At the southern tip of Battery Park City, Wagner Park opened in late July. It belongs to an incredibly complex, multibillion-dollar assortment of resilience efforts to safeguard Lower Manhattan from rising seas and storms during the coming decades.
An earlier Wagner Park opened in 1996. It became an oasis for many residents of this well-to-do neighborhood. When Superstorm Sandy swamped much of the rest of Lower Manhattan in 2012, precipitating the herculean dreams to fortify the coastline, the former Wagner Park didn’t flood.
So opponents of the new park questioned the need to replace the original park. They staged protests. There were lawsuits and delays.
The usual New York story.
Two familiar questions govern much of American life today. Why change something that people like? And why does everything seem stuck? The questions frustrate progress at nearly every turn.
Lately, New York has proved that the city can still, occasionally, accomplish things, despite the headwinds. Wagner is one example. Another is a reconstituted green space on the other side of Lower Manhattan called East River Park.
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