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edited — location of Bensonhurst Park answered
Environmentalists parked in Bensonhurst this weekend, the latest stop on a borough-wide mission they hope will teach and enlighten.
The Urban Divers Estuary Conservancy’s Enviromedia Mobile — a 48-foot traveling urban nature center and maritime museum — rumbled into Bensonhurst Park, 21st Avenue and Cropsey Avenue, on Sept. 19 – 20 at the Lower Bay, the gateway to the Hudson River.
“Bensonhurst has the longest uninterrupted greenway and some of the better water qualities in all of New York City,” said Ludger Balan, the Urban Divers founder and executive environmental program director.
Activities included tours of the mobile nature and maritime museum, eco-cruises aboard the organization’s massive 32-foot Native American shipping canoe, catch and release fishing, a specimen touch tank, live underwater video exploration, an urban birds of prey education and demonstration, a sunset cinema series, refreshments, and live acoustic music. The vehicle itself offers a host of exhibits meant to inspire discovery and learning about the urban estuary and watershed, including an exhibit about the “Onrust,” the first Dutch ship to have set sailed along the estuary. Balan said his group’s tour, which extends until October, “helps provide environmental literacy where none existed before.”
Funding for the vehicle came from a $100,000 grant from Assemblymember Bill Colton, as well as support from IKEA, and the Hudson River Foundation, and others. The Urban Diver’s, a not-for-profit organization, recently celebrated their 10th anniversary.
The mobile nature and maritime museum has been travelling to waterfronts along the borough and present its programs as part of the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Hudson River. “We have one of the longest and largest uninterrupted waterfronts in New York City and no one makes any hype about it,” he said.
Bensonhurst’s waterfront, for example, “is the only real open space the neighborhood has,” Balan said. “The whole idea of looking out into the sea and seeing the vastness of the water brings tranquility to the spirit.”
The mobile tour kicked off Aug. 15 at IKEA’s Erie Basin Park in Red Hook. The tour will next make a stop at Valentino Beach in Red Hook on Sept. 26th and at Governors Island on Sept. 27th. All programs are from 11am to 5pm. For more information and a to download a complete calendar, go to http://www.urbandivers.org and link to Enviromedia Mobile, or call 347-224-5828, or 347-224-5687, or email getonthewaternyc@gmail.com.
–Gary Buiso
