Mott Haven residents celebrate as waterfront plan seeks federal grant
Mott Haven Herald
by: Marina Samuel
At the very end of Lincoln Avenue, between the Willis and Third Avenue bridges, hidden behind trucks from the waste treatment plants and FreshDirect headquarters, 30 people gathered on September 7 for an end of the summer BBQ on the proposed Mott Haven-Port Morris Waterfront Plan. They were staking a claim. South Bronx Unite, the local environmental justice group that’s been working for years to transform this stretch of land known as Harlem River Yard, beside the skinny Harlem River into a park, a greenway, a place to breathe, had something to hope for.
At the end of the month, they will submit a grant application with the Bronx Economic Development Corporation, hoping it will bring them closer to the transformation they envision: a community-managed waterfront. If they win the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grant, as much as $20 million could flow into the waterfront reclamation project.
If it happens, the Bronx Economic Development Corporation and South Bronx Unite’s fiscal arm, the Mott Haven/Port Morris Community Land Stewards, would be required to begin implementation of the first phase within six months of receiving the award, constructing the Lincoln Avenue Waterfront and the 132nd Street Pier with an estimated completion date of 2027.
