2015 Park Pride ConferenceBronx River Case Study

Alexie Torres-Fleming – Executive Director, Access Strategies FundHarvard Loeb Fellow 2014

The Bronx River Public Housing Projects, South Bronx, New York

The Burning of the South Bronx…

The Legacy of Planned Shrinkage and Benign Neglect

“When the people lead, the leaders will follow”

CommunityWe Belong to One Another

What is Power

Rebuilding

Community

One of the little-known marvels of the New York City landscape, the 23-mile Bronx River winds down through southern Westchester and the Bronx to define a peaceful corridor of greenery for fishing, strolling, biking, boating and nature study amid the noise and bustle of urban life. It is the only major watercourse within the city limits that is not entirely tidal.

Affirming Leadership and the Voice of the Most

Impacted…

Ecological Restoration Build a Greenway Replant the Concrete

Plant Starlight Park Decommission the

Sheridan

Starlight Park

Trusting OUR

Wisdom and

Expertise…

Demystifying the Systems and Language

of Planning…

Fearlessly Speaking

Truth to Power…

Our Voice, Our Way…

Art, Theater, Music, Play…

Seeing What Others

Do Not See…

Transformational VS Transactional Relationships

“Go to the people. Live with them.

Learn from them. Love them. Start

with what they know. Build with what

they have. But with the best

leaders, when the work is done, the

task accomplished, the people will say

'We have done this ourselves.”

― Lao Tzu