-wheeled vehicles. I take my life in my hands every time I walk on it, and it has become very dangerous for young children. This is a much more important issue than an unsightly boat house. I agree that the current design is ugly and unnecessary. But throwing the baby out with the bathwater is not a solution. Keep the boat basin, but create a better design. By the way, oysters have not returned to NY Harbor. They are slowly building up the reefs again, but it is estimated that it will take 100 years for oysters to return in significant numbers and be edible.
Agreed on all points with Ed Reed. There were very few wealthy boat owners there. The boat basin also serves as a landing place for charters and a sailing school with a summer camp. And clearly, the author has not considered how much $ Parks takes in with those slips. Also, leaving the existing docks for people to walk on is a terrible idea – they are an absolute hazard and in desperate need of replacement. One good wake from the Circle Line would send people into the water.
Not sure why they can’t just fix the area up and just add boat slips and docks that people could passively use.
Great article, Patricia.
Completely agree!!!
Simply build nothing is the best, most cost-effective suggestion, that will serve the majority as well as the environment. Consequently, the government entities involved will likely not go with it. Instead, hearing the massive pushback against the hideous, expensive and inappropriate big box; their solution is to come up with a slightly smaller version of their pathetic “design”.
Don’t forget the building’s architect who wants their moment of glory . . .
I suggest Parks take a trip to Newport, RI and see the lovely dock buildings that look like colonial saltboxes and actually add charm to the waterfront. Why are they so stuck on industrial monstrosities?
You’re comparing the Hudson River waterfront to oceanfront Newport? Aside from the obvious geographical, commercial, and terrain differences of the two bodies of water, Newport’s population is 25,000.
Well said
My wife and I couldn’t agree more. What an eyesore they propose. Nothing there has been working perfectly well so leave it that way. Where do we sign the petition?
Amen! And the area doesn’t serve only “nearby apartment residents…and visitors.” It’s a regular part of life for the thousands of us who walk, bike, or skate the length of the park on a daily or weekly basis. Why ruin this for a handful of luxury boat owners who are passing through? The traffic (going out to eat or catching a show) would not generate enough revenue to make up for the loss of this wonderful open space to New York City residents.
I agree. Leave it alone. We need as much of the old charming & unique areas of the UWS to be kept & preserved. I was already saddened by the houseboats being forced to leave & I miss them.