I went to Jones Beach today

[petep9000]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

4. The Donald wanted to put the highway underground on the Upper West Side, but New Yorkers just could not IMO stand that he would make money off of it. At least he had the nads to try and do something to make the eyesore go away while keeping the functionality of it

Yes, and it wasn't just The Donald either. That project was bandied about since the late 60's, I believe. It was killed by politics, basically. Oh, and someone finally dumped enough money into research studies that said a variety of migratory fish (striped bass?) would be disturbed by the contruction. A shame...this would have sunk the West Side Highway from sight, and opened up waterfront access to the masses. A mega-project, on the scale of Boston's 'Big Dig'. Anyway, at the time NYC was all about one project: The World Trade Center. Then in the 70's NYC had a severe economic crisis, then in the early 80's we had the recession...seems like time was never right for the west side project.

I still believe (though not in my lifetime) that uninterrupted, unimpeded waterfront access will become a reality in NYC now that it is no longer has a 'working' waterfront. There is just too big a demand for it, and too much $$ to be made from waterfront condos, recreation facilities and such. There are dribs and drabs now, and certainly more than there used to be. But, not all of it is easily accessible and some parts still completely closed off. One day, I also see the public housing on the East Side all uprooted and moved to newer developments somewhere further away...and the existing projects converted to tony apartments with waterfront views else torn down and started from scratch. The residents there are a captive audience, NYC's public housing clearly states they have no choice (only a preference) of where their flats will be. I dont advocate this, but I do believe it is not 100% outside the realm of possibility.