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[[File:General slocum burning.jpg|thumb|325px|right|Firefighters working to put out the fire on the listing ''General Slocum'']]
The East River was the site of one of the greatest disasters in the history of New York City when, in June 1904, the [[PS General Slocum|PS ''General Slocum'']] sank near North Brother Island due to a fire. It was carrying 1,400 German-Americans to a picnic site on Long Island for an annual outing. There were only [[PS General Slocum#1904 disaster|321 survivors of the disaster]], one of the worst losses of life in the city's long history, and a devastating blow to the [[Little Germany, Manhattan|Little Germany]] neighborhood on the [[Lower East Side]]. The captain of the ship and the managers of the company that owned it were indicted, but only the captain was convicted; he spent 3 and a half years of his 10-year sentence at [[Sing Sing|Sing Sing Prison]] before being released by a
Beginning in 1934, and then again from 1948 to 1966, the Manhattan shore of the river became the location for the limited-access [[FDR Drive|East River Drive]], which was later renamed after [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin Delano Roosevelt]], and is universally known by New Yorkers as the "FDR Drive". The road is sometimes at grade, sometimes runs under locations such as the site of the [[Headquarters of the United Nations]] and [[Carl Schurz Park]] and [[Gracie Mansion]] – the mayor's official residence, and is at time double-decked, because Hell Gate provides no room for more landfill.<ref name=concrete90>Eldredge & Horenstein (2014), p.90</ref> It begins at [[The Battery (Manhattan)|Battery Park]], runs past the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensboro Bridges, and the Ward's Island Footbridge, and terminates just before the Robert F. Kennedy Triboro Bridge when it connects to the [[Harlem River Drive]]. Between most of the FDR Drive and the River is the [[East River Greenway]], part of the [[Manhattan Waterfront Greenway]]. The East River Greenway was primarily built in connection with the building of the FDR Drive, although some portions were built as recently as 2002, and other sections are still incomplete.<ref>{{cite news |author=Staff |date=November 7, 2013 |url=http://ny.curbed.com/2013/11/7/10178406/city-unveils-designs-for-midtowns-east-river-greenway |title=City Unveils Designs For Midtown's East River Greenway |work=[[Curbed|Curbed New York]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Miller |first=Stephen |date=August 8, 2013 |url=http://www.streetsblog.org/2013/08/08/patchwork-upgrades-move-ahead-as-east-side-waits-for-complete-greenway/ |title=Patchwork Upgrades Move Ahead as East Side Waits for Complete Greenway |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110043410/http://www.streetsblog.org/2013/08/08/patchwork-upgrades-move-ahead-as-east-side-waits-for-complete-greenway/ |archive-date=November 10, 2016 |work=Streetsblog NYC}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Greenway Plan Gets 'Missing Link' |first=Erica |last=Orden |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203476804576613423025143388 |newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=October 6, 2011 |access-date=October 6, 2011}}</ref>
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<!--The following information, right up to the 8/30/07 NY Times footnote, is covered by the source in that footnote. Please do NOT add missing-citation tags as was done in the past because ... the citation is adequate.-->Due to heavy [[water pollution|pollution]], the East River is dangerous to people who fall in or attempt to swim in it, although as of mid-2007 the water was cleaner than it had been in decades.<ref name=times2007 /> {{as of|2010}}, the [[New York City Department of Environmental Protection]] (DEP) categorizes the East River as Use Classification I, meaning it is safe for secondary contact activities such as boating and fishing.<ref>[[New York City Department of Environmental Protection]] (September 2010) [http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/pdf/green_infrastructure/11x17map_eastriver_openwaters.pdf "East River and Open Waters"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729003256/http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/pdf/green_infrastructure/11x17map_eastriver_openwaters.pdf |date=July 29, 2014 }} in [http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/pdf/green_infrastructure/NYCGreenInfrastructurePlan_LowRes.pdf ''Green Infrastructure Plan''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416043855/http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/pdf/green_infrastructure/NYCGreenInfrastructurePlan_LowRes.pdf |date=April 16, 2016 }}</ref> According to the marine sciences section of the DEP, the channel is swift, with water moving as fast as four knots, just as it does in the [[Hudson River]] on the other side of Manhattan. That speed can push casual swimmers out to sea. A few people drown in the waters around New York City each year.<ref name="times2007">{{cite news |author=Staff|title=Welcome, Students. Now Watch It. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/30/nyregion/30students.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 30, 2007 |access-date=August 30, 2007}}</ref>
{{as of|2013}}, it was reported that the level of bacteria in the river was below
Thanks to reductions in pollution, cleanups, the restriction of development, and other environmental controls, the East River along Manhattan is one of the areas of New York's waterways – including the [[Raritan River|Hudson-Raritan Estuary]] and both shores of [[Long Island]] – which have shown signs of the return of biodiversity.<ref>Eldredge & Horenstein (2014), p.186</ref> On the other hand, the river is also under attack from hardy, competitive, alien species, such as the [[Carcinus maenas|European green crab]], which is considered to be one of the world's ten worst invasive species, and is present in the river.<ref>Eldredge & Horenstein (2014), p.188</ref>
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