POINT/COUNTERPOINT

It's all a walk in the park ... at least it is for right now

Posted

In its ongoing effort to make Riverdale more crowded, the city’s buildings department has decided to grant yet another building permit to the people who brought you the Villa Rosa Bonheur debacle.

This time, Timber Equities — now under yet another name, 3893 LLC — will try to squeeze an eight-story eyesore (they call it five stories with a basement and three above-ground sub-basements) into the little plot of land between Dash Place and Brust Park — the part that already felt like part of the park, edge-to-edge-to-edge, to the south of the park, blocking its sun.

Not good for the ancient forest with all those 200-year-old trees. The water that now runs down the property and the forest’s hill, feeding Stony Brook, will now run off the treated roof and terraces directly into the sewer, and pollute the Harlem River a little more.

The brook will get less (clean) water.

The terraces will open right into the park, where park-goers might catch a television show, or five. Then there’s the heat. Usually the forest is about 15 degrees cooler than the rest of the Bronx. Thanks to all the new air-conditioners dumping their hot air, the park should be just as hot in summer now as the street.

And the forest as it is now will be gone. Along with the sweet air it provided.

What is the buildings department thinking? Riverdale’s population has skyrocketed in recent years. Ask anyone who lives here. The traffic, the parking, the schools, and the noise are getting worse every week. New traffic lights, more sewage.

Riverdalians have had enough of the out-of-town investors who come to the Bronx long enough to double their money and then go back to New Jersey. We need new planners who will listen to the citizens as much as the investors.

Riverdale’s still beautiful. Please keep it that way.

We are fighting to save Brust Park. Please join us on Facebook, or come down and look at it. Call the planning department, the buildings department, the parks department, the borough president, or the mayor.

We cannot lose this gem. For another month or two, it’s still a walk in the park.

Have an opinion? Share your thoughts as a letter to the editor. Make your submission to letters@riverdalepress.com. Please include your full name, phone number (for verification purposes only), and home address (which will not be published).
Jim Wacker,

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