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Battery Park City on a Weekday Evening

by Sandy Ikeda
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 at 2:35 AM

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Among New York's mega-projects-in-progress, I'd thought that Brooklyn Bridge Park on Brooklyn's East River waterfront was doing okay financially. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, all is not so well, according to a Daily News article that appeared recently:

But rising costs, bureaucratic delays and ongoing legal battles have caused the price tag to double — sparking fears that not all the amenities will be built. Some 1,200 luxury condo units are still in the works along the park and will make payments in lieu of taxes to pay for the park's upkeep.

(I've blogged about the pros and cons of BBP here.) I just hope it doesn't go the way of Hudson Yards, the World Trade Center, Moynihan Station, and Atlantic Yards.

***

Now, I've heard warnings that Brooklyn Bridge Park could become another Battery Park City in terms of expense and dullness. I'll take up the cost side another time, but I wanted to check out the liveliness quotient for myself.

I've ambled though this 92-acre complex (operated by the Battery Park City Authority) many times, but always during the day or on weekends when a lot of people seem to use the space. So my "team of crack urbanists," consisting of me and my two intrepid colleagues Bill and Thomas, spent a few hours walking along its streets and byways of BPC from about 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. last Tuesday.

I tried to approach this adventure with an open mind, but because I tend to be suspicious of large-scale public-private endeavors (oh, really?), I was prepared to bash it. But I must say that on this particular warm summer evening, with these particular companions, I was charmed.

At 6 p.m. the sun is still well above the horizon, so we'd expected to see many more people than we did on the main streets walking home at that hour. But there were a very respectable flow of walkers (and homicidal bikers and skaters) along the mile-long esplanade and the various pocket parks and coves that dot the area. That is where the real life of BPC is — along the waterfront, behind the office towers, hotels, and residential buildings. We saw families on grassy lawns, pick-up games on basketball courts, and later men with long poles fishing for blue-gill tuna.

I spoke to a park security guy, who said that in the summer they usually have to chase people out when the parks officially close at 1 a.m. He also said that there's plenty of formal security between themselves, the building security that patrols the areas around the many apartments that line the esplanade, and the NYPD who patrol in cars. According to this officer anyway, the whole area is pretty safe most of the time, and I believe it given the numbers of informal "eyes on the walkways" we saw after sundown.

By 6:30 we'd reached the North Cove behind the World Financial Center to find throngs of mostly 30-somethings spilling out of the bars and restaurants into the outdoor tables. After having dinner at one of the several restaurants inside, we checked back at 9 p.m. and found that they were mostly still there, even after a sudden, drenching rainstorm that lasted about half an hour.

As I say, on this evening I was charmed by the place and would look forward to going back again to dine, see a movie, or take a walk along the gardens, coves, and footpaths laid out in interesting and often romantic ways. And, at the risk of sounding completely foolish, as we sat looking out at the North Cove with the Hudson River and the Inner Harbor behind it, I was reminded a little, just a little, of the Piazza San Marco in Venice.

On the down side, most of the shops in the World Financial Center itself close at the ungodly hour of 7 p.m., and that by 9 or 9:30 the restaurants are closed, too, which reveals its essential mallness. Outside of the complex, though, fast food is available till midnight or so.

***

Why were my expectations contradicted? Well, BPC was begun in the 1980s, but the 92 acres weren't built up all at once — which is what the city government wants to do at the much smaller Hudson Yards and across the street at the World Trade Center. In fact, the last (green) residential building is expected to go up in 2009, and the Goldman-Sachs tower is well on its way to completion. So, buildings of various kinds have been erected over time as demand warrants. This is an important lesson for the powers-that-be behind these and other mega-projects around the City.

Still, BPC is isolated from the rest of Lower Manhattan by the heavily trafficked West Street, and the two pedestrian overpasses don't really do the trick. Entering from the south or the north on foot can be a challenge. Putting West Street underground would have eased access considerably, but the planners behind the new WTC rejected the idea because of the cost. And those who like the slightly Disneyland feeling to place would no doubt argue that its isolation is a virtue.

If you haven't spent time there I would encourage you to. Here's the BPC website if you'd like more details.

***

So does all this bode well for Brooklyn Bridge Park, which covers about the same amount of waterfront as Battery Park City? Well, according to the latest plans, while BBP will have a hotel and a condominium, it will have far fewer residences, no museums (BPC has two or three) or theaters (BPC has the Winter Garden and a movie house) or nice restaurants (BPC has several), and a much heavier emphasis on outdoor recreation. This, I'm afraid, means when it's dark and during cold weather few people will be out and about in its public spaces — a recipe for dullness and danger.

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