Once upon a time on the river's edge in the South Bronx there stood an abandoned concrete batch mix plant.  When the plant went bankrupt and closed in 1987, this 10-acre site stood empty for years and became a dumping ground -- at one point, more than 20,000 tires were removed from the site.  The city wanted access to the property as a truck route for the Hunts Point Market (one of the world's largest food distribution centers).  Community residents, however, wanted more: to reclaim the brownfield as a park on their new greenway.  After ten years of hard work, their vision was realized on October 30, when Concrete Plant Park officially opened.

In a part of the city with less than half an acre of parkland per 1,000 residents, this oasis provides much-needed space for residents to build some physical activity into their daily routines.  Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice (YMPJ) took the lead for the community.  They had a hand in many aspects of the project from vision and planning to organizational development and on-the-ground work.  This location in particular presented an inviting, and challenging, combination of urban and riparian issues.  Along with the Bronx River Alliance, the YMPJ worked closely with ecologists to restore the salt marsh on the river's edge-growing marsh plants in bed created on top of concrete, then harvested and planted along the river.

The park is the newest addition to the Bronx River Greenway.  In a nod to the previous use of the site, some of the massive, character-giving steel structures from the plant were restored and incorporated into the park.

There is no such thing as instant gratification in creating a park in a highly urban area like this.  But with strong community support, an involved yet collaborative funding model, and the vision and hard work of a number or partners such as The Point Community Development Corporation, the Bronx River Alliance, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, the Parks Department, and other city and state government officials, this park embodies renewal -- of the land, the river, and the sustainability of a community.

Concrete Plant Park is an example of what a committed group of partners can do when they put their minds, time, and resources to it.  Like every park, it provides concrete evidence of how vision and perseverance can allow a community to shape a better future.  Even in the most unexpected of places.