Making Greenway a reality

I want to thank the MTA for sending four representatives to a Community Board 8 special committee meeting on the Greenway on May 26. They made a fine presentation to the 20 plus who had assembled on how the MTA intends to conduct a $250,000 feasibility study funded by state Sen. Jeff Klein.

The MTA explained that the study would look at the design challenges and layout alternatives for the construction of the Greenway, which in some sections could be on terra firma and in others on pylons over the Hudson River. They were also frank in explaining what the MTA will not do. The study will not consider relocating the controversial maintenance Track 6 or sharing the equally thorny service road. The MTA insists it must have sole, unfettered access to Track 6 and the service road, but shared access would make the creation of the Greenway a much simpler and less expensive proposition.

I chose to take the MTA representatives at their word when they stated their commitment to a process that would address the desires of a community that has been chasing this Holy Grail for over two decades, but I must confess that I left the meeting feeling unsettled. 

We’ve been here before. In 2012, a large expenditure of taxpayer dollars ($1 million in federal funding) for a study taught us, as Thomas Edison might have said, how not to build a Greenway. 

But times have changed. Both Mr. Klein and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who were in attendance, reiterated their support for the project. Councilman Andrew Cohen recently introduced a City Council resolution calling for the creation of the Greenway.

As the Greenway director for the Kingsbridge-Riverdale-Van Cortlandt Development Corp. (KRVC), I believe that the Hudson River Greenway in the Bronx is inevitable. However, I fear that when the MTA reveals its alternatives in the summer of 2017, the designs might not be a satisfying expression of our community’s very clear hopes, or possibly worse, something that cannot be achieved due to expense or complexity. 

In fairness, the MTA has expressed its willingness to keep our community board and elected officials informed throughout the process. Nonetheless, I urge all stakeholders and anyone who hopes to one day recreate along our virtually inaccessible shoreline to remain vigilant. 

I also wish to extend an open invitation to join us this weekend at Riverdale RiverFest. By coming out in force to enjoy the free family movie Wall E on Saturday; and music featuring 70s hit band Orleans, the sails, the activities and the spectacular setting along the water at the College of Mount Saint Vincent on Sunday, we send the best message we can to the MTA that the time has come to Build It Now!

When you come to the festival, please look for our videographer, who will be asking you to share your Greenway Dreams for a future short documentary. 

Here’s mine... one cloudless spring day in the not too distant future, I will ride south along the Greenway with my family. We will see many of our friends and neighbors; some with picnic blankets on the grass at College Point; one walking his dog in the Spuyten Duyvil section near the future link to Manhattan; another pushing her wheelchair-bound elderly parent near the Yonkers line; a young, new-to-the-neighborhood family, enticed here by our great schools, vibrant commercial corridors, rich cultural life and our Greenway; and… you.

Cliff Stanton is the greenway coordinator for the Kingsbridge Riverdale Van Cortlandt Development Corporation.