Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Hard to make a connection

From the Daily News:

The city could be building a bridge to nowhere, thanks to a muddled South Bronx land deal.

The Randalls Island Connector, a planned pedestrian and bicycle bridge, will eventually span the Bronx Kill, a narrow waterway separating the South Bronx from public ball fields and green space on Randalls Island.

But land between the bridge and the South Bronx street grid is controlled by a private company, Harlem River Yards Ventures. The New York City Economic Development Corp. needs an easement so it can build a path from the bridge to E. 132nd St.

The EDC and HRYV have worked together on the project for years and now that the city is ready to start bridge construction, it has made the company an easement offer. But no deal has been struck and now the project is in doubt, sources said.

The Connector will link the South Bronx to a greenway network that stretches from Randalls Island to Astoria, Queens and East Harlem.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sure - negotiate and hold up a good public project to honor a developers rights. Eminent domain for a home owner or what the city doesn't like - Willets Point businesses who pay taxes and employ thousands.

Anonymous said...

Why would they plan this for years and only NOW try to get a deal going??? Wouldn't that have been the FIRST step???

Our bureaucrats are truly worthless.

Anonymous said...

The bridge is actually built (was built at least a year or two ago), and goes 'nowhere' since the city can't build the path to it in the bronx.

The state owns the fucking land. The lease holder can't build anything on it because it's directly under hell gate bridge - which makes you wonder why the hell the state owns it at all? Last I looked Amtrak is owned by the federal government, and the land under the bridge is still owned by them (despite the squatting by homeowners in astoria under the bridge who use it for parking).

Someone frankly needs to get bitchslapped over this sort of thing...