The East River Park (recently renamed John V. Lindsay Park after arguably the worst NYC mayor in recent times) was build by Robert Moses as part of the FDR Drive Project. It is undergoing renovations associated with the removal of Con Edison facilities below the park, and renovation of some of pilings on which part of the park was built:
This park is located on the part of the lower east side that bumbs out into the east river (Corlears Hook), and extends from some the service peirs which are just north of the Manhattan bridge up to around 9th street, just below the Con Ed East River Plant.
The park has facilites for picnicing (including some with barbacue grills - somewhat of a rarety in a NYC park), softball fields, an amphitheater (build after 911 with reconstruction funds) football.soccer fields and a set of tenis courts. There is an old fireboat sation that is used as a service building, and that is also used by the parks department for events. (Occasionally there are also some "firends of fireboats" or other goings on over there.) Note the remnant of the lookout tower. The tower was manned by firemen who would look for fire/smoke.
We mainly use the park to walk the dog (we pick up after it), for walking/biking and at certan times of the year fishing.
The park is somewhat seperated from the rest of the neighborhood by the FDR Drive, and has limited access via several overpasses. This probably keeps the park safer and cleaner than it would otherwise be.
Fishing is generally pretty lousy, but for a few weeks in March or April, and October/November striped bass migrate through on the way to LI Sound and the Hudson River. They can be caught with Sandworms in the spring and lures or bunker chunks in the fall. Most of the bass are shorts and should be returned to the water, but except for a few law abiding old guys, everybody keeps what ever they catch. Snappers come in around late August chasing spearing into shallow water followed by larger bluefish in September. Last year (2004) was a very good year for bluefish. In addition to the spearing, bunker came up into the river. One afternoon a school of large bluefish came charging into a school of bunker in a :feeding frenzy. They slashed away at anything that moved. Guys with heavy tackle were able to catch blues over 30lbs. Unfortunatley I was fishing with light tackle for snappers, and although I hooked one wasn't able to hold it.
Generally, a few times a year there will be fireworks either up the river, or down by the South Street Seaport.We are generally pretty jaded about fireworks shows. On the July 4th, 2004, the fireworks was in front to f the South Street Seaport and around the Statue of liberty, so we had a pretty spectacular show from the park.
While the East River Park is in a totally urban area, wildlife (mainly waterfowl and songbirds) can still be fond and enjoyed. Here is a picture of a Red Tailed hawk that was being harried by a flock of crows...
The latest attraction visible from the park is the new "Waterfalls" public art exhibition (thankfully temporary). I think it is mad ugly (water cascading off scaffolding) and in this time of high energy costs a waste of money. Here is a picture of a fireboat (which looked a lot more exciting than the actual art) during the public premier of the exhibition:
Update for 2010: The promenade has been re-opened under the Williamsburg Bridge. There is some nice new landscaping and architectural details but they already seem to be suffering from inadequate maintenance. The wodden handrail on the railings is starting to show effects of weathering after only a few months. It should have had a coat of polyurethane. The stainless steel also needs additional protection from the salt water...
Some new 2010 pictures:
