New York City’s 520 miles of shoreline offer immense potential for recreation, climate resilience, and community connection. Yet access to these waterfronts remains deeply unequal. The Waterfront Alliance’s Public Access Guide 2025 responds to this challenge with a practical, community-centered roadmap for transforming underutilized waterfront parcels into vibrant public spaces.

Why This Guide, and Why Now?

Despite decades of investment, waterfront access in New York City is still shaped by historic disinvestment and environmental injustice. While over 90% of Manhattan residents within a half-mile of the waterfront can walk to open spaces, fewer than half of Bronx and Staten Island residents enjoy the same access. These disparities reflect a legacy of industrial land use, pollution, and planning decisions that have excluded low-income communities and communities of color.

The Public Access Guide 2025 is designed to shift that narrative. It equips community organizations with the tools to reclaim neglected waterfronts, advocate for equitable investment, and build spaces that reflect local needs and aspirations.

How Was the Guide Developed?

The guide builds on Waterfront Alliance’s long-standing advocacy and its 2022 study, Activating NYC-Owned Waterfront Sites for Recreation and Access. It draws from two specific multi-year collaboration, with South Bronx Unite and Kayak Staten Island, to illustrate how community-led planning can activate city-owned waterfront parcels.

These case studies are more than examples – they’re blueprints. They show how to navigate complex ownership structures, engage elected officials, secure funding, and sustain long-term stewardship.

Four Steps to Waterfront Activation

The guide is organized around four key phases:

• What Do You Want?
  Define your vision and build support. This includes identifying underutilized sites, engaging long-time residents, and hosting community design charrettes. The guide emphasizes inclusive outreach and the use of tools like the CDC Social Vulnerability Index to prioritize high-need areas.
• Where Do You Want It?
  Understand your site. This means researching ownership, easements, and jurisdictional complexities. The guide provides detailed instructions for identifying city agencies with oversight, such as NYC DOT, SBS, DCAS, and NYCEDC, and navigating regulatory hurdles.
• How Do You Convince Others?
  Build coalitions and advocate. The guide outlines strategies for engaging elected officials, community boards, and adjacent landowners. It encourages using media, petitions, and formal letters to amplify community voices and align projects with city priorities.
• How Do You Keep It Alive?
  Plan for long-term sustainability. From securing maintenance funding to establishing community land trusts, the guide stresses that waterfront activation is a multi-year commitment requiring persistence, adaptability, and ongoing engagement.

Case Studies in Action

• Lincoln Avenue Street End, South Bronx
  In partnership with South Bronx Unite, Waterfront Alliance helped activate a neglected site along the Harlem River. The project involved clean-ups, community events, and advocacy aligned with the Mott Haven–Port Morris Waterfront Plan. SBU’s work demonstrates the power of community land trusts and grassroots stewardship in reclaiming industrial waterfronts.
• Front Street Parking Lot, Staten Island
  Kayak Staten Island, a volunteer-run organization, has used this site for free kayaking programs since 2008. Despite challenges like rip-rap shorelines and nearby CSO outfalls, the site offers unique potential for safe, inclusive waterfront recreation. Waterfront Alliance supported KSI with design charrettes, funding strategies, and jurisdictional navigation.

Why Public Access Is Critical

Waterfront access is a public right, protected under the Public Trust Doctrine. It supports physical and mental health, fosters community cohesion, and builds climate resilience. Yet too often, access is concentrated in wealthier neighborhoods, leaving vulnerable communities behind.

The guide calls for a shift in how we plan, fund, and steward waterfront spaces. It urges city agencies to prioritize equity, and it supports communities to lead the way.

A Tool for Transformation

The Public Access Guide 2025 is not just a document; it’s a movement. It reflects years of research, advocacy, and partnership. It offers a replicable model for activating waterfronts across the region, grounded in community voice and environmental justice.

As New York City faces rising seas, aging infrastructure, and growing inequality, the waterfront must become a space of resilience and inclusion.

This guide shows us how to get there – one parcel, one coalition, one vision at a time.