East River C.R.E.W.'s mention in the concluding chapter, "Perspectives," of a new photo history of the East River is re-printed below with links to some of our many community partners. "Perspectives" co-author Erik Baard is active in the new Long Island City Community Boathouse, a possible destination for a longer row, advance-scheduled when tides and currents permit!

Excerpted from: Erik Baard, Thomas Jackson, Richard Melnick, and the Greater Astoria Historical Society, Images of America: The East River, 2005, Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, p. 117

In many ways, our generation knows the East River more than any that preceded -- even the Native Americans who depended upon it for food, and the industrialists who altered its course forever. We can view it from space satellites as a tiny detail on a small watery planet. With another set of instruments, we can analyze its chemical composition, biota, hydrology, and geology with nearly incomprehensible precision. Mounds of such data can help citizens become better caretakers of the strait, but only if they feel motivated by an intrinsic attachment to it.

New York's economy continues to shift away from its industrial base toward information, media, financial services, and the arts. Waterfront tracts once used for parking lots and factories are now being developed for housing. Luxury apartment towers are sprouting on the Brooklyn and Queens bank of the East River to capitalize on the skyline and harbor views ...

Residents and parkgoers along the East River cannot help but notice glimmerings of a new age at hand, one in which this waterway will become the great oasis of respite in the heart of the city. In terms of open air and variety of recreation, it could dwarf Central Park. The annual Manhattan Island Marathon Swim draws competitors from around the globe. A flowering of new community boating groups like the East River kayak Club, the East River Apprentice Shop, Floating the Apple, East River CREW (Community Recreation and Education on the Water), Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, and Rocking the Boat have put thousands of New Yorkers onto the East River ...

The recovering ecosystem is igniting passionate involvement, too. The Urban Divers reveal schooling fish hidden in the East River's depths via live video. And fishing never entirely vanished, as visitors to the Lower East Side Ecology Center will attest. Anglers come out in all seasons, whether to catch a meal where the Harlem River and East River meet, or as enthusiasts of the sport, idling aboard boats in the main channel. Alliances have formed to nurture the Bronx River and Newtown Creek, and the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance is linking such groups into an East River Network. With water quality improving year by year, it is unlikely that New Yorkers will abandon their aquatic escape so readily again. A new, unexpected sound rises from the face of the famous and infamous East River: laughter.

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