Recent years have seen small boating grow out of quiet places like Jamaica Bay and into almost forgotten water bodies like Newtown Creek and the Gowanus Canal. Just last week the NYC Parks Department permitted a new facility on New York Bay at Louis Valentino, Jr. Pier in Brooklyn. On the Hudson River, the Downtown Boathouse is the leader in providing free public boating opportunities on the lower Hudson. Since 1995 this all-volunteer organization has served more than 10,000 people, many of them with no boating experience, and sponsored weekly excursions as far north as the Intrepid Museum and the Statue of Liberty to the south. The stuff of planning boards, demographers and white papers has become a hot issue in the corridors of Trenton.
Suburban sprawl is on the political radar screen.
Last week, Sen. John Adler, D-Camden, proposed a series of bills designed to restrict suburban sprawl and direct growth to cities and older suburbs. The package would provide money to maintain land for farm use, clean up contaminated urban sites and provide state legal aid to municipalities that adopt zoning laws to restrict sprawl. Adler's proposals are sure to stimulate debate. But the package provides a good starting point to talk seriously about addressing sprawl, and Adler deserves credit for proposing it. The crowded suburbs and deteriorating cities surely need it.