Trip to Hartford inspires county riverfront effort
BY MICHAEL P. BUFFER STAFF WRITER 07/12/2008HARTFORD, Conn. — Luzerne County officials are considering the formation of a nonprofit organization to plan activities along the Susquehanna River after going on a bus trip Friday to see Hartford’s riverfront operation.
“We have to get someone to start coordinating events,” said County Commissioner Stephen A. Urban, chairman of the county flood protection authority. “We have a grand opening in the spring. We need events next summer.”
The county’s riverfront project in Wilkes-Barre will be completed this spring. The $30 million River Common project involves the construction of two portals in the levee to provide public access to an amphitheater, boat landing and fishing pier on the riverfront. A paved walking/biking path will run atop the levee, and bridges have already been placed to stretch across the portals.
Urban said he and Jim Brozena, county flood protection director, on Monday will discuss how to create a nonprofit entity for riverfront activities.
The discussion will then continue at Tuesday’s authority meeting, Urban said.
Brozena organized Friday’s bus trip for a group of approximately 24 people. Riverfront Recapture Inc. was created in 1981 to develop a comprehensive plan to reunite Hartford and East Hartford with the Connecticut River.
Flood walls and Interstate 91 had cut off access to the riverfront. In 1984, the Connecticut Department of Transportation agreed to restore public access to the riverfront by reconstructing I-91.
Hartford’s riverfront today includes seven miles of pristine shoreline, four parks and 148 acres of park grounds. Park rangers, who patrol the riverfront on bicycles, welcome visitors and answer questions and advise everyone about park rules.
“This is quite an inspiring trip,” said Shelly Pearce, volunteer chairwoman of the Cultural Council of Luzerne County. “I am really hopeful for our riverfront park and where it will be in a decade.”
Mortensen Riverfront Plaza, the centerpiece of the Hartford’s riverfront park system, opened in 1999. People can enjoy performances at a 2,500-seat canopy amphitheater, take a boat cruise and get food, and a pedestrian promenade on Founders Bridge links riverfront parks in Hartford and East Hartford.
Riverside Park is a restored park with a boat launch, mountain bike and nature trails, fishing, athletic fields, picnic areas, playgrounds and a boathouse that supports a rowing program. People also can walk along the river and experience award-winning sculpture reflecting the life and values of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Financial Sculpture Walk.
Riverfront Recapture has an annual operating budget of $2.2 million, and 26 percent of its revenue now comes from vendor and event fees, said Marc A. Nicol, Riverfront Recapture director of planning and development.
Luzerne County officials and leaders said they are interested in creating a nonprofit organization that could ultimately coordinate events at the River Common and county courthouse in Wilkes-Barre and also across the river at Kirby Park, Nesbitt Park, the Wyoming Valley Airport and Luzerne County Sports Complex in Forty Fort.
Other officials on the bus trip were state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre; Todd Vonderheid, CEO and president of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry and a former county commissioner; Andy Gegaris, county director of parks and recreation; and county Engineer Joe Gibbons.
