The Donald’s golf course trumps Bronx neighbor

Posted September 24, 2013 By Claire Moses

Golfers will soon be able to enjoy the magnificent Manhattan skyline while playing a high-end 18 holes, on the city-owned Ferry Point Park course to be run by developer Donald Trump.

Yet just a ball’s drive away sits the other Ferry Point Park, where area residents say filth and illegal activity plague what could be a gorgeous waterfront spot.

Ferry Point Park, pictured here in 2009. Photo: Mark Garbowski/Flickr

The chunk of the park west of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge is Trump’s much-poorer sibling. On summer weekends, say neighbors, the west side of Ferry Point Park is a hub of illegal activity, including gambling, drinking and the illegal sale of alcohol.

“Last summer,” said Kenneth Kearns, District Manager of Community Board 10 in neighboring Throgs Neck, “they took out a full blackjack table and wheel.”

This summer was no different, said local community activist Dorothea Poggi, founder of the group Friends of Ferry Point Park. The oasis has sprawling views of the East River and nearby bridges, but a rocky waterfront plagued by weeds, garbage and filth. It has drinking fountains, but no running water to serve them, and visitors rely on portable toilets.

On the weekends — especially during the summer — Poggi said, the park is crowded with hundreds of people, many of whom don’t pick up after themselves.

Since the addition of athletic fields to the park, sports leagues have arrived to use the fields on the weekends, and more visitors have descended on the park, piling on the trash. Poggi coordinates volunteers to clean up the mess.

“We’re averaging 200 to 300 volunteers a year,” Poggi said. “How do you have all these people with no bathroom?”

Safety has also been a longtime concern at the park.

“We have anything illegal you can imagine on the west side,” said Poggi, a lifelong resident of the area.

The western portion of Ferry Point Park isn’t totally neglected. The Department of Parks and Recreation recently spent $3.4 million on new soccer fields, benches and paths, and after years of delays recently hired a contractor to build a much-needed bathroom. The city budget includes about $16 million to improve the community-accessible waterfront park.

Still, that investment pales in comparison to the one the city is making in the golf course, whose total price tag to the city so far (including the public space) is $137 million. That includes not only constructing the golf course but also fixing the road that leads to the park, environmental remediation at the former dump and repairs to sewer lines.

Poggi asserted that the west side of the park “has never been supported by elected officials.”

Much of the funding for individual parks is dependent on council members’ individual earmarks, rather than the Department of Parks and Recreation budget. While some parks are supported by private funds from conservancies or official organizations, Friends of Ferry Point Park does not have nonprofit status.

Councilmember James Vacca, who represents the Throgs Neck area, declined to comment on the state of the west side of Ferry Point Park.

While parkgoers can look forward to a new comfort station, it will still pale alongside the $10 million clubhouse being constructed for golfers’ exclusive use. The course, designed by renowned golfer Jack Nicklaus, will feature sprawling hills and four man-made ponds.

The golf course will be run by Trump under a 20-year contract with the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, which took over the site the original developer encountered financial difficulties. Plans for a golf course at the site were first proposed by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the late 1990s, with the hope of a 2003 opening.

“It’s beautiful,” said Kearns. Who visited the course earlier this summer. “You would never notice,” he added, that the site used to be a garbage dump.

While many residents expect that the golf course will bring in visitors from outside who will not spend time elsewhere in the Bronx, Kearns expressed hope that its opening might yield some much needed improvements to the west side of the park, which will be accessible from the golfing area.

Said Kearns, “The whole zeitgeist of the place changes when that golf course comes online.”

