Randall's Island Dreamland?
January 12th, 2006
A private developer’s plans to develop a water park on Randall’s Island jumped a hurdle yesterday after the city’s Franchise and Concession Review Committee voted to let the project move forward.
For web surfers, comment has begun to bubble up from the bloggers. “I bow to few in my admiration for water parks. The flues and slides and wave machines and spurious soaking devices are part of what makes America great,” writes Gringcorp. But the Brooklyn scribe thinks this project, now slated to cover 26 acres, doesn’t have enough room to become a top-notch water park. “Raging Waters covers 50 acres, and that’s pretty cozy,” he says. “Building a state-of-the-art water park on that kind of space is simply not possible, especially if the Randall’s Island park’s 25 acres includes a seven-acre beach. Crazy slide space will be at a premium.”
Gothamist likes the name Hell’s Gate Water Park but thinks that might not go over as well with kids as the dazzling wave pools proposed back in 2003.
Couldn’t a beautiful vista make up for a lack of space or a humdrum name? “Imagine us sitting in rafts, floating down the lazy river, jumping in the wave pool, shooting through the waterslides,” muses Max. “In the background: A nice, big mental institution.
Don’t forget the Ward’s Island sewage treatment plant and the Fire Department’s training academy nearby.
By Hilary Russ on January 12, 2006, 10:12 amIn category: Land Use, Waterfront | 6 Comments »

January 13th, 2006 at 7:48 am
That fire training place looks pretty fun. Maybe they should build another one and open it to the public.
January 13th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
Here is another example of an unfortunate project in the wrong place without it seems sufficient community empowerment to significantly ameliorate the horrendous ramifications of yet another example of alienated Park land. The slippery slope of supposedly beneficial projects that require forsaking open space and parkland continues to grow, if the proposed Yankee Stadium plan wasn’t enough. In this csae there isn’t a neighborhood of residents on the site to organize. This has been a predictable outcome of isolating Randall’s Island. There are agreements in which the NYSDOT which leases the Harlem River Rail Yards in the South, South Bronx, are to ensure that the leasee, the Galesi Group, are supposed to implement the NYC Greenway Plan and construct a brduge to Randall’s Island. Needless to say, it hasn’t happened, yet. In addition, the East Harlem Pedestrian/Bike Bridge is closed much of the year, further isolating the increasingly privated Randall’s Island from a local constituency, notwithstanding the periodically bused in students that are often touted as evidence of community involvement. These and other factors have spurred the South Bronx Greenway initiative of a wide variety of stakehilders to access randall’s Island by way of the exisitng Amtrak Viaduct, a project that could be easily implemented if the Mayor’s team would make it a priority. We would much rather see a committment to greater accessibility to this precious greenspace for people of color and poor communites adjacent to Randall’s Island, and all New Yorkers, than the Icahn Stadium, the parkinglot for Cirque d’ Soleil, the closed off tip of Ward’s Island in the summer and the other privitatzation schemes that prohibit community access and are continuing to degrade the natural environment of a still beautiful natural retreat. , PLEASE HELP STOP THE PRIVITATZATION OF RANDALL’S ISLAND!!!
January 13th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
and let me add that there are numerous local priorities for waterfront access and green space on the Harlem and east Rivers that would allow NYers to really ply the rivers and experience the shore and the natural life with minimal investment. We welcome communications to identify and partner with appropriate city agencies like NYCEDC and others to achieve equity in the South Bronx and reap a great return on our taxpayer investments in imporved education, reduced crime and greater sustainable economic development.
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