Week 1: A Visit to Manhattan’s East River Park

By: Sophy Gao, Harper Everett, Claire Greenburger, Julia Gregory, and Libby Lin

An otherwise insignificant construction sign vandalized with “bullshit landgrab”, followed by “ecocide” trails alongside pedestrians during their morning walk. These signs are affixed to the thin chain-link border between East River Park’s ongoing construction and the portion of the park along Manhattan’s East Side that remains open to the public.

Signs outside of the construction site. (Taken by Libby Lin)

The East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (otherwise known as ESCR) aims to raise and rebuild the park 10 feet higher to act as a floodwall. When completed, both the park and the 100,000 residents living along it will be protected from rising water levels. This ambitious project leads other cities in terms of size and protection. However, the project has been plagued by mismanagement and fierce, ongoing opposition.

A real scene of the construction site. (Photos taken by Libby Lin)

The city is facing three lawsuits over the project, including a state-issued restraining order, challenged by the East Village residents who showed outrage in a recent protest that took place in December 2021. But the backing of the project is more complex — split between those who live closest to the project in public housing, and those who live further away. “A community of folks who never sought us out and never sought to integrate is now telling us that we shouldn’t lose our barbecue pits,” Frank Avila-Goldman, a local resident, told Curbed.

The project was created after Hurricane Sandy’s catastrophic flooding of the Lower East Side in 2012. “The Lower East Side all the way to Avenue C was about four to five feet underwater,” says Irak Cehonski, Deputy Chief of Staff for Council Member Carlina Rivera, who represents the area. “There were about 10,000 residents in public housing that were trapped in their units; the elevators were not working. You’re talking about a lot of seniors who were trapped with no access to food for several weeks.” There were four reported casualties.

“This is a project that has never been done in the U.S.,” says Irak Cehonski, on a visit this week. (Photos taken by Libby Lin)

The floodwall is necessary to prevent similar events in the future. It’s an ambitious, unprecedented project, and one of the first moves by a major U.S. city to mitigate the growing dangers of climate change. “This is a project that has never been done in the U.S.,” says Cehonski. If successful, the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project will serve as a model for other cities facing similar challenges.

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For future reporting:

East River Park Action committee has formed a number of controversies the project proposes to instill. Part of the ESCR project plans to deforest one thousand trees in order to elevate the park. Another one thousand and eight hundred will be planted once the East River Park is renewed, with a thousand more lining outlier neighborhoods, ESCR claims. East Village residents also remain concerned about their green space, which is slowly being suspended throughout 2024 to 2026.

Demolition of several hundred-year-old trees started on December 10th, 2021 despite the temporary restraining order ruled to save the trees. It was “very underhanded”, according to Arthur Schwartz, lead attorney for ERPA.

Potential kicker:

“You know, when it comes to tree lives or human lives, a hard decision had to be made.”