By Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
WEST HARLEM — Eleven years, countless designs and $20 million later, the two piers and two acres of grass that make up West Harlem Piers Park are still waiting for area residents to call it home.
A conference center in the guise of a pyramid with a sphinx head was just one of several proposals that prolonged the park's development and burned cash, according to Savona Bailey McClain, co-chair of Community Board 9's Waterfront and Economic Development Committee.
"There were monies wasted — taypayers' money wasted," said Bailey McClain, who has worked on the project for a decade. She recounted several fiscal challenges, including a two-year halt to construction so that fake reefs could be installed to protect the fish habitat.
A similar park on the east side, Harlem River Park, was also completed in May of this year, but at a cost of only $7.5 million. The park does not have a fishing or water taxi pier, but does feature a newly-designed bulkhead and an eco-friendly area.
Joe Jackson, an accountant who has lived in West Harlem for 27 years, jogs from 96th Street up to 125th Street everyday, and then sits on one of the park benches to read the paper. Save for some joggers and the occasional biker, he usually has the park to himself.
“I thought it was a wonderful idea,” Jackson said of park. “I thought maybe in the summers, people would bring their families out here, but the crowd is thin.”
Jackson remembers when the strip at 125th Street and the Harlem River was a “big mess” of prostitutes and drug dealers, with a simple wooden fence and a few boulders the local kids would congregate on. He’s glad that the area has been cleared of “hooligans” and made beautiful, but said that it’s severely underused for such a pricey endeavor.
In order to fiscally justify the park and bring more people to the area, the city is trying to bring excursion boat and ferry operators to the piers.
The Economic Development Corporation, one of three city entities — including the Parks Department and Small Business Services — that have jurisdiction over the park, sent out a Request for Proposal (RFP) to operators earlier this year. They are hoping that by early 2010 they will be able to announce boat service to and from West Harlem Piers Park.
But Bailey McClain said that despite the projects many impediments, she believes the undertaking was well worth it.
“It’s a huge success,” she said. “There was a lot of yelling and screaming but in the end [when the park opened], everyone was hugging and grabbing each other.”
Some businesses and residents say they are already seeing the silver lining of the redevelopment.
Fairway Market Manager Justin Meacham said that now customers “come here for the scenery” and then hit Fairway to shop. He said sales had definitely increased since the park opened in May, though he wasn’t sure by how much.
William Doyle has lived in Morningside Heights since 1998 and regularly bikes up the West Side bike path to shop at Fairway. Before West Harlem Piers Park opened he was forced to take a detour after Hudson River Park in order to continue his journey up the Hudson, but now he enjoys a continuous ride.
“It’s an investment,” he says of the millions spent on the park, noting that many city infrastructure projects are costly.
