March 9, 2004: Along the FDR Drive
The other day, N and I went for a skate around the battery- starting at Houston on the West Side, swinging around to the East 10th Street Bridge over the FDR on the East Side. The park along the West Side runs next to SoHo and Tribeca and Battery Park, so it's well manicured, clean, and filled with green grass and trees. As you can see, the East River Park is not as well maintained. Part of the reason is that the FDR effectively cuts the park off from the working class neighborhoods that adjoin it to the west, so less people use it than the parks running up the other side of Manhattan. A part of it, of course, is that the adjoining neighborhoods are poor. [Related: I took this night shot from the other side of the Corlears Hook Pavillion bandshell last year.]
Comments
Did you enjoy the part where the path is about three feet wide and surrounded by razor wire? Actually, that might be slightly north of 10th.
The Triboro Bridge path has similar levels of fun. Never, never again.
Hey, that's where I live! The 3-foot wide razorwire area is actually being improved slowly. Last summer they expanded most of it to about 5 feet wide (which makes quite a difference when trying to dodge bikers) and this month the path is closed again for "safety improvements."
The bandshell was renovated two Summers ago and has mostly proved a bother, with very loud concerts which make the windows on our apartment shake.
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