EYESORE WILL BE A PLAYLAND

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EYESORE WILL BE A PLAYLAND
By IKIMULISA LIVINGSTON
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December 20, 2004 -- A grubby strip of blacktopped land along the Hudson River is about to be transformed into a sprawling sports and recreational space.
The prime riverfront property between 123rd and 133rd streets will soon be home to a fishing pier, a walkway, a bike path and perhaps a kayak launch site, which together will turn what is now a dreary sight into a sports-lovers' paradise.

"It's going to be a nice green area," said George Reyes-Montblanc, the chairman for Community Board 9 in Harlem.

The community board, along with other governmental agencies, have been shoring up plans for the grimy expanse of asphalt for close to three years now.

"It's an eyesore now," said Reyes-Montblanc. "That area is nothing. It's just some old, dilapidated tarmac that is being used as a parking lot for Fairway [supermarket]."

There'll be no basketball courts or fields for playing organized sports, but people will have a real pier for fishing, and bikers will have a continuous path from 96th Street, with the river just beyond.

Artwork has already been commissioned by a local artist, Nari Ward, who'll create decorative images along the shore's fence.

The cost for the project is estimated to be somewhere around $14 million, coming from city, state and federal agencies.

Work on the project was supposed to start last summer, but it was held up because of concerns over fish life, said Susan Goldfinger, a vice president for the Empire Development Corp.

She said the Army Corps of Engineers has recommended creating pile fields — thick, round wooden poles that are imbedded in the river's floor and stick out above the water line.

The community board, however, objects to the cluster of piles so close to the recreational site — an issue that's being worked out, Goldfinger said.

Groundbreaking should take place this spring or early summer, she added. And Fairway will still be there for shoppers, with a relocated parking lot, Goldfinger said.

Reyes-Montblanc is thrilled with the upcoming changes.

"The waterfront will be what it was meant to be — greenery, piers, accessibility to the water," he said.