Waterside Deck Chairs. Photo on Flickr by chrisgcsa
When I think of Waterside Plaza, where I have lived for 23 years, the first image that usually comes to mind is one of my neighbors sitting on the park benches around the landscaped plaza. There are the "regulars" who come out in the evenings to chat, the new parents with babies, the Russians who never lost their habit of the nightly progulka (stroll), the kids playing some version of baseball, teens in a gaggle with their i-pods.
What's surprising about this scene, and which we often take for granted, is that people at Waterside, far from scurrying away from their neighbors and hiding from them actually enjoy going outside and meeting them and hanging out with them. It's a very diverse area with all nationalities and races, with quite a few working at the United Nations 10 blocks away and also the low and middle income tower mixed with luxury towers -- not a combo you often see in NYC.
The enclosed feel of course has to do with the architecture of the place.
With the four large towers, Waterside is automatically physically protected. Yet it's also about the policies, backed by management and security guards. Waterside is a nice, open place that people can stroll into just to sit on the benches and read, or visit the restaurants and stores and it has various events open to the public -- it's not a gated community.
But unlike various parks in New York where rules aren't enforced, here you won't find people playing loud music, fighting, drinking alcohol out of open containers, etc. -- so that the atmosphere is pleasant. And most of all, there is a sense of community, of people knowing each other, at least to nod to, and watching out for one another.
Even so, with some 4,000 or so people living here, you might never get to meet your neighbor, and, if you are a workaholic spending long work days in one of the office buildings in the area, you might never find out anything about the area. Hence, my idea for this blog...
Go on Flickr.com and search for Waterside, and you'll be amazed by the number of very professionally done photos of our plaza and environs. I'd be curious to find out more about chrisgcsa's photo -- did he find the chairs left like that from a group of friends chatting, or did he arrange them to make a pattern?
Comments