I was happy to deliver a nice donated sign for the ceremony. This event sign was a “Thank you” for the support
the MTA has shown the “Friends of Ferry Point Park” group. The F.P. Community Advocates also presented Ray Webb
with some great old photos that were part of a survey done in 1938 of the area involved in the construction of the Bridge
and the Hutchinson River Parkway approach to the Bridge. The donated sign and the photos will join the archives of the Bronx/Whitestone
Bridges memorabilia for future admirers and historians studying the Bronx/Whitestone Bridge.
I am amazed at the large
houses and farms that were along a dirt road called Ferris Lane that is now the Hutchinson River Parkway. If you or your family
has any stories or photos of the Ferry Point area from the past or even the present please dig them out and we will select
the ones with the most landscape or buildings and copy them and put them on our website for all to enjoy. 718-829-6863 (we
will return the originals and make a notation of the person who submitted them)
The MTA presented each community group
on the Bronx and Queens areas of the Bridge with a nice framed photo from their archives. “Thank you” it is a
nice photo that will hang proudly with our other certificates and awards. Many photos were taken that we hope to put on our
new under construction website soon. www.ferrypointbronx.com This website will eventually include all our info from both www.ferrypointpark.org
and www.ferrypointcommunity.org in a more reader friendly layout then the older websites.
Friday May 1st
was our first seasonal Volunteer Event. 150 Volunteers from The Millennium Arts Academy (located in Stevenson High School)
split up into 5 groups to 50 to Weed 9/11 Memorial Forest Saplings, 10 to Plant Flowers, 50 to Remove and Recycle 25 bags
of Waterfront Plastic, 25 to do a Waterfront Cleanup of 10 bags of Hindu Debris, the remaining worked as a BBQ group who set
up, prepared, and fed us all. Even though we only received 29 tools from Park Dept. and one box of bags…we all accomplished
a lot. Arms and legs were flying everywhere, garbage was being bagged up and ready for pick up, weeds were being pulled, raked
and piled. I was very satisfied with work these 15 year olds accomplished, and especially the manners they had while they
went through the day. All behaved like ladies and gentlemen and listened pretty well to my educational descriptions of the
work we were doing this day. Without a comfort station at the park, it has been important to know that the MTA is always there
if we needed them. The “Friends” do so much for our community by improving our neighborhood park (with the help
of 700 volunteers last season) . If we had to pay for a seasonal Port-to -san (on our small budget) that would mean no water,
snacks, gloves, bags, or tools could be purchased for the volunteer work. Any small support means many more constructive hours
of work can be accomplished in this park each year. Tax deductible Checks can be written to our Fiscal Sponsor “Neighborhood
Open Space Coalition” but mailed to 716 Brush Ave. Bx 10465 where we can record and prepare the donation before sending
it in to our account. If you have old or extra garden tools, we would be glad to use them in our volunteer work. Call 719-829-6863
for pick up or place them over the fence at 716 Brush Ave. at you convenience.
I hope we can muster up some funding
to have a small shed along side the future Comfort Station or maybe MTA has an area where we can safely store tools for our
future volunteer work in the East and West sides of Ferry Point Park. This is a large park with a complicated future that
could use all the help it can get.
Enjoy the nice days we are getting lately.
NOTE* In reference to my past
article about the Hutchinson River Greenway:
I described my conversation with Ken Kerns in the past article in a way
that offended Ken. I apologize for this. I believe he was offended because I said the Community Board would not vote on the
design the way it was, and there was no way to address the problem of the potentially dangerous underpass in a way that was
affordable, therefore the Greenway was kind of doomed. I did not mention that the Community Board was waiting for River Bay
to attend a meeting and stipulate their concerns pertaining to the proposed Greenway to the Parks Committee. I did not mention
this because at a previous Com. Bd. Parks Committee meeting, representatives of the NYC Parks Dept. strongly stated that “As
a private Company“, Com. Bd. 10 was not supposed to meet with River Bay but instead the Parks Dept. was supposed to
meet with them. So I did not understand how this meeting (that was not going to happen according to Parks) had any baring
on the outcome of the Com. Bd. Input on the project. Again I apologize for this misunderstanding and await the proposed meeting
which is supposed to be scheduled for May 11th at Com. Bd. 10, 7:30. I also await River Bays input at this meeting
to the Parks Committee and the NYC Parks Dept. so that Greenway Advocates throughout NYC have a clearer vision of what steps
to take to help make this (already funded) Hutchinson River Greenway a viable, functioning, asset in the near future.
