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Get Current: MWA in the News
The New York Times 02/15/08: "What’s the Best Plan for the Hudson River Park?" (Letter to the Editor)
Re “Turning a Pier Into a Park” (editorial, Feb. 7):
To the Editor:
The $330 million investment to create the Hudson River Park is the largest in recent memory. While the park borders on some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in our city, it is a regional resource for all New Yorkers.
How people get there and what they do there are the critical issues. Are there ferry and bus connections to the park? What affordable, attractive activities are available when visitors arrive?
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Newsday 01/29/08: "Critics slam project near UN"
"The land due south of the United Nations building today resembles an urban checkerboard, with some squares left blank as buildings have been removed, while in adjacent spaces, high-rises tower above like stacked kings.
"The city Planning Commission voted 10-2 yesterday to rezone the area over the objections of some elected officials and area residents...the commission scaled back the height and density by almost 20 percent from the original plan and added more retail space, but did not address access to the East River, irking the president of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, Roland Lewis.
"'We are locked away in this city and don't know how to relate to the waterfront,' Lewis said. 'We can't have the waterfront be a front yard to the condo owners there.'"
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WNYC-New York Public Radio 01/04/08: "Water, Water Everywhere"
Click on "Water, Water Everywhere" below to hear this radio segment featuring Roland Lewis of MWA and MAS' Jasper Goldman, who speak with WNYC's Brian Lehrer and his audience about the MWA/MAS-produced documentary, "City of Water," and the future of New York's waterfront.
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Queens Ledger 09/19/07: "Navigating New York Via the Water Trail"
"About 50 kayakers rowed and paddled their way around the city Saturday, making landfall five different times in the first annual Great Five Borough 'Ramble' Paddle Tour. 'New York City's waterways are as diverse as the city,' said Roland Lewis of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance at a stop in Louis Valentino Jr. Pier Park in Red Hook. 'We think there is room for activities of all sorts. Hopefully this becomes an annual event and we have thousands of kayakers on the water."
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The New York Times 08/26/07: "Counting on a River to Entice"
Reconnecting people with the East River, especially in a park-starved area, is a noble undertaking, said Roland Lewis, the president of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, which advocates for greater waterfront access.
But, he said, "you have to be careful about what's promised and what's delivered."
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Staten Is. Advance 08/16/07: "Editorial: On the Waterfront"
'You might not have noticed. Especially if you don't ride the ferry, or frequent the North Shore, or occasionally scan the harbor during Staten Island Yankees games. But cargo ships are flocking here. "'Most of us don't see the waterfront economy, but we depend on it,' says Roland Lewis, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, a network of harbor groups...'It's a hidden secret that the maritime industry is doing quite well and the port [of New York] is booming,' Lewis says."
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Staten Is. Advance 08/12/07: "Maritime trade: A growing bonanza"
"Once in decline, Staten Island's shipping and maritime industry has rebounded dramatically in the past decade...'The center of the maritime industry in New York is on Staten Island, said Roland Lewis, president and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, which weighs waterfront redevelopment policy and decision making. 'It's a hidden secret that the maritime industry is doing quite well and the port [of New York] is booming," he added...
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NY Observer 07/10/07: "On the City's Final Frontier -- the Waterfront"
"What is the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, and what does it do?
"Mr. Lewis: The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance is an alliance of 300 organizations -- small, large, in-between -- that are dedicated to making the waterfront in their parts of New York or New Jersey a better place. Waterfront wsa locked away by industry and roads and rail for a good part of the history of this area. So what we do now, it's a window of opportunity to hopefully create a great waterfront that has great parks, that has great commerce, that has great housing, is diverse and is accessible."
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Real Estate Weekly 8/8/07: "Proper planning promises progress on land and at sea"
"Most of us think of Wall Street and real estate when we think of thriving New York businesses, but guess which New York based industry has grown by 100% over the past decade? Hint: It supplies the shoes on your feet, the oil for your boilers, and the sheetrock for your kitchen. It's the resurgent port of New York and the attendant maritime industries that support it."
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The New York Times 07/02/07: "Crowded on the Subway? Read This" (Letter to the Editor)
Re “Some Subways Found Packed Past Capacity”, June 26, 2007:
To the Editor:
Next time you are surviving the crush on the IRT, close your eyes and imagine transferring from an M.T.A. bus to a ferry with a swipe of your MetroCard and cruising down the East River to work.
And while you’re at it, imagine a world-class diverse waterfront filled with great parks, clean water, thriving commerce and, of course, lots of ferries.
Roland Lewis
President and Chief Executive
Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance
New York, June 27, 2007
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The New York Times 06/30/07: Answers From the Waterfront Expert
"Carter Craft, an urban planner specializing in transportation and waterfront issues, is taking questions from City Room readers this week...Mr. Craft is the director of programs and policy and a co-founder of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance...
"Scott L.: Carter, what is your vision of how the region will deal with potentially rising sea levels? Do you see extensive dikes in our future, or other strategies?
"Mr. Craft: Great question, and as I type this response at seven feet above sea level in Hoboken I am living proof that most of us won’t really worry about this looming disaster until it’s too late. The catastrophe of 9/11 offers many lessons, as does post-Katrina New Orleans. Perhaps the most regrettable tendency I see is the knee- jerk reaction to put back what was there in much the same way and place as before. Is this the American way? Perhaps. Will we learn our lesson the hard way? ...any discussion about large-scale engineering approaches must address the reality that the economic heart of NYC -– Manhattan, its transit hubs, and business districts – actually will get water from as many as three directions: from the east via Long Island Sound; from the south via the Narrows and from the southwest via the Arthur Kill and Kill Van wrapping around Staten Island. Not to mention the fact that there is already much coastal development all over the City which is almost impossible to protect."
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Brooklyn Downtown Star 06/28/07: "East River Day Envisions Change for the Waterfront"
"The newly formed Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance debuted their recommendations for improving the public access to the East River at a celebration that spanned all five boroughs...'What we need is a diversified and accessible waterfront that interfaces with public transportation,' said Roland Lewis, president and CEO of the MWA. 'I live in Flatbush, but I might as well live in Iowa considering how my neighbors and I relate to the water. We want to say that we can build great waterfronts here.'"
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NY1 06/21/07: "Groups Propose East River Improvement Projects"
"The southern tip of what was once known as Welfare Island could one day be a memorial to the president it is now named for, Franklin Delano Roosevelt...[T]he memorial and an adjacent park are just two of many recommendations in the East River Agenda proposed by the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, along with the Municipal Art Societ, seeking greater public access and, of course, a cleaner river.
"...'There should be housing--there will be housing on the waterfront--but let's make it diverse and open to all New Yorkers,' says Roland Lewis of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance. And how about this for a goal: the return of swimming in the East River? 'You can swim in the East River in some parts on some days. We want that more,' says Lewis. "But there is still a lot of work that needs to be done."
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The New York Times 04/10/07: "President for the Waterfront Group"
"After 10 years as executive director of Habitat for Humanity-New York City, Roland Lewis...is leaving to become president and chief executive of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance."
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The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance
457 Madison Avenue
New York, NY, 10022
212-935-9831
info [AT] waterfrontalliance [DOT] org