Class Partnership

Art and Action on the Bronx River

Students in the class took trips to various locations along the Bronx River and created these works of art and writings inspired by the river.

”Sprain Brook: Presence” by Sophie Genolio The buzz of two bodies, one river, one brook. I deemed them unprepared, for the intrusion of thought. But they grounded me here, and sponged-up my worries. They stopped my recoiling, to a place of unknowing.

from “Starlight Park Through the Ages” by Emma Villarreal In 1920, Starlight Park opened as an amusement park, saying an official adieu to its short-lived exposition era. One remaining piece left from the exposition, “the Holland,” became one of the park’s most loved attractions. Formally known as the submarine USS Holland, the Holland was a small submarine originally commissioned by the United States Navy that remained in Starlight Park until 1932. During this time, Starlight Park became a popular place for many more reasons than homing the submarine. On any given day at Starlight Park, there were crowds of people waiting in line to experience the many new and innovative features of the park. During Starlight Park’s peak in 1926, it had 150 concessions and 26 amusement park rides.

ETHAN COUGHLIN

LARA FOLEY

View from the Parkway Oval Park Bridge.

From “Harding Park” by Ethan Coughlin

Harding Park has maintained its distinct style thanks in part to their homeowner’s association (HOA). The Harding Park HOA was the first cooperatively owned low- and moderate-income community in the city. In 1957, the neighborhood effectively fought off attempts by Robert Moses to raze the land, and, 25 years later, they formed the HOA to take ownership of their houses and the property they were on. This was a huge win for the area, and the effects of it are still being felt today.

Traveling down the various Narrow roads of the land, between Patches of green and tall white pine. Snuggled in the arms of the River and what some would call Home. Important feelings are formed here. Relationships become established here. It can be considered a home just outside the home.

But sometimes, homes can get cluttered If there is no one to clean it up. We can all see the mess in our homes, but Try not to, and we continue hoping It will just fix.

Will it? Come and gather, let’s work together to keep home in a Natural state. Preserve the nature that has helped preserve us. Lost in the matrix of paths where no boundary lies in sight. Soft hills adorned by monuments frozen in time and trees whose branches reach out to embrace me. The beauty of nature interrupted by the harsh reality of life and death as the funeral procession drives by and I walk the ground where strangers’ loved one will take residence for eternity. The water brings me back to the now.

From “Finding Wilderness in New York City” by Jake Chadwell No matter how you reach the forest, you will likely be drawn to Burke Avenue Bridge, a crossing over the Bronx River that was built in 1949. It is a great spot to birdwatch or just to stop and absorb your surroundings. Once choked with pollution and nearly unrecognizable, the Bronx River has been restored to its former glory thanks to years of ceaseless cleanup work by community organizers. As a rare example of a floodplain forest within the limits of New York City, the Bronx River Forest shows just how vital this kind of environment is to the inhabitants of the area, both people and animals. Industrialization and man-made infrastructure have forced a narrow path for water to run along the length of most rivers in the city. By trying to contain the flow, we have made flooding worse by taking away the natural means of runoff when heavy rainfall occurs. Floodplain forests like this one are essential for reducing damaging flooding; when a storm dumps water into the river, the forest absorbs it like a sponge instead of pushing it into the streets. It should be clear how preserving this landscape benefits everyone who lives in the city, and fortunately organizations such as the Bronx River Alliance and the Teddy Bear Project are working to do just that.”

GABRIELA WILDE

From "Sand and Stone Are Earth’s Memory" by Elise Soutar

Shoelace Park, which runs along what we now refer to as the Bronx River from Williamsbridge to Woodlawn, has been dug up and replanted and paved over many times. The history in its soil has been disturbed but certainly not dislodged completely. People who have lived in the park all of their lives continue to tend to any fresh wounds that come with new changes, notably beginning with the Shoelace Park Master Plan in 2019. The revitalization plan has already incorporated new wayfinding signage, park amenities like picnic tables and seating areas, as well as drainage systems and green infrastructure in the park. The change has been due for a long time.

“It’s just good for human beings in general to have nature around them,” Judy Hutson, a longtime Woodlawn resident who played a major role in the development of the Shoelace Park Master Plan, said. She was most impassioned about what the people she had grown up with in the Bronx could get out of the new and improved park. It’s true: Where we leave ourselves in the land, the land also becomes part of each person who visits it, not only in the sense that its air enters your lungs, but that the memory of your time there becomes a part of what you are.

JAKE CHADWELL

From “Palmer Road Bridge” by Caitriona Delumpa A constant along the shore are the piles and piles of clamshells and some mussel shells that wash up. These are small freshwater golden clams called Corbicula fluminea and larger ribbed mussels called Geukensia demissa. Now, you may not be too familiar with the Bronx River, let alone the organisms that make up its ecosystem, but clams and mussels play a major role in the health of the river. Once an open sewer, the Bronx River has gone through a rebirth with the help of these creatures. The clear water of the river allowed my camera lens to capture a forest of algae and plant life beneath the surface. I was pleased by the millions of precious bubbles hanging out down there. I just about squealed with excitement from their cuteness.

