Protecting and improving the community for the people who live and work here

Agenda:

Opening Remarks

Acting Borough Commissioner  – Ralph Musolino

Operations Park Manager – Eddie Rodriguez

Capital  Steve Simon, Manhattan Chief of Staff

PEP-Capt. Charles St. Louis

NYPD – Capt. Michael Lam / Det. Rodney Rosado

Community Board 3 – Susan Stetzer, District Manager

Partnerships for Parks – Ted Enoch, Senior Program Director

Sara Roosevelt Park Coalition – K Webster

Sara D. Roosevelt Park Alliance- Anli Liu

 

Bob with Iresema and K

Parks Sara Roosevelt Park Meeting

Our Sara Roosevelt Park Community Coalition report:

Thank you Ralph. You’ve been one of our very best Parks leaders over decades and we appreciate it. And congratulations to Commissioner Shimamura.

I’m going to keep this to 5 minutes

Our role is/has been to build respectful Partnerships to encourage a positive, activated park for 40+ years

Because activated use is what makes a park safer.

We want to thank ground Parks staff – including our former/current Parks Managers and we’d like to thank Partnerships for Parks, our 5th Pct and CB3.

Who activates us:

Kim Fong of the BRC and her staff, MKG’s events like Juneteenth, Halloween, Dog Halloween, University Settlement who recently posted flyers on locations of warming sites. MKG posting info for immigrants here. AAFE workshops nearby. The Hua Mei Birders (Tommy and Tony especially) and MKG (both for 40 years), The 5th Pcts Chan and Smith and their Youth Explorers, The Alliance taking on below Grand, ALL the individual volunteer garden plots north/south of Delancey led by Kate, Rob, Tessa, and Irit. FABnyc backing Debra Jeffreys-Glass/MKG to honor the African burial ground that was here. FABnyc/ThinkChinatown! Arts with lighting – that made the park safer too. The Remote Theater Project’s performances in the Pit, including Walking Amal and of course Chinatown Partnership’s Wellington Chen for always coming through with help. We are grateful for  the Chinese Progressive Association voter projects, the schools here, the soccer organizations especially the grandfathered ones. And all the event creators in the Pit.

We have children’s programming throughout the season (ladybug, butterfly/turtle releases), chicken care, bird walks, Thx to Partnerships we held a Panel of the volunteer gardeners working here.

 

The Tenement Museum’s partnership means we are hyper aware of our histories. We’ve installed markers to denote this including: in particular that this entire area was  once known as the “Land of the Blacks” because formerly enslaved Black land owners farmed here in 1647. We thank Wei Tchou who recently wrote in Places Journal about this park.

We have clothes distribution thank you Bob. We have many food and arts providers who volunteer here such as Sea of Galilee Church and Inside Change from Within.

 

Upcoming with Partnerships and Ted Enoch we’ll hold a panel of providers in and around this park to assist our communities to learn who is trying to tackle homelessness and/or poverty daily/weekly Jeff of the Bellevue van, Marcellous of City Relief, Jose of the Dept of Ed food trucks.

We intend to have an information panel on affordable housing focused on younger people and elders

We intend to create a Native marker/garden to honor the LENAPE legacy.

And this park has always been home to Immigrant communities -eventually we want to acknowledgement all people who had/have historic connections here to build understanding across artificial barriers.

Our asks:

Stanton Building – There is not one youth center despite having four Parks buildings. 7 high schools one jr high abutting this park.

PEP in playgrounds for the next period of time.

We’d like to see the 5th Pct reactivate Community Policing

Needle boxes for safe disposal of needles everywhere. Thank you Housing Works.

We need precisely targeted encampment moving  when in occur– these can’t be in spaces near playgrounds, schools, nor in front of the BRC senior center. We need our providers to help. Signage, talking to folks…etc..

We don’t have to be shitty about it.

Housing/services for formerly and current homeless people. Pushing them out to nowhere doesn’t help.

Communications Building  at Broome –-how could it better be useful to this park?

Dogs off leash in playgrounds/sports fields

Stolen Goods market – we have sellers and the buyers keep it lucrative

 

Speakers invited on behalf of the Coalition:

Kim Fong BRC salt thanks, and Francisco plowed.

Debra/Bob MKG

Melissa Aase CEO University Settlement

Rob, Tessa, Kate, K – outside of mkg gardens.

