We are a city of islands. A city of water. So it’s not surprising that of the 59 Community Board districts in New York City, 43 have significant waterfronts. The Waterfront Alliance offers Waterfront Edge Design Guidelines (WEDG) as a tool to help New Yorkers achieve resilience, ecology, and access at the water’s edge.
Over the last few weeks, the Waterfront Alliance has begun visiting waterfront community boards and borough boards around the city to show how WEDG and our Harbor Scorecard can help community boards make smart land use decisions and advocate for more resilient, equitable, and accessible waterfront development.
In return, the Waterfront Alliance is asking community boards and borough boards to take the WEDG Pledge by adopting resolutions that would require waterfront projects to refer to WEDG early in the design process, and to encourage certain projects to undertake the WEDG certification process. “Take the WEDG Pledge, and hold waterfront development to a higher standard,” WEDG program associate Sarah Dougherty is telling Community Boards around the city. At the heart of the WEDG Pledge campaign is the idea that communities can drive demand for more resilient, equitable, and sustainable waterfront development. With the WEDG manual freely available online, community boards, advocacy groups, home and business owners, and concerned citizens can see what good waterfront development looks like, and demand that projects meet this standard.
This December, the Waterfront Alliance brought the WEDG Pledge campaign and draft WEDG resolutions to both the Brooklyn Borough Board and Bronx Borough Board. Borough Board consist of Borough Presidents, City Council members, and the chairperson of each Community Board in that borough.
Now, one by one, Community Boards are taking the #WEDGPledge and adopting resolutions to better protect and advocate for their communities’ rights to access and resilient waterfront development. The most recent, Brooklyn CB13, representing Coney Island, declared its intention to vote YES on the Brooklyn Borough Board resolution on WEDG just a few days ago.
“Who’s with them?” Ms. Dougherty tweeted.
“If you live in Brooklyn,” she says, “ask your Community Board representatives to approve the #BrooklynBoroughBoard resolution to require WEDG for waterfront development!” If you live in the Bronx, you can do the same. If you live in Queens, Staten Island, or Manhattan, keep your eyes out for our upcoming meetings, and let your representatives know that you want WEDG to ensure strong outcomes for resilience, access, and equity in your community!
