M. wrote: “Do you know what’s happening at City Vineyard? They are constructing a wall around it. Photo attached.”

And yes, I did know that one — there was this post in 2018 — but I confirmed with Hudson River Park Trust and City Winery just in case. It’s the deployable flood barrier that the building is equipped with to protect it from a future Sandy. It is tested once a year.

You might recall that Pier 25 sustained some damage during Sandy, which if you can believe it was nearly 12 years ago. The barriers are to protect the building in advance of the next flood. (Photo below from Kim.) Construction on the Pier 26 building was finished in 2013, so plans were made then to protect the building.

Downtown Boathouse opened in the upland building at Pier 26 in summer 2014; City Vineyard then opened at Pier 26 in 2016 (the rest of the pier, of course, opened in 2020, but now it’s almost impossible to picture it *not* there).

It turns out M. could have answered her own question, along with a not-so-unlikely runner-up: “I was thinking flood wall or an ultra private event!”