Fran Rivington Playground

 

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Closing of HALO Memorial At The M’Finda Kalunga Garden

Help remember those who came before us….Create a ribbon for our fence with messages of remembrance and hope

Opening Remarks: Debra Jeffreys-Glass

Libations: Tracy L. Gray

Performance: Robert Bryan

 

 

The “Old Guard”

With thanks to:

Bob Humber & Kate Fitzgerald: Head Gardeners MKG

MKG community volunteers

K Webster and the sara Roosevelt Park Community Coalition

Speakers and performances: Robert Bryan, Tracy L Gray and Asha Futterman

Emanuel Oni: HALO artist

Ryan Gilliam and the FABnyc Team

John Sloane and the Buro Happold Team

Brian Cohen and Kyle Luntz and the BEAM Center Team

Ted Enoch, Sayde Wilson and Pilar Maschi Partnerships for Parks and Catalyst Program

Tricia Shimamura, NYC Parks Manhattan Commissioner and the Manhattan Team

Terese Flores, NYC Parks, District 3 Regional Manager

 

Read MoreClosing of HALO Memorial At The M’Finda Kalunga Garden
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Farewell (For now!) Closing of HALO Memorial At The M’Finda Kalunga Garden

Farewell (For now!) Closing of HALO Memorial At The M'Finda Kalunga Garden
By M’Finda Kalunga Garden (@MKGarden) 
Inside Sara Roosevelt Park between Chrystie and Forsyth Streets on Rivington Transverse)

Overview

Join us to honor HALO’s luminous art, its legacy, and the community that makes it shine.

Join us at the M’Finda Kalunga Community Garden as we gather to honor HALO — a luminous art installation that has brightened Sara D. Roosevelt Park and illuminated the legacy of the Chrystie Street African Burial Ground.

Installed in 2024, HALO intertwines African diasporic patterns and ancestral histories, transforming the garden fence into a radiant memorial and educator. For countless residents, students, and visitors, it has become both a symbol of remembrance and a beacon of safety and pride in the Lower East Side.

Due to NYC Parks requirements for art installations and their length time on display , HALO must come down before mid-November. While we continue to advocate for its permanent recognition, we invite the community to come together and celebrate the light, legacy, and collective spirit that HALO embodies.

Come share stories, music, and connection as we reflect on what this installation has meant — and envision how its message can continue to shine in the future.

About the Garden:
The M’Finda Kalunga Community Garden, founded in 1982 by local residents reclaiming Sara D. Roosevelt Park from disrepair, remains a living symbol of resilience and community action. Today, it serves as a “communal backyard” for the neighborhood, hosting cultural festivals, gardening programs, and gatherings that unite generations.

Event Details:

M’Finda Kalunga Community Garden, Sara D. Roosevelt Park
Sunday November 9,12pm-1pm

Accessible by J/Z/B/D trains and M103/M15/M21/B39 buses

Let’s honor HALO’s light — and ensure its legacy continues to illuminate the stories, history, and hope rooted in this space.

Read MoreFarewell (For now!) Closing of HALO Memorial At The M’Finda Kalunga Garden
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Roni-Sue’s Chocolates! Neighborhood Chocolatier! Open House Tonight!

Roni-Sue’s Chocolates! Neighborhood Chocolatier! Open House Thursday 10/30, 5-9pm 

Celebrating their 18th Anniversary!

 

Secret chocolate bar stash & serving up slices of Stretch Pizza and bubbly to go with it! It was delicious!!

That’s Roni Sue in the back!

 

Read MoreRoni-Sue’s Chocolates! Neighborhood Chocolatier! Open House Tonight!
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Partnerships for Park Community Connections Social

 

Good to see many old and new friends.

Community Connections Social last night….Manhattan Parks Commissioner Shimamura, K Webster Prez SRP Community Coalition, Michael Marino Prez of Friends of Corlears Hook Park Good to see Ted Enoch of Catalyst and Partnerships, Steve Simon NYC Parks and many more! And Shweta Patwardhan: Co-Chair MKGarden

Read MorePartnerships for Park Community Connections Social
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Last Mile Delivery Site. Bait and Switch to Amazon Across from Senior Center and Our Park. In an Environmental Justice Zone

The corporate mega -giant AMAZON has entirely taken over the commercial space on Forsyth Street directly across from Sara Roosevelt Park and the MKGarden and the BRC Low-Income Senior Nutrition Center.

 

According to a December 2021 investigation by Consumer Reports, companies like Amazon have opened up the vast majority of last-mile logistics facilities in communities of color that have long suffered disparate environmental harms like increased rates of air pollution, noise, and asthma.

Now this Last-Mile site intends to be a 24 hour loading zone.
Blue Amazon not Orange JOCO
The site was originally proposed to the Community Board 3 by a small start-up company named JOCO.

