Lower East Side Waterfront Alliance

For almost 60 years Two Bridges Neighborhood Council has had at the heart of its mission the goal of improving the quality of life for the residents of the Lower East Side. For more than a decade, our advocacy efforts have turned toward the waterfront, working with the city to explore ways to provide recreational access to the waterfront for the first time in history.

The Lower East Side Waterfront Alliance, a growing alliance of neighborhood organizations, concerned residents, property owners, tenant associations, professional social, health and educational institutions, and others, is committed to the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of the East River Waterfront along the Two Bridges neighborhood, Corlear’s Hook and East River Park to serve the adjacent Lower East Side & Chinatown communities.

Our goal is to work together to become active stewards of the ongoing redevelopment of the waterfront and its future use. The Lower East Side Waterfront Alliance members are working on many projects to bring attention to the East River Waterfront, including the Esplanade & Greenway, and Pier 42 and its possibilities. These include Paths to Pier 42 , a project to activate the waterfront through temporary art installations and events.

Lower East Side Waterfront Alliance Members:

Two Bridges Neighborhood Council

Hester Street Collaborative

GOLES

Lower East Side Ecology Center

Cherry Street Tenants Association

Land’s End Tenants Association

CAAAV

• Paths to Pier 42

Local Spokes

Formed in2010 as the Lower East Side-Chinatown Bicycling Coalition, Local Spokes’ nine partner organizations work together to engage local residents to envision the future of bicycling in the diverse neighborhoods of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. We seek to understand the community’s various perspectives through multilingual outreach, community visioning sessions, and a youth ambassadors program. This participatory process will result in the drafting of a conceptual plan and development of additional resources to address potential barriers and increase accessibility to bicycling. Ultimately we hope to create a new model for inclusive and sustainable transportation planning & development.

Local Spokes members include nine partner organizations:

Asian Americans for Equality

Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES)

Green Map System

Hester Street Collaborative

Recycle-A-Bicycle

Times Up!

Transportation Alternatives

Two Bridges Neighborhood Council

Velo City

Chinatown Working Group

Since 2009, Two Bridges has actively participated in the Chinatown Working Group (CWG), a community-based planning initiative to help shape the future of Manhattan’s Chinatown, and to formulate and work with New York City agencies to implement a precise, comprehensive, meaningful, timely and broadly supported community-based plan. The CWG stakeholders coalition consists of civic, cultural, community and small business organizations, individuals, representatives of Community Boards 1, 2 & 3, and other interested parties. Two Bridges has a particular interest in issues of housing affordability, preservation, neighborhood revitalization, and the social and economic well being of families, seniors and youths.