New parks! New restaurants! The future of Manhattanville organizing! Bwogger-about-town Lydia DePillis reports (with apologies for the sub-par cell phone photos).

It's taken 20 years and $20 million, and the Harlem Piers waterfront park still isn't quite open. But a troupe of students got a surprise sneak peek today, as part of a tour featuring expansion from a north-of-125th-St. perspective.

Those who skidded through the rain to the shore near Fairway got through the chain-link fence with the help of Savona Bailey-McClain, chair of Community Board 9's Waterfront Economic Development committee, who fielded questions about what exactly people will be able to do there.

"This is really not a park. It's a wharf," she said, explaining the absence of typical park features, like stages and athletic fields. "It will feel like a park, it will look like a park, but it's not."

Harvard was the first to make early action non-binding, and it's now become the first to ditch the whole policy, which has been widely derided for favoring children of the rich and deadline-savvy. But the Iviest of the Ivy League says it might not stick with the gutsy decision if other schools don't follow suit, and Columbia, at least, isn't biting. From Robert Hornsby, Columbia's Director of Media Relations:

"Columbia University's admissions policies are re-evaluated annually. To date, it has not been our experience that our early admission program has negatively impacted our ability to create a diverse class. For example, Columbia's student of color representation and representation of students from lower income brackets has consistently been one of the highest among our peers. Through a constant review of our policies, we maintain our commitment to providing a fair and equitable review process for all applicants."

Translation: Now why would we want to do a silly thing like that? Look at all the people of color we have, and that number nine on the US News College Rankings!

How inspiring.