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The Topic
NYC's waterfront is roughly 600 miles long. Include metropolitan New Jersey and Westchester, and the total increases to over 1000 miles. This metropolitan waterfront is as diverse as it is long. Its uses range from oil depots, cruise ship terminals and modern container ports to marinas, recreational esplanades, and bathing beaches. Contrary to reputation and expectation, the harbor, its shores and its waterways are integral to the region's economy and quality of life.
The Context
The harbor is one of the few places in the metropolitan area where large spaces still exist and where usage patterns are dynamic. Unlike most urban land areas, the regions' waterways belong to everyone. Consequently, many uses compete for the same space. Diverse concurrent uses and a clash of competing interests shape the character of today's metropolitan maritime crossroads. In the shared world of the waterfront, issues are complex, and political values intermingle. Within each issue is a frothy mixture of economics and ecology, community and bureaucracy, freedom of action and the desire to be protected from the actions of others. Improving water quality makes the competition among users more robust. Fish, waterfowl, birds of prey, and marshlands are returning. Recreational uses proliferate, competing with other uses. In commerce, long-term harbor users are expanding operations. Growth in trade requires smarter port operations and more acreage for containers. Deeper dredging of ship channels and expanded municipal facilities are planned. Privately owned ferries crisscross the waters carrying commuters by the tens of thousands. Despite all this, the waterfront is still part of larger natural processes. Twice a day, vast seas flood into and ebb from the harbor, which determine the pace of maritime commerce. Daily, the waters change the harbor's geography, creating and denying access to mudflats, shellfish, docks and harbors. Flux at the water's edge holds peril and promise.
Coney Island All Year Round?

City Dumps Red Hook Pier Plan

Intrepid Air and Space Museum Reopens

City Scraps Private Marina
The city's plan to build a fancy marina for private yachts, with a hotel and entertainment complex, next to its Brooklyn cruise-ship terminal, is officially dead in the water. More than two years after the city's Economic Development Corp. announced plans to redevelop Pier 11 near the cruise terminal in Red Hook, the EDC has tossed out all proposals solicited from developers vying for the project.
Saving Jamaica Bay's Disappearing Marshes
Scientists and officials are working to protect a tarnished ecological gem before it fades forever
At Sea in the City
by William Kornblum

Heartbeats in the Muck: A Dramatic Look at the History, sea Life and Environment of New York Harbor
by John Waldman

Manhattan Water-Bound
by Anne Buttenwieser

The Meadowlands
by Robert Sullivan

The Riverkeepers
by John Cronin and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

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On the Beaches

by Gotham Gazette Staff
July 2008

new york city beach slideshow
Photo by YH Huang
Gotham Gazette goes to the beaches. View the audio slide show here.

ALSO:

The Bronx's Secret Shore:
Unbeknownst to the vast majority of its residents, the Bronx serves as home to a number of private beach clubs.

Whistle While You Work:
The job is outside, you wear a bathing suit -- and the city usually has openings.

Coney Island Roller Coaster:
The fight over how to develop the famed beach continues.

Urban Riviera?
New York's beaches offer surf and sun without a long drive on the Long Island Expressway. But how safe and clean are they?

New York's Best and Worst Beaches:
They are both on Staten Island but there the similarities end.

With eight public beaches in the city, New Yorkers do not have to venture far from home to smell the salt air and sunblock. But does our Urban Riviera really offer a respite for residents fed up with the cement landscape and longing for fresh ocean air and soft sea breezes? And how clean and safe are the beaches -- seven city and one federal?

Gotham Gazette's audio slide presents words and images from some of the city's most popular beaches, as beachgoers critique the scene around them, from litter to accessibility to jellyfish.

To view the audio slide show, go here.

Beach Map: Sounds from the Surf

Call it the heat island effect or the draw of fun in the sun, the desire for sand between your toes and salt in your skin hits many of us during the summer. While some New Yorkers spend their days drowning in traffic on the way to the Hamptons, others recognize we have seven city public beaches and many more private facilities right here in the five boroughs.

new york city beach map, courtesy of New Yorkers for Parks
Map courtesy of New Yorkers for Parks, photo by YH Huang

TAKE YOUR PICK:

There's the vivacious and crowded Coney Island or its more subdued neighbors, Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach.

Head to Rockaway Beach in Queens and dip your toes in the Atlantic where few remnants of New York City, besides the A train, remain.

Feeling adventurous? Take the ferry, then a train and maybe a long walk (see related story) on Staten Island, which boasts three city beaches: Midland and South Beaches as well as Wolfe's Pond Beach.

Then there's Orchard Beach, tucked into Pelham Bay Park, the only public beach on Long Island Sound.

If none of those satisfy, meander through Jacob Riis Park, a federal beach in the city, or check out the many private beaches that line our urban coastline.

Sounds from the Surf

South Beach, Staten Island

South Beach, Staten Island

Midland Beach, Staten Island

Midland Beach, Staten Island

Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn

Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn

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Other Related Articles:
The Bronx's Secret Shore (2008-07-28)

Whistle While You Work (2008-07-28)

Coney Island's Latest Roller Coaster Ride (2008-07-28)

New York's Best and Worst Beaches (2008-07-21)

Keeping City Beaches Safe and Clean (2008-07-21)

Unknown (Unused) Beaches of NYC (2006-06-15)

City Council Stated Meeting - March 23, 2005 (2005-03-23)

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