Is One of New York's Most Successful Parks Heading for a Reckoning?

For anyone that has visited the elegant park that stretches five miles along the Hudson River on Manhattan's west side from Battery Place to 59th street, the successes are evident in the crowds of daily visitors and the string of luxury condominiums and Class A office space that have been drawn to the waterfront by its development.

What's less apparent are the challenges that the park now faces due to declining capital funds and stalled commercial development on its piers.

"'Part of the challenge is how to put together a plan for successful private investment and appropriate redevelopment when you're basing that thinking on quicksand,' said Vin Cipolla, president of the Municipal Art Society. 'There has to be public investment, and the leadership will have to come from the governor. Otherwise we'll just see more deterioration.'"