COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN ECOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
For most residents of New York City, the waterways that border and carve the city into five distinct boroughs are merely an accepted facet of the landscape. Everyday interaction with these bodies of water is limited to a bridge, subway or ferry crossing. But as history reminds us, the presence of these waterways was pivotal to the creation and the growth of this metropolis. Mere survival depended on the shipping, trading, irrigation and bounty of the rivers. A New Yorkers' livelihood was interwoven with every ebb and tide.
In an effort to rejuvenate interest in the evolution of one of New York's defining waterways, the East River, and begin to glimpse the impact this commonly overlooked facet of the metropolitan landscape can offer, the AIA Emerging New York Architect's (ENYA) in cooperation with the East River Kayak Club (ERKC) and the East River Apprentice Shop (ERAShop) is calling for entries for the design of a boathouse to serve the community of Greenpoint in Brooklyn, New York.
The ERKC and the ERAShop are non-profit organizations which teach leadership and conservation to inner-city youth through boat building and seamanship. They are dedicated to the revival of a neighborhood connection to the urban waterfront through the use of human powered boats and to fostering a community awareness of urban river ecology and recreation for adults and youth alike.
The East River Community Boathouse Competition also coincides with the Open Space Initiative sposored by the Greenpoint Association for Parks and Planning (GWAPP) and the Trust for Public Land. The goal of the Open Space Initiative is to generate the information, insight, creativity and visual representations needed to promote and provide meaningful open space and park amenities along Greenpoint/Williamsburg's East River coastline. The Competition will provide these groups and the community with a glimps to the possibilities available at one of the sites along the waterfront.
The East River and the tributaries of the Newtown Creek and Bushwick Inlet create the east, north and south borders of Greenpoint respectively. These waterways were once the heart and sole of the community supporting a variety of industries, not least of which was wooden ship building. The waterways were the life source for the community, first as a center for fishing, next industry, and later, adversity as oil spills and sewage treatment plants polluted the waters, but always uniting Greenpointers in a relentless quest to lay claim to the peninsula first called GROEN HOEK, Green Point.
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