Path is not just for recreation

To the editor:

(re: “Pedestrians claim mopeds continue to harass them,” Sept. 22)

The walking/bicycling path from Irwin Avenue to Waldo Avenue is a small part of New York’s Greenway system. But your Sept. 23 story about that path had a large number of factual errors and mischaracterizations about the path’s history.

For starters, this path was not built “about a decade ago,” but has been there for many decades. It’s part of the mapped right-of-way for Irwin Avenue, which was thankfully never built out to the full length shown on New York City planning maps.

The story refers to the East Coast Greenway Alliance as if they were the builders of this path, but I’ve used that path since the 1970s, and the alliance was only founded in 1991.

As part of a city street, the path has always been managed by the city’s transportation department.

The alliance is an advocacy group. They propose greenway routes and organize support for them, but they don’t build them. The signs designating this path as a section of the East Coast Greenway were installed by the city’s transportation department in 2010, as reported by The Riverdale Press at the time.

As this path is part of a street, its primary purpose is — and always was — transportation. It may be recreational for the Waldo Gardens resident quoted in the story, but the people using the path are mostly commuting to classes, going to and from the subway, running errands, and other utilitarian tasks.

If they’re having fun, more power to them. But let’s not forget that being able to walk or bike from one place to another is a primary part of what makes a neighborhood livable and enjoyable.

Ed Ravin

The author is a past board member of Transportation Alternatives and the Five Borough Bicycle Club