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<h1>The Donald’s golf course trumps Bronx neighbor</h1>Golfers will soon be able to enjoy the magnificent Manhattan skyline while playing a high-end 18 holes, on the city-owned Ferry Point Park course to be run by <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.thenewyorkworld.com/2012/01/19/trump-golf-deal-leaves-city-with-responsibility-for-bronx-landfill-cleanup/');" href="http://www.thenewyorkworld.com/2012/01/19/trump-golf-deal-leaves-city-with-responsibility-for-bronx-landfill-cleanup/">developer Donald Trump</a>.
Yet just a ball’s drive away sits the other Ferry Point Park, where area residents say filth and illegal activity plague what could be a gorgeous waterfront spot.
<div id="attachment_12400" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.flickr.com/photos/mgarbowski/4170892002/sizes/l/in/photolist-7myUT5-7myV9N-7myVmJ-7myVCh-7myW8w-e1tnQP-aPzFo2-e1tph2-cxuQzj-87P99x-cxuWzA/');" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mgarbowski/4170892002/sizes/l/in/photolist-7myUT5-7myV9N-7myVmJ-7myVCh-7myW8w-e1tnQP-aPzFo2-e1tph2-cxuQzj-87P99x-cxuWzA/"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12400" class="size-medium wp-image-12400" alt="Ferry Point Park, pictured here in 2009. Photo: Mark Garbowski/Flickr " src="http://www.thenewyorkworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ferry-300x169.jpg" width="300" height="169" srcset="thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ferry-300x169.jpg 300w, thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ferry-352x198.jpg 352w, thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ferry-500x281.jpg 500w, thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ferry.jpg 568w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a>Ferry Point Park, pictured here in 2009. Photo: Mark Garbowski/Flickr</div>
The chunk of the park west of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge is Trump’s much-poorer sibling. On summer weekends, say neighbors, the west side of Ferry Point Park is a hub of illegal activity, including gambling, drinking and the illegal sale of alcohol.
“Last summer,” said Kenneth Kearns, District Manager of Community Board 10 in neighboring Throgs Neck, “they took out a full blackjack table and wheel.”
This summer was no different, said local community activist Dorothea Poggi, founder of the group Friends of Ferry Point Park. The oasis has sprawling views of the East River and nearby bridges, but a rocky waterfront plagued by weeds, garbage and filth. It has drinking fountains, but no running water to serve them, and visitors rely on portable toilets.
On the weekends — especially during the summer — Poggi said, the park is crowded with hundreds of people, many of whom don’t pick up after themselves.
Since the addition of athletic fields to the park, sports leagues have arrived to use the fields on the weekends, and more visitors have descended on the park, piling on the trash. Poggi coordinates volunteers to clean up the mess.
“We’re averaging 200 to 300 volunteers a year,” Poggi said. “How do you have all these people with no bathroom?”
Safety has also been a longtime concern at the park.
“We have anything illegal you can imagine on the west side,” said Poggi, a lifelong resident of the area.
The western portion of Ferry Point Park isn’t totally neglected. The Department of Parks and Recreation recently spent $3.4 million on new soccer fields, benches and paths, and after years of delays recently hired a contractor to build a much-needed bathroom. The city budget includes about $16 million to improve the community-accessible waterfront park.
Still, that investment pales in comparison to the one the city is making in the golf course, whose total price tag to the city so far (including the public space) is $137 million. That includes not only constructing the golf course but also fixing the road that leads to the park, environmental remediation at the former dump and repairs to sewer lines.
Poggi asserted that the west side of the park “has never been supported by elected officials.”
Much of the funding for individual parks is dependent on council members’ individual earmarks, rather than the Department of Parks and Recreation budget. While some parks are supported by private funds from conservancies or official organizations, Friends of Ferry Point Park does not have nonprofit status.
Councilmember James Vacca, who represents the Throgs Neck area, declined to comment on the state of the west side of Ferry Point Park.
While parkgoers can look forward to a new comfort station, it will still pale alongside the $10 million clubhouse being constructed for golfers’ exclusive use. The course, designed by renowned golfer Jack Nicklaus, will feature sprawling hills and four man-made ponds.
The golf course will be <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.trumpgolf.com/');" href="http://www.trumpgolf.com/">run by Trump</a> under a 20-year contract with the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, which took over the site the original developer <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574449402598061912.html');" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574449402598061912.html">encountered financial difficulties</a>. Plans <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.gothamgazette.com/index.php/topics/102-parks/3861-the-ferry-point-fiasco');" href="http://www.gothamgazette.com/index.php/topics/102-parks/3861-the-ferry-point-fiasco">for a golf course at the site</a> were first proposed by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the late 1990s, with the hope of a 2003 opening.
“It’s beautiful,” said Kearns. Who visited the course earlier this summer. “You would never notice,” he added, that the site used to be a garbage dump.
While many residents expect that the golf course will bring in visitors from outside who will not spend time elsewhere in the Bronx, Kearns expressed hope that its opening might yield some much needed improvements to the west side of the park, which will be accessible from the golfing area.
Said Kearns, “The whole zeitgeist of the place changes when that golf course comes online.”

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