From the Advisory Board Chair

FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, New York City has been shaped the water that surrounds it. Its native people, the Lenape, used the waterways for fishing and travel.

At the beginning of the 17th Century, European explorers, sailing up and down the eastern coast looking for a route to Asia, discovered the naturally sheltered harbor where the Hudson River flows into New York Bay and then into the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1624, the Dutch West India Company established a trading post on Nutten Island, now known as Governors Island. A few years later, 300 people moved across the river to the much larger island of Manhattan and called their settlement New Amsterdam.

Over the next 400 years, much of New York City was built on the three islands at the mouth of the Hudson River: Manhattan Island, Staten Island and Long Island. Because land is so scarce, it is one of the most densely populated cities in the country. It is also one of the most energy efficient, and least dependent on cars.

With its deep waters and sheltered bays, New York Harbor quickly became one of the most active and important shipping ports in the country. Centuries of shipping activity, industrial development and urbanization shaped the city’s land and water into the city we know today.

When the World Trade Center was built in the 1960s, over a million cubic yards of soil and rock were excavated from the construction site and used to expand the city’s shoreline across West Street, creating Battery Park City: 92 acres of residential and office buildings and parks.

The September 11th attacks destroyed the World Trade Center, several surrounding buildings, and much of the neighborhood’s economy. The area has bounced back considerably since then, becoming one of the most successful 24/7 live-work neighborhoods in the country.

Downtown Manhattan has also become one of the most sustainable neighborhoods in the United States. It is home to some of the most energy efficient office and apartment buildings. The majority of its residents either walk to work or take public transportation.

In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy’s record-high storm surge from New York Harbor exposed the city’s vulnerability to major climate events and prompted a discussion about how to protect the city’s shoreline in the future. In this issue, long-time Downtown resident and former Community Board One Chair, Catherine McVay Hughes, talks about some of the challenges and opportunities ahead.

The Covid pandemic has also impacted Lower Manhattan in massive ways. For over a year, the neighborhood’s office buildings were open, but mostly empty. Hundreds of small businesses, restaurants and bars were forced to close. Thousands of residents left the community, along with millions of tourists.

Although we are vulnerable, we are also resilient. If our experience rebuilding after 9/11 has shown us anything, it is that we will come back, better and stronger than before. There are risks, for sure, but the fundamentals are strong: This part of New York City has the densest concentration of mass transit lines in the country. The fastest growing “creative class” neighborhoods in New York are a commuter ferry ride away. The waterways are busy, with ferries sailing as far as the Rockaways and Highlands, New Jersey.

In a post-COVID city, the waterways are our neighborhood’s biggest threat, and also our greatest opportunity. Let’s take care of them, and they will take care of us. DT

DARA MCQUILLAN

Chief Marketing & Communications Officer Silverstein Properties, Inc.

Painting: Element No. 1, by Ran Ortner