Rodman's Neck

Rodman's Neck refers to a peninsula of land in the Bronx, New York jutting out into Long Island Sound.

The southern third of the 'neck' is used as a firing range by the New York Police Department; the remaining wooded section is part of Pelham Bay Park. The north side is joined to what used to be Hunters Island and Twin Island to form Orchard Beach and a parking lot.

Two small land berms between Rodman's Neck and City Island are City Island's only connecting point road to the mainland.

Turtle Cove Controversy

Rodman's Neck now has three meadows, two of which two are natural salt water meadows, one and the other two are manmade freshwater meadows, one created by Robert Moses. There is also a roundabout called The City Island Traffic Circle and several small ballfields. Every original building has been razed. A landfill area for City Island Road crosses Turtle Cove Saltwater Marsh with a culvert made of concrete pipes connecting it to salt water Eastchester Bay. A second land berm built for horsecar that was long forgotten, had its always-clogged three foot diameter culvert removed and a trench with a stainless steel bridge installed. Local birdwatchers say that the allowing of saltwater flow into northern Turtle Cove is chasing away freshwater drinking birds. Locals are bewildered that the parks department would waste money and build a pedestrian bridge, instead of removing the unused land berm. Many do not like parks departments plans to restore all flora and animals to indigenous species that are pre-Columbus.

History

Rodman's Neck is named after a local man, Samuel Rodman. It was originally named Anne's Hoeck after Anne Hutchinson, who was killed in a Native American massacre at nearby Split Rock. The southern tip, known as Pell's Point, is where the British landed during the Revolutionary War Battle of Pell's Point.

Controversy

Many residents of City Island have been complaining for years about the noise that comes from the gun firing, and detonation of weapons at Rodman's Neck, as they have a tendency to shake City Island and the houses on it. This issue has been addressed many times, most notably at a town hall meeting hosted by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani at Public School 175 in March 1998, where it was determined by city officials that there was no solution to the noise problem, as there would be no other practical venue for the NYPD range to be.

External links

• Rodman's Neck History
• Robert Moses Meadow

Coordinates: 40°51′09″N 73°48′02″W / 40.8525°N 73.80056°W / 40.8525; -73.80056

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