This past Wednesday night, Manhattan Community Board 8 signaled its support for a world-class East River Greenway by passing resolutions to aimed at improving the Upper East Side’s East River Esplanade. The first resolution deals with maintaining the Esplanade in the short-term and calls on the City’s Parks Department to immediately address the unsafe and unsightly conditions that currently exist. It specifically demands that the Parks Department “expeditiously take all measures to restore, maintain, and beautify the East River Esplanade.”

The second resolution takes a much longer view and exemplifies the Upper East Side’s desire to have similar park amenities and waterfront access on the East River that neighbors across the Park enjoy along the Hudson. Acting on previously given expert testimony from NYC Parks Department officials, the full board recognized that the Esplanade is beyond temporary and superficial maintenance and voted for a complete rebuilding of the structure along CB8′s waterfront. The Board wisely worded the resolution to focus on the City’s poor air quality, enabling any improvement project to tap into specific federal funding mechanisms such as the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Mitigation Program. The resolution further highlights CB8′s recent overtures to the plight of commuting cyclists by stressing the Greenway’s role as a “vital link in the sustainable transportation network of NYC.”

The full text of both resolutions should be available soon on Community Board 8′s website.

Though Community Board 8 is only responsible for the Greenway segment that is within its geographical boundaries (stretching from 59th to 96th Streets), positive developments such as these will help influence community stakeholders both north and south of CB8 to also take action towards improving the East River Greenway.