Riverside Park To Revamp Neglected Areas In Harlem, Wash Heights

UPPER MANHATTAN, NY — The Riverside Park Conservancy announced this week that it would begin work on a project to revamp northern stretches of the park that have gone neglected and underfunded in past years, ramping up an initiative launched more than a decade ago.

The North Park Initiative was first announced in 2009, aiming to devote more resources to the segment of Riverside Park bordering West Harlem from 120th to 155th Streets, and Fort Washington Park through 181st Street in Washington Heights.

The project got renewed attention this year during the coronavirus pandemic, when the Conservancy announced it had canceled its traditional fundraising gala and would instead seek to raise money for the North Park initiative.

Organizers plan to improve decaying infrastructure in those stretches of the park, which serve neighborhoods that are predominantly Black and Latino and have higher poverty rates than the majority-white Upper West Side.

"People in this area had felt this was not their park," State Assemblymember Inez Dickens, who represents Harlem, said in the Conservancy's announcement video released Tuesday. "No one paid attention, there was no funding given to this part, for the most part."

Initial projects will include a Bike Education Center at 158th Street, built in partnership with Bike New York; the installation of adult fitness equipment and playground improvements; and three years of free public events. A herd of goats, who munched on weeds in the Morningside Heights area of the park last year, will return to do the same task further north, near 120th Street.

Later repairs will include the entrance and basketball courts at 158th Street, as well as the stairway and footbridge at 148th Street, which link Hamilton Heights to the park. An exact timeline for the repairs wasn't provided.

The improvements were made possible through 400 new donors who contributed to the North Park Initiative over the past two months, as well as $2.3 million allocated in the recent city budget dedicated to park improvements, especially around 158th Street.

Those involved said the initiative would make the park more equitable, as the importance of outdoor spaces grows during the pandemic.

"Historically, parks in Black and brown communities don’t get the same or fair share of resources," park trustee Maria Lizardo said in the announcement video. "It’s about time that Upper Manhattan gets its fair share of resources."