Finders, Seekers: Tuckahoe Explored

The story behind a small town in Westchester County and its park nestled next to the Bronx River

By LARA FOLEY Former Layout Editor

When I arrived in Tuckahoe in early March, the water banks were still brown and barren of life, with several geese floating nearby. In just a few weeks time, flowers and sparrows would be livening up the area. The little greenery on this particular day came from the soccer and baseball fields that make up Parkway Oval Park.

Upon arriving, I had immediately taken a wrong turn down Scarsdale Road, leading me toward Yonkers and past The Wicked Wolf, which seemed like both an endearing bed and breakfast and something right out of a horror movie on this especially gloomy morning.

A quick retracing of my steps led me back on track down Lake Avenue, where I hit Bronx Street and crossed over into the park, which was still sprinkled with a light layer of snow from the night before. A couple of dogs bounded across the hilly terrain that leads down into a basin where the soccer field lies, the Bronx River Pathway runs and the river flows.

Earlier that week, I had the privilege of speaking with Erin Provenzano, a local of Tuckahoe who shared with me and my classmate her family’s long-standing history with the area. She described her connection to the Bronx River as “interwoven into the fabric of the river.”

She recommended that I visit Parkway Oval Park for its simple access from town and its views of the river. Her mother, Elaine, maintains a position as a children’s librarian at the local Tuckahoe Library just a few blocks over.

Her ancestors’ favorite part of the river to venture to, which they fondly nicknamed “Bare Ass Beach,” got its name after its skinny-dipping visitors.

“When the weather gets nice,” she said, “the river comes alive.”

The town comes to congregate by the water, as they’ve been doing for centuries prior. The river functions as a hub and connector within the community. The parks fill up with pedestrians, children playing, dogs and runners, and the plants and animals emerge for spring.

While she no longer lives in the area, Provenzano explained that from a particular point in the neighboring park, Malcolm Wilson Park, one can see the top of the building that her grandmother grew up in. This place holds many fond childhood memories for her.

With a bench for bird watching and a small bridge to the other side of the river, I envisioned the river park to be a wonderful place to experience as a child, growing up connected to the pathway of the water.

Provenzano mentioned a better understanding of the river has not only involved discussions of the beauty of the river and surrounding land, but also the negative impacts it has faced from climate change. Most recently, Hurricane Ida last year flooded the river onto the parkways, leaving hundreds displaced.

Despite these turbulent times, she emphasized the brilliance of the river and its ability to overcome obstacles.

“Nature knows how to heal itself,” she said.

She explained that if we as a society keep building up parkways around it and divert its route, it is in the river’s nature to return to its natural ebb and flow.

While not as close to campus as Central Park, the park is near the Tuckahoe station, a quick ride up the Metro-North. Students looking for a day away from the bustle of the city can enjoy the quiet, tourist-free park and trails and, in the evening, roam the quaint streets for a bite to eat.

Tuckahoe was welcoming, albeit quiet on a Friday afternoon. Decorations for Saint Patrick’s Day appeared in many storefronts but were particularly present in the Growlers Beer Bistro, where I enjoyed fish tacos and a Growler Mojito.

Underneath the Gold Star Mothers Memorial Bridge, which crosses over the Metro-North Railroad tracks, lies the Tuckahoe station. While awaiting my train back to Manhattan, I caught sight of a curious copper bust of a woman shading her eyes, looking outward in the direction of the river. She appeared to be yearning, not quite satisfied with what she was seeing.

The artwork that had caught my attention had been a part of a series of sculptures made by Arthur Gonzalez, titled “The Finder/The Seekers.”

Gonzalez explained his decisions in choosing the figures featured in his sculptures as such: “The old man who only has stories and little motivation unless he finds his counterpart, the young boy who begs for the old magic that he is mesmerized from the old man. Together they create an energy of living and re-living. The female across the way is a symbol of the intelligent and proactive character who is in her prime. In this positioning she holds in her hand an orb that has four small angled pipes that is the original prototype for the invention of steam power. She has found steam power.”

According to the MTA, Gonzalez’s time as an artist has afforded him the ability to investigate themes that “encourage serious deliberation and reflection on the relationship between personal concerns and world issues.”

“I was commissioned to make a sculpture for the face of both elevator towers. So this is the idea that I came up with in order to conceptually join both towers and also the commuters that cross from one side to the other,” he explained. “At one point as commuters walk across, they are for a moment in the line of sight. And hopefully will notice both sculptures.”

The bust is hung above a Fordham advertisement, which had initially caught my eye with its familiar maroon color and “New York is my campus. Fordham is my school” slogan. Located 18 miles north of the Lincoln Center campus, I found myself somewhere new, away from home. I caught myself reflecting on my day in this town I’d just visited, having ventured off into the horizon to find myself in this unfamiliar landscape.

