By Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The waterfront overlooking the East River will be transformed into a stretch of parks, pools and docks under a proposal announced by Borough President Scott Stringer in his "State of the Borough" address Thursday night.
Stringer, who made his annual speech at City Hall, said the project, dubbed the "East River Blueway" would remove riverfront obstructions from the East Side, all the way from lower Manhattan to Midtown.
"I'm confident the Blueway will soon take its place alongside the High Line and Hudson River Park as one of Manhattan's great public spaces," he said.
In an address that matched the scope of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s “State of the City” speech two weeks ago, Stringer pushed a number of proposals, including a bank that would entice immigrants and a community vegetable garden to be built at City Hall.
City officials including Comptroller John Liu, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and D.A. Cy. Vance Jr. listened as he outlined his plans to open a new city Department of Food and Markets to oversee food policy and called for the creation of several new schools in Manhattan.
He also pushed the “Bank on Manhattan,” a program designed to bring 10,000 households into the banking system so that they can avoid the fees at check cashing institutions and build up a credit history.
The borough president closed his speech by citing Community Board 1's fight to keep the terror trials out of lower Manhattan as a prime example of the power of community advocacy.
"Who would've thought that Community Board 1 would become part of President Obama's security team?" Stringer said.
