How did New Yorkers become so disconnected from the bodies of water that surround them and how can they reclaim the relationship? Such is the question taken up by City of Water, a 30-minute documentary film about the significance, history, and future of the New York City metropolitan area waterfront.The film is part of a campaign effort for amenable public access along the waterfront. Two years in the making, City of Water premiered on the Brooklyn waterfront on June 21st, 2007. It explores the aspirations of public officials, environmentalists, academics, community activists, recreational boaters and everyday New Yorkers for a diverse, vibrant waterfront at a time when the shoreline is changing faster than at any other time in New York’s history. With New York City’s waterways finally coming back to life, City of Water explores the aspirations of public officials, advocates, environmentalists, recreational boaters and regular New Yorkers for their waterfront as development along its shores proceeds at a gold-rush pace.

Produced by the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance and the Municipal Art Society, the documentary features interviews with Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, US Representative Nydia Velazquez, MacArthur Fellow Majora Carter, author Phillip Lopate, Sandy Hook Pilots’ Captain Andrew McGovern and others, and includes footage from Jamaica Bay, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and many other places on the waterfront.

The film goes back to the time when New York was a major port and and then chronicles the scant maritime industry which leaves behind the rotting piers and hulking sheds, physical obstacles to people’s enjoyment of the water. But as those impediments get removed, being replaced by green parkland and recreation areas, the way a waterfront is redeveloped doesn’t always benefit the public.

There are many fascinating viewpoints contained in this compact documentary, from Long Island City Community Boathouse founder Erik Baard, who points out the folly of placing guardrails all along the water’s edge, thus limiting open water access to boaters, to those brave Hudson River swimmers whose simple act of diving in ensures that the city will keep the river clean and safe for them.
But two of the most moving figures in the film are Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and Majora Carter of Sustainable South Bronx, who both present compelling cases for getting communities involved in reclaiming the waterfront, so that luxury condos — or sheer neglect in the case of the Bronx — do not limit their access.

Jasper Goldman, director and co-producer of City of Water, is a senior policy analyst for the Municipal Art Society:

Making full use of our waterfronts for as many different purposes in New York is critical to making our cities more livable. The more we can use our waterfront and waterways to get around, for recreation, to reconnect with nature, and for economic development – the better our cities will be as places to live in. The premise of the film is that with sound, balanced urban planning we can create a diverse waterfront that will support all of these kinds of functions and more. You only really get a full sense of that beauty when you’re out on the water – we wanted to capture that beauty on film. The more strongly people feel about the waterfront, the more deeply they will care about its future.

Among the things the film highlights that Goldman feels are particularly beautiful about the waterfront are bridges like the GWB or the Verrazano, the Manhattan skyline, architecture, and nature. Goldman focuses on how the water itself is beautiful as well as the life it draws to its edges and that exists within it.

Co-director and producer Loren Talbot:

We wanted ‘City of Water’ to tell a story of what could be done with the waterfront. Our goal is to have the film used by communities that are dealing with issues involving overdevelopment, lack of public space, and a closed-off waterfront. We hope that it will to start discussions.