EPA press release on WTC cleaning hotline launch, June 2002

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Ville: Old Heart of West Harlem.” Ferry dais say that given the current budget A community wants a boats took families to the Palisades Amuse­ crisis, ire commercial uses than those ment Park near Fort Lee, N.J. Large steam­ outlined In' the plan may be required to get park; a congressman boats traveled up the Hudson, making stops the project going. In this view, even the at 129th Street, Bear Mountain and West Chamber of Commerce proposal may be wants a tourist center, Point on the way to Albany and Troy. Small­ inadequate, the officials say privately. (The er paddle-wheel boats took beachgoers to empowerment zone does not Invest In pri­ Brooklyn. vate ventures, but it can provide multl- gambllng. The piers and their surroundings were mtllion-dollar loans at below-market rates Mr. Andren, however, said the riverboat also a thriving Industrial area, home to that lower &e developer’s risk.) would create jobs. “That would be a unique many meatpacking plants. Today, the gritty thing to have up there," he said. Public officials are loath to criticize Mr. neighborhood Is still zoned for manufactur­ Rangel, butlprlvately some say that his plan The Chamber of Commerce plan also ing, with a few small meatpacking and calls for an elevated viewing platform and a cleaning businesses operating. is impractical. floating stage. (A proposed floating garage When economic development officials in Kevin Corbett, the executive vice presi­ for 300 cars has been deleted from the the Giuliani administration began working dent of the Empire State Development Cor­ proposal because It is certain to be met with poration, th’^ state's development agency, on their master plan for the piers, they hostility from the community, Mr. Andren optimistically announced that waterfront said the Pataki administration would like to said.) construction would begin this summer, city see the areb Improved. But he suggested Less likely to meet with resistance Is the development commission officials In the that the piers were unlikely to support much Circle Line's proposal to create a stop for Bloomberg administration say there is no commercial development. excursion and charter boats. In keeping with specific timetable. “Using thc^ piers to draw people to the the piers' historic role. From the late 19th According to the preliminary plan, about waterfront a^d using the waterfront to draw century until the 193O’s, the Harlem Piers $20.2 million In public funds would be needed people to 125th Street makes a lot of sense,” were a major transportation hub, said Eric to redevelop the waterfront, with another he said. “But the majority of economic K. Washington, the author of “Manhattan- $4.7 million in private Investment. City offl- development iwould likely be inland.” 1 I

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