There are bills before the NYC Council to prevent these from clustering in low-income neighborhoods or NYC Parks:

  • Last-mile zoning text amendment – The special permit would set forth the following condition (among others):
    • Any last-mile warehouse must be at least 1,000 feet from any school, park, nursing home, or public housing development.
We are advocating for The Department of Transportation/DOT to move the (now) 24 hour loading zone to around the corner to Delancey between Forsyth and Eldridge – a large thoroughfare and a designated truck route.
More DATA:
Local resident and MKGardener research:
The loading and unloading signs imply that trucks are allowed to load and unload on a 24 hour basis and this is different from what was told to the community.
It should be 7AM to 7PM as per in other locations. JOCO requested extended hours but not 24/7.
Incomprehensibly,  it appears that Forsyth Street is not a bike lane or greenway.
Still, Trucks should only be on these routes:
We are proposing that all affected residents, gardeners and affected seniors consider voicing concerns with 311 and your elected officials.
 
While “Last MIle” is great in theory – but there are very real concerns that these sites are being placed in predominately low-income communities of Color.
 
And…we are a PARK that this “Environmental Justice Zone” is in desperate need of.
When/if you do send make sure you send your complaint # to Community Board 3 office. 

Actions:

CONTACT:

Local Elected officials:

Senator Kavanagh Phone: 212-298-5565

AM Grace Lee 250 Broadway Suite 2232   212-312-1420

CM Marte (who is already engaged on this matter – thanks Max and team!) 65 East Broadway New York, NY 10002 Phone: 212-587-3159

Community Board 3, Manhattan 
Phone: 212-533-5300
Email: mn03@cb.nyc.gov
File a Complaint Online

 
You can request a new loading zone OR request changes to existing loading zones.
Template Guide: 
– comment type OTHER
– comment VIA FORM
– borough MANHATTAN
– corner or between streets CORNER
– on street DELANCEY ST (then you have to “select street”)
– cross street FORSYTH ST
Conway’s comment Conway has been leading residents/small businesses on the Forsyth Delancey/Rivington block):

“The loading zone currently on Forsyth St. at the corner of Delancey (between Delancey and Rivington) should be moved around the corner to Delancey St at the corner of Forsyth (between Eldridge and Forsyth Sts). The large truck traffic and concentration of delivery workers on the sidewalk on Forsyth St. during deliveries creates an excess of noise, emissions (from trucks left idling), and crowding on the sidewalk that are disruptive to residents. The delivery trucks are wide enough to potentially obstruct the movement of ambulances onto Forsyth St, where there is a medical facility with an ambulance bay. Delancey St. is a commercial thoroughfare with a very wide sidewalk where noise, emissions, and sidewalk crowding will be far less disruptive to the community, and add needed commercial activity in a stretch of sidewalk that is poorly-lit, mostly empty, and invites activities such as drug use and sidewalk sleeping. The business that the loading zone on Forsyth St. currently serves has doors that open onto Delancey, so its operations would not be disrupted by shifting the loading zone location from Forsyth to Delancey.”

Add: Companies like Amazon have opened up the vast majority of last-mile logistics facilities in communities of color that have long suffered disparate environmental harms like increased rates of air pollution, noise, and asthma 

CONTACT THESE ADVOCATES:

Advocates Unveil Actions to Rein In Unplanned Clustering Of Last-Mile Logistics Facilities

Three new bills introduced by the Last-Mile Coalition NYC. New York City Council Member Alexa Avilés and co-sponsored by Council Members Gutiérrez, Nurse, Brooks-Powers, Won, Hanif and Restler, as well as Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.

 

Read MoreLast Mile Delivery Site. Bait and Switch to Amazon Across from Senior Center and Our Park. In an Environmental Justice Zone
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Sara Roosevelt Park Gardener and Stewards Meet Up

Thank you to the panelists Justen, Rob, Kate, Bob and Brian for coming to talk with each other, compare notes, tell us their highlights and what they’d like to have different – with our communities.

Thank you also to:

Thanks to the BRC Senior Nutrition Center and Kim Fong (and staff).

Thanks to Ted Enoch Senior Program Director (Catalyst and Partnerships for Parks) for jumping in to help out with refreshments, his contributions as a long-time supporter of Parks like ours and for his respectful listening ear (and note taking)!

Thanks also to Pilar -Maschi (Catalyst)!

Thank you to Terese Flores (NYC Parks Dept) for her welcoming and listening ear and for stepping in with answers and ideas!

Thank you to Carlos and Erisima (below) for set up help, Debra for her last-minute help and (always) guidance and the whole crew who helped us put the BRC back together!

And thank you to the community that came to listen and learn and hopefully be inspired to join the effort to care for this park.

Getting started and waiting for more people to arrive

Carlos and Erisima at work (and play)

 

 

 

 

Read MoreSara Roosevelt Park Gardener and Stewards Meet Up
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