by Benjamin Harris Shaw
NARRATION
Adam Jordan walks down Edgewater Road, along the Bronx River.
TAPE
Doc Sound: Come Back here, come on. Let's take a walk. You can't see much now but you can probable imagine.
NARRATION
He points out two metal towers, weathered with age and neglect. Jordan, a security guard for Northeastern Construction, has worked on this tract of land for 11 years. The site is wedged between two highways, the subway and freight rail. But this little strip of land is surprisingly removed from outside commotion, Jordan says, a separate world.
TAPE:
Jordan: because basically there's not a lot of people down here and it's just, it's just quiet and all the room I need. It's just beautiful down here.
NARRATION
Community groups have been working to clean up the old plant, and it shows says Jordan.
TAPE
Jordan: Whatever they're doing it seems to be working because it brought back... the raccoons are here, the birds are here, the bigger better fish, the turtles are here. A lot of these things weren't here, it was just a lot of garbage floating, at one time
NARRATION
A major step was taken a few years ago when the Parks Department acquired the land This happened in large part due to the community's actions, says Resa Demino an employee with the Bronx River Alliance.
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Demino: We can honestly say that this site would not have been available had the community not stepped in and fought for it and once the got it really made good use of it and been out there on a regular basis claiming the site, using the site, painting the site doing whatever they needed to really show people that this is a community asset.
NARRATION
The site still resembles a industrial plant more than a green park. But this has not stopped local groups from using it as a park.
Adam Green is the founder of Rocking the Boat. The after school program, which teaches boat building and ecology, has been using the cement plant as a place to store and launch boats for the past 4 years.
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Green: Rocking the boat hasn't done a whole lot at all, other than, and this is quite a lot, using the space and using it to a great extent.
TAPE
Demino: They've stake claim to it and that's made a big difference
NARRATION
Resa Demino.
Tape
Demino: It's not lost on anybody that there are kids out there on a regular basis using the site. And that's an important part of the equation.
NARRATION
While the Parks department owns most of the site a portion of the land belongs to the City Department of Transportation. For now, the DOT is reserving the right to use a strip of land along the Sheridan expressway as a staging ground for future roadwork.
TAPE
So the good news is in the long term that site will be entirely park land, the bad news is that it's going to take us a while to get there because we do have to accommodate this project. So there's going to be 50 or 100 feet of concrete left on the site, on the western portion of the site adjacent to the rail road track.
NARRATION
Demino says the DOT project will not delay development of the river front portion of the park and with any luck the city will have a shovel in the ground later this year. The park once complete will have a bike trail, a beach area and a promenade around the two industrial towers. The towers, full of cement, would cost too much to remove.
Adam Jordan doesn't mind that the towers will stay. he says the rusted, 80 foot tall cement stacks are artistic in a way.
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Jordan: It would be good if they left them, paint them up and decorate them make it look like a rocket ship. Put lights at the bottom like it's burning fire at night and point at the top, USA on it and the whole deal.
NARRATION
Demino hopes that this time next year south bronx residents will be able to enjoy the new park. And Jordan says he looks forward to bringing his grandchildren here.
For Columbia Radio News, I'm Ben Shaw