As designers chart a course for classing up the East River waterfront, the city is entertaining a proposal to park one of the world's largest Ferris wheels at Pier 14, two blocks south of the South Street Seaport. Community Board 1 members are not amused.

Modeled after a British attraction called the London Eye, the wheel would lift thrill-seekers 450 feet into the air-as high as some nearby office towers.

		"I think it's incredibly inappropriate for Pier 14," said CB1 Chairwoman Madelyn Wils. "The tourists and crowds it would draw would chase business and residents away. I don't believe that was our intention for the waterfront." The Tussauds Group, a shareholder and operator of the London Eye in partnership with British Airways, approached the city in hopes of bringing a similar attraction to Manhattan. The London Eye can carry up to 15,000 passengers per day. The half-hour ride costs around $15, $9 for children. As plans to revitalize the waterfront unfold, board members are worried that private projects being courted by the city, such as the wheel, could do more harm than good. "We want tourism, but we would like the city to be more sensitive," said Linda Roche, who chairs the Waterfront
Committee of Community Board 1. "I think the London Eye is something that would create a lot of congestion and not be practical for the residents." Wils said she was not opposed to seeing the London Eye in the city but suggested it was better suited for an uptown pier "or maybe Brooklyn.