By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/ Producer
UPPER MANHATTAN — A desolate path along the Hudson River between the George Washington Bridge and the Dyckman Marina deserves an X-rating, neighbors say.
The NYPD says the stretch between Washington Heights and Inwood has been an ongoing problem, with frequent community complaints involving illicit sex and drug activity. The last arrest on the path was May 5 when a 35-year-old Bronx man was arrested for lewd behavior and indecent exposure.
The area is also awash in litter of all sorts: used condoms and torn wrappers, mountains of beer bottles and broken glass, cast-off baby carriages, old tires and household trash.
But all that will be replaced with paved lanes for biking, running and roller blading, along with a family-friendly park with views of the Hudson, under a Parks Department renovation plan expected to start this fall.
"The path is a very raw natural space, some of the last natural land in northern Manhattan, said Jennifer Hoppa, administrator for upper Manhattan parks for the Parks Department. “Part of that makes it wonderful, but part of that means it’s hard to access.”
The city's $40 million plan to develop the area includes modernizing, landscaping and rehabilitating Fort Washington Park, the 160-acre strip of land that extends from 145th Street to Dyckman Street along the Hudson River.
Also, next summer, a new marina is also expected to open where Dyckman Street meets the Hudson River.
For residents, the improvements can't come fast enough.
“There is definite illegal activity in that area,” said Janet Handy, a member of the Inwood Canoe Club, whose boathouse sits at the northern end of the path. "It's very blatant.”
Police patrol the area on foot, bicycle or gators – small golf cart vehicles – but a local police official said the 34th Precinct does not enough manpower to fully patrol the area. The rugged terrain and lack of paving in the overgrown stretch doesn't help, either.
Handy said much of the illegal activity began when nearby Fort Tryon Park was cleaned up as part of a community effort in the late 1990s.
As neighbors made increasing use of the park, the drugs and partying were pushed onto the pathway.
Hoppa from the Parks Department hoped the changes planned for the area would curtail crime along the stretch of land.
“It is a monumental piece of Washington Heights waterfront,” she said. “The more positive activity the better, the more eyes we have the better.”
