University Woods: Restore a Discarded Treasure

This opinion piece in the Mount Hope Monitor by Greg Fuchs, the development director for the New York Rowing Association and a Morris Heights resident, calls for the renovation of University Woods Park, a long neglected and troubled spot not far from the Harlem River. (Photo by Greg Fuch)

It also includes some fascinating history about BCC's nearby campus...

University Woods: Restore a Discarded Treasure

Recently, my wife and I moved to the Bronx after living in Brooklyn for more than a decade. She teaches at Bronx Community College (BCC). I left working downtown to direct the development of the New York Rowing Association (NYRA), which is changing the lives of youth by promoting healthy development and social responsibility.

Last year we purchased a modest wood-framed house built on a steep slope where Undercliff Avenue splits from Sedgwick Avenue, in Morris Heights. The front door is 15-feet above the sidewalk. From the elevated stoop I have a bird’s eye view of NYRA’s home, the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse, floating on the Harlem River on the shore of Swindler Cove Park, a former dumping ground that’s become a restored wetlands teeming with animal and plant life. This idyllic cove was created through the chutzpah of Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project.

My daily trek from Morris Heights to Inwood takes me north on Sedgwick Avenue, west on 179th Street, then north on Cedar Avenue until I hit Fordham Road. Then it’s over the University Bridge. Walking on Cedar I pass University Woods Park. I have become increasingly fascinated with this majestic park filled with enough trees to earn its name. The city’s Parks Department describes it as "a forested area situated on a steep slope overlooking the Harlem River. It commands an impressive view of Upper Manhattan, the Hudson River, and the New Jersey Palisades."

... more here in the Monitor.