Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn yesterday launched the New York City Waterfront Vision and Enhancement Strategy (WAVES), a citywide initiative that will create a new sustainable blueprint for the City's 578 miles of shoreline.

The announcement said that "The WAVES strategy - to be developed over the next nine months - will include two core components: the Vision 2020 - The New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan that will establish long-term goals for the next decade and beyond, and the New York City Waterfront Action Agenda that will set forth priority initiatives to be implemented within three years."

"Together," it continued, "the initiatives will provide a blueprint for the City's waterfront and waterways, and focus on the following categories: open space and recreation, the working waterfront, housing and economic development, natural habitats, climate change adaptation and waterborne transportation. A series of public workshops in all five boroughs to discuss the waterfront strategy will begin this spring. Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn traveled on the NY Waterway ferry to Mill Pond Park near Yankee Stadium in The Bronx to make the announcement, where they were joined by many other public officials."

"New York City is known for its unparalleled skyline, beautiful parks, famous bridges and grand boulevards, but it's 578 miles of waterfront may be its greatest physical asset and certainly the one most important throughout its history," said Mayor Bloomberg. "After decades of abandonment and neglect, our Administration made it a priority to increase access to and jobs on the waterfront, and from the construction of Barretto Point Park in The Bronx to the expansion of Howland Hook Marine Terminal on Staten Island, we've made enormous headway over the past eight years."

"Before the Brooklyn Bridge, before Robert Moses, and before Fiorello La Guardia, New York City's waterfronts were integral to its bustling blue highways," said Speaker Quinn.

"This blueprint will reaffirm the City's commitment to preserving, protecting and investing in our precious maritime and industrial infrastructure," Congressman Jerrold Nadler declared, "and will build upon the Mayor's support of the development of a major container port in Sunset Park as envisioned in the City"s '1999 Strategic Plan for the Redevelopment for the Port of New York'. The full realization of Brooklyn's container capacity is essential for our region's growth and economic development, and for ensuring that New York remains the preeminent shipping hub on the eastern seaboard."

Since 2002, the City has acquired more than 500 acres of land for parks, creating new waterfront parks like West Harlem Piers Park, Barretto Point Park, and Mill Pond Park and advancing other significant open space waterfront projects including Brooklyn Bridge Park, the first phase of which opened last month, Governors Island, Freshkills Park in Staten Island, the Harlem River Park Greenway, and the South Street Waterfront Esplanade in Lower Manhattan. The City has created NYHarborWay, a plan to enhance the identity of nine waterfront sites, improve the physical connections between them and ensure the cohesiveness of their programming, helping New York Harbor to become a major recreational destination for New Yorkers and visitors.

Since 2002, the City has rezoned more than 700 acres of largely vacant or underutilized waterfront land, including: Hunter's Point South and Willets Point in Queens; Greenpoint/Williamsburg and Coney Island in Brooklyn; Stapleton, Staten Island; and Lower Concourse, The Bronx to create new housing and public waterfront access.