Do We Tend To Overthink Things?
Sometimes it's the simple pleasures in life that can make a city, or a town, seem lively. Like having beach access.
Yesterday, while visiting Lakeshore Park in Port Dalhousie Canada (twenty minutes from here), I was impressed by the number of people who were drawn to the waterfront for the beach and the water. The setup was nothing fancy either. There was a break-wall (with cleats for boats), a beach, a Home Depot looking pavilion with picnic tables, a bunch of volleyball courts, cooking grills, and not much else. There was an impromptu band playing on a small boat--one of many that was anchored off shore, and of course, there were facilities like bathrooms and showers.
Now it's one thing to be able to swim in clean waters, but it's another thing to be able to enjoy the sights and sounds of the lake. In past BR threads our viewers have brought up the issue of clean water and that is a valid point. 95% of the activity at Lakeshore Park took place on land, which was comprised of mostly sand. Of course there were some people wading in the water or walking out to anchored boats... it was the activity by the water that drew most visitors.
As I watched all of this I thought about Buffalo... and why we were there to visit Lakeshore Park when these amenities should (and could) be back home. I thought about LaSalle Park and wondered what would happen if the city removed the great metal embankments and replaced them with a beach and a boardwalk. Or was there a place on the Outer Harbor? Could those giant rocks be removed and replaced with sand. Or Erie Basin Marina? Of course there would be no swimming, but could the driftwood be cleared from the existing beach so people could sit and watch the boats go by? That seemed to be an easy temporary solution... a quick fix.
Yes, it will be nice when Buffalo has a number of multi-million dollar projects on our waterfront. How long do those take? I don't think I need to tell you (and nobody even knows yet). In the meantime, why is it so difficult to identify something like land for a beach? We're living here now and we want to enjoy all aspects of where we live.
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MikeInWNY
You make an excellent observation. The lack of access to our waterfront is a much bigger problem than the lack of development.
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UrbanBody
...more access "yes." Just be sure there are guarantees that the newly opened spaces / facilities on the water's edge will be maintained and kept clean. We don't need more trashed park spaces. The baseline should be the Canadian standard.
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AppleJack
Wow, great insight. Think of all the families that would spend the summer days at a beach front. Kids are off of school and searching for free and easy activities. We should be able to learn from or Canadian neighbor's successes.
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tinker
This was the same topic of conversation that I had with friends from Brooklyn a few weeks ago. We were visitng a beach in Connecticut when one of our friends wished that she had open water access in Brooklyn. The riverside parks are nice, but they are a tease during the hot weather. Not that she really wanted to swim in the water that flows by her coop, but still, it would be nice to launch a boat or get your feet wet on a hot day. There is nothing like nearby in Brooklyn, which brought us to this topic. That despite all the waterfront acreage, we are still limited to only visiting a few small beaches. The waterfront in Brooklyn looks similar to ours, with high retaining walls and drop-offs to the water. They are built for security and commerce, not for people. Why can't we have a crystal beach in Buffalo? Why can't we reclaim some of the brownfield waterfront sites for open boating and beaches?
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StaggerLee
Wasn't Port Dalhousie busy because of the crew races?
Summing up yes, we do need to take advantage of what we have instead of bitching about what we can't change.
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Kip
"Wasn't Port Dalhousie busy because of the crew races?" - No it’s pretty much always busy on nice summer days.
Yes, I guess Simple and effective works…. However it usually does. I would like to point out some other amenities that make it worthy of going too; I can not totally agree that with just a beach there would be enough to make this point that strong I mean the beach is not that big but can agree more beaches would not hurt only help.
First it helps there is a harbor or “Port” there I am willing to guess it was “Port” Before a beach hence the name “Port Dalhousie” thus has natural( maybe man made?) access for boats to dock etc. Second up the hill there are several bars and clubs that on any summer weekend are flocked too by a younger excited crowd and are bumping, but just the same can be enjoyed by the older crowd in the earlier evening as well. Third it is a Public Dock anybody with the boat can dock there with full electrical hookup to charge there power on there boat (that is really key IMO) plus you pay by length to dock -I believe so depending on your boat it may not be much (in are case this summer for free as we docked after 8:30pm and where not asked to pay and stayed on the boat for the night which is the norm there. It has a huge pier to do this -lucky us) Also with the huge pier that is also contributing to the waters in front of the beach being a bit more calm to swim in.
So I think you have to take in account the boater access as well, as the Lake is toured by both Canadian and Americans and is very popular Port to go to ……again it’s a PORT first, beach second. We were actually stopped by the Toronto Police boat on are way over from Wilson harbor (NY) yes they were way out there on the other side? It was a routine check and they asked where we were going, we explained then one of the cops said oh Port Dalhousie I remember going there in my younger days he was only about in his 30’s but was making more reference to the nightlife. So I guess my long winded point is I think some people plan a day there by boat or by car as you have the beach by day and a pretty excited bar scene at night as well it’s a public dock so it has a lot of potential. I am not trying to say this could not be recreated but I think you have to take into account all the elements and history of this place.
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