The time for a riverside path is now

On Sunday, June 15, we will join thousands of local Riverdale residents and visitors from across New York for Riverfest — a celebration of the iconic Hudson River that inspired our community’s name. Riverfest will feature activities for people of all ages, including a concert, children’s activities and boat rides.

Though Riverfest is a great opportunity for our community to come together along our waterfront, public access to the river, more generally, is limited. Currently, the only safe and legal access to the river is through Riverdale’s Metro-North station on West 254th Street.

The Riverdale Station Park features unobstructed views of the historic Hudson and the Palisades — a truly majestic sight. However, this 300-foot promenade is the extent of public access to our community’s greatest natural attraction. Expanding this access would allow more local residents to enjoy the river more of the time, while providing a world-class destination for visitors — something that would undoubtedly benefit businesses in the area.

While wishing for greater access to the waterfront is one thing, setting a plan into action is another. Many community members have weighed in on this issue, and although there have been some disagreements on some of the suggestions that have been put forth — and we have disagreed with some of them — there appears to be nearly universal agreement that waterfront access is desirable and would be very good for the people of Riverdale, the rest of the Bronx and beyond.  

Any plan for waterfront access must be very carefully planned and must take into account the opinions of all people in the community. 

We very much look forward to working with all interested parties to achieve a consensus and to achieve the long sought-after goal of access to our beautiful Hudson River. The challenges of committing to a plan — funding, construction, infrastructure concerns, timing — are all very real, but the cost of doing nothing is even greater.

Riverfest, which will be held at the College of Mount Saint Vincent, is free and open to the public. We proudly stand with our other local elected officials, community members, Riverdale residents and business owners in our shared commitment to ensuring that more of the Hudson River will also be free and open to the public.    

Rep. Eliot Engel  

State Sen. Jeffrey Klein    

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz

Councilman Andrew Cohen