Monday, May 16, 2005

Parks, Kayaks, Ferries: More Public Access to the Sound

Marlene Kolbert, a veteran of the effort to stop Davids Island (which is off New Rochelle) from being developed and to turn it into a park, writes about the issue in the Larchmont Gazette. She writes:

People see Davids Island as one of the last potential sites for public access to Long Island Sound. (Marlene's daughter, Elizabeth, is the author of The New Yorker's recent global warming series.)

Marlene is on the Larchmont Village Board of Trustees. After you read her piece calling for public access to the island in New Rochelle, scroll down and read David Hellerstein's piece implictly calling on Marlene (and her fellow board members) to do more for public access to the Sound in Larchmont. He writes:

For most villagers, except those fortunate enough to own waterfront property or to belong to exclusive clubs, we might as well be living in the middle of South Dakota.

David Hellerstein is a kayaker, and his piece is about finding places to put his kayak into the water. But the point is the same, whether you want to paddle about or just put your feet in a tidal pool:

... think regionally. The issue of water access to the Sound should involve collaboration between all shorefront municipalities.

Meanwhile in Stamford, a fellow wants to run a ferry service for day-trippers to Northport. More kayakers, more parks, more ferries -- we need them all.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Public Access to Long Island Sound, or lack of, has long been an obstacle to building a greater constituancy among potential stakeholders in the Long Island Sound community at large. One of the attempts to address this situation is the currently proposed legislation: The Long Island Sound Stewardship System Act. The goals of this initiative are to manage regional coastal resources in a voluntary cooperative strategy (read: public and private landholders)for both their ecological health and their potential recreational public access, without jeapordizing the quality of those resources. It is believed that a collaborative effort to both protect and recognize access needs will more efficiently address these goals, while avoiding redundancy in effort.

10:49 AM  

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