ART BY LARA FOLEY Parkway Oval Park sits right next to to the Bronx River in Tuckahoe, New York. The park is just a train ride away from either Fordham campus on the Metro-North Railroad. Newcomers Lara Foley

The trees here are covered in spiky bursts of seeds, which dot the branches like freckles or ornaments; tucked in the back of alleys lined by brick buildings, leading to nowhere.

Running down the slope of the park we meet the river, its reeds and grasses swaying in the cold March breeze; a couple of geese bobbing nearby, breaking through those icy streams, down to the trickle of the waterfall.

He walks across the bridge, clad in flannel; spots a pipe running through the roots of a tree below — hidden secrets all around us as we spin round and round on the tire swing, until the local children come to join.

We cross the tracks to the station, which glows yellow against the gray sky. “Finder/Seekers” hung high above our heads, greeting the newcomers to the area, sending off the ones departing, wishing them safe journeys on their travels.

A Deeper Dive Into the Bronx River

Students and organizations are working with the Bronx River Alliance to reform the river to its natural state

By CHANTEL SIMS Staff Writer

The Bronx River is one of New York City’s hidden gems. Once frequented by the Mohegan Tribe, the river was known for being a beautiful and lively place for fishing, boating and other recreational activities. In the 1600s, the land was bought by European traders, leading to the river’s misuse as years progressed. By the 1900s, the river was so polluted by industrial city life that it was referred to as an open sewer.

Scarsdale, a city in Westchester County, was greatly affected by the pollution of the river in the early 1900s. After years of complaints from residents, active community member Fredrick Van Wyck took on the challenge of clearing the Scarsdale air. He eventually identified an unnatural change in river structure 100 years prior as the root of current sewer issues. This gave the local government the motivation necessary to support the construction of a better sewer system.

For the last 50 years, organizations like the Bronx River Alliance have been working to reverse the years of damage done to the river. The Alliance is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to act as the river’s voice. According to their website, the Alliance’s goal is to ultimately protect and restore the Bronx River, creating a healthy space for all communities. The staff hosts an array of educational and hands-on events to clean up and restore the river to its previous state.

The Art and Action on the Bronx River class at Fordham Rose Hill, in collaboration with the Center for Community Engaged Learning, works with the Bronx River Alliance to help the nonprofit’s cause while exercising student creativity. Last semester, students in the class created art from 3,000 bottle caps they collected from Starlight Park, a public park in the Bronx located along the river, and donated it back to the Alliance. Every semester, the class paddles along the river while learning about the Indigenous roots of the river from Rodrick Bell, the Alliance’s recreation coordinator.

“I want students to see how creativity can play (and has played) a part in promoting, improving and protecting a landscape,” Matthew López-Jensen, the professor of the class, said. “I also want to underscore that actions like planting, cleaning and maintaining can be art themselves or generate material for artwork.”

In 2013, the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) gained the funding to build Starlight Park along the Bronx River. With the help of the Alliance, the Bronx community, local partners, and city, state, and federal officials, NYSDOT raised enough money to finally complete the second phase of the park over the last decade. Phase two is set to be completed this summer and includes a 0.67-mile greenway segment and the completion of nearly two miles of off-street trails. NYSDOT has also created three new access points to the park, a new bike lane, a new small park with seating that offers a view of the river and a new pedestrian bridge across the river.

Kenneth Tang, Gabelli School of Business at Lincoln Center ’24 and vice president of Lincoln Center’s Environmental Club, commented on the river issues.

“With the Bronx being far, unfortunately it is an area our club does not normally explore,” he said.

The club hopes for future lectures and events to learn about and increase awareness of the river.

Last year, NYSDOT initiated a project to rehabilitate the entrance ramp to the Cross Bronx Expressway. The project led to the demolition of the ramp structure in 2021, which damaged the aesthetics of the river and made it hard for people to access and navigate the freeway. The Alliance has alerted multiple organizations and office members, which prompted many investigations to be opened into the issue, but nothing has been resolved yet.

For Earth Week, which was April 18 through 22, the Bronx River Alliance arranged events for each day, kicking off the week with a “Pitch in to Pick up!” event to clean up Starlight Park. On Tuesday, the Alliance hosted a virtual “Flutter By!” event on how and why it is important to protect pollinators. The week peaked with tree planting in the Bronx River Forest followed by an open house where attendees were given the chance to paddle, learn about environmentalism, compost and repair their bikes.

“With the Bronx being far, unfortunately it is an area our club does not normally explore.”

Kenneth Tang, GSBLC ’24 and vice president of Lincoln Center’s Environmental Club

COURTESY OF BRONX RIVER ALLIANCE The Bronx River Alliance aims to protect and restore the river after years of damage from city pollution.