Follow the Money

How much will the Fjord Trail cost to build and how much will it cost to maintain it? If Anybody knows, Nobody will say.

The Dockside to Breakneck section alone will have a 12’ wide boardwalk sitting on pilings high above the river or cantilevered out from the shore. Is that what $45 million in restricted funds are for? Nobody will say. What if that costs more? Who will pay the difference? Nobody will say.

What about the ongoing maintenance of miles of fenced boardwalk and new amenities along the way? How many people will be needed to keep the trail free of garbage or graffiti? Maintain the bathrooms? What will that cost? Who will pay?

HHFT says the trail will be dawn to dusk. With six access points along the trail, how will they control access to them at off hours? Nighttime guards? Cameras? Lights? What are those estimated costs? Who will pay?

Who will pay for annual liability insurance? Insurance costs Hudson River Park, which stretches along four miles of the west side of Manhattan, $7 million a year.

What about ongoing repair of an aging boardwalk, its fences, benches, bathrooms, the playground, the beach? What are those estimated costs? Who will pay?

What happens when the railroad tracks are flooded and the boardwalk is just 25’ away raised above river levels? How will the tracks be fixed? Who pays for the repair of the trail that will, perforce, be disrupted?

Think Dockside Park. The bigger the financial needs for the trail, the greater the pressure to commercialize Dockside, the only significant potential source of revenues. One restaurant will not suffice. Bryant Park, in the middle of Manhattan, has multiple leases with an expensive restaurant and bar, several permanent kiosks for food, scores of winter holiday shopping stalls, an ice skating rink, curling games, film festivals and concerts. It raises $15-20 million annually to support the park. Is this what the Village of Cold Spring needs or wants?

Every successful private-public partnership has a detailed agreement between the parties on construction, maintenance, and management costs and expected revenue sources. The HHFT has held a series of orchestrated forums but none have focused on the all-important understanding of the relationship—now and in the future—of the NYS and HHFT.