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Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Another Way to Look at Those DRI Projects
People process information differently, and some ways of presenting information are more effective than others. For those who like lists and tables, there's a new DRI Project Summary now available on the Hudson DRI website. Click here to view it. Remember that the color-coded goals are Waterfront, Transportation, Livable Community, Employment Opportunities, and Food Access.
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All of these will brilliant ideas will be undone years from now, when the railbed is moved inland.
ReplyDeleteWhen a one hundred million dollar tunnel can produce a billion dollar shore, It will happen.
It's never too late for better engineering.
The two most problematic proposals remain, the Railroad Point Pier and the "increased ferry service."
ReplyDeleteBut is the ferry service the same as the "water taxi," or does it also include the sight-seeing boats? Of Hudson Cruises' two types of business, which "engines" will be serviced for which boats at the DRI's expense? It makes a difference under the law. The "pump out station" is certainly a facility for the large sight-seeing boats, which will put the DRI in conflict with the public trust doctrine. (The governor is going to love that!)
2. The new spreadsheet describes the pier proposal as a plan to provide "boat docking on the Hudson Waterfront," but there are no details about it in the proposal, none! The planning committee must take the applicant's word for it that the water is already deep enough, except that it isn't deep enough and the Sloop Club knows it.
Without dredging, the pier proposal cannot become a reality, though dredging is not in the proposal. So what the committee must do is to subtract "docking" from the plan, as glossed in the proposal, and then evaluate the plan properly on whatever remains.
If the water there is too shallow to accommodate the specific vessels cited in the proposal (it's even too shallow for the Club members' own boat, the Apollonia), then we must ask whether or not $1.2 million of the total DRI is really worth whatever remains of this proposal?
Really nice graphics though.
While I remain a big supporter of and contributor to the Everett Nack Estuary Education Center, a proposal which won a $91K grant from the State in 2016, the unrealized Nack Center is now reintroduced as Phase I of the DRI proposal. Perhaps there were time restrictions on the previous grant for which the group is now buying time.
ReplyDeleteBecause dredging in the slip will be required to achieve all of the promises in the Sloop Club proposal - although dredging is never indicated as a need - it's fair to wonder whether the Nack and DRI proposals will appear next in yet another grant application as the early phases of some grander proposal.
Also, does anyone have any idea what it means that Rick's Point takes up more than half of the proposal's footprint? I'm referring to the maps in the proposal's booklet which show that roughly half of the entire waterfront park will now be set aside for the Sloop Club.
Though it's not the prettiest thing in the world, Rick's Point is enjoyed by a lot of people, and at this time of year far more than ever walk in the park. Maybe what the Club is planning for Rick's Point is a huge improvement (as far as I'm concerned they can begin by renaming it!), but they never say what it is they have planned, only that they want it.
Strictly speaking, a straight request - "Can we have this?" - is not a proposal.
Has anyone even asked what it means for the Club to "have" Rick's Point?
Finally, what prevents the DRI committee from achieving multiple end-runs around local government? Once the awards are announced, the pressure on City Boards, Committees, and Councils to approve these projects will be immense.