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

M’Finda Kalunga

Homeless Memorial

Tessa’s Garden

This Earth

Our Home

All Life

Us

Her

Thank you to the Youth Explorers and Manhattan NYPD 5th Pct‘s PO Rany Chan for helping out in the MKGarden this past weekend!

With Debra Jeffreys-Glass M’Finda Kalunga Garden Co-Chair

Shweta and Debra Co-Chairs of M’Finda Kalunga Garden, Carinne with visitors, Rob gardener in front of the BRC, Andrew in MKG.

Thanks all!

And Rob in his “lair”…er… Garden!

Superior: gichi-gami (great sea)

Erie: erielhonan (long tail)

Michigan: michigami (long body of water)

Ontario: Ontarí’io\kanadario (great lake\beautiful water)

Huron: karegnondi (fresh water sea)

Mayor Eric Adams:

I don’t know if you guys understand what’s going on right now.

There’s no housing, folks. There’s no housing.

Are you homeless? Do you have a home?

Who’s going to go to the 50,000 New York City residents that I have in homeless shelters walking around with FHEPS vouchers and don’t have a place to stay?

I will never commit to saying,

“I’m not going to build on every available piece of real estate I have to put NYC in a home.”

… I’m not going to give up on that.

I have a homeless crisis right now in this city, and it is a luxury to say, “Eric, don’t build housing somewhere.” That’s the luxury I don’t have. I got to get New Yorkers in housing.

They don’t have that luxury. I’m building housing wherever I can.”

Lack of affordable housing:

-Historic low vacancy at 1.41% for rental housing in NYC.

-Applications for affordable senior housing units are over 520,000 growing daily.

Homelessness

– 140,134 homeless New Yorkers in 2024 (170% children, 196% Families)

– the number of single adults ages 65 and older in the city’s main shelter system more than doubled from 2014 to 2022. Nearly 3 times as quickly as the number of younger single adults in shelters.

December: about 1,700 people older than 65 in single-adult shelters. The share of residents in those shelters who were 65+ increased (8% from 5%).

Elder Poverty

One in every four older adults in the Bronx is living in poverty (highest rate in NYS). The poverty rate for older adults Brooklyn (20.9%). Manhattan (16.3%). Staten Island increased by 63%. – AARP

Elder Finances

Many older New Yorkers live on fixed incomes and struggle to make ends meet. 65% of older New Yorkers surveyed live on less than $15,000 a year, and 32% don’t receive social security.

Older Women

Women over the age of 65 are 80% more likely than men to be impoverished.

Sources:

Ben Max Podcast City of Yes for Housing Opportunity’ Enters the Home Stretch, with Dan Garodnick

LiveOn NY How Long Do We Have to Wait? 

NYTimes: Why More Older New Yorkers Are Ending Up in Homeless Shelters 

AARP AARP NY on State of City: 36%+ Growth in NYC’s Older Adult Population Means More Must Be Done

NYState Comptroller DiNapoli New Yorkers in Need.

Spot the Greenhouse, The Standing Strong Sculpture, Colleen and Jim!

Visiting the turtle pond (turtles returning as soon as it’s warm enough)

and nearby Nike field Basketball:

Newly renovated Tompkins Square Park fieldhouse is open!

April 14^th NYC Parks Commissioner Donoghue, Council Member Carlina Rivera, Senator Brian Kavanagh, Assembly Member Harvey Epstein, Manhattan Parks Commissioner Shimamura, CB3 Chair Gordillo, AND

Park Staff (Steve, Ralph, Jamil, Terese, and Luc) and many others held a ribbon cutting.

Park Staff Steve (background), Ralph,  Jamil, Terese and Luc:

Catherine Murphy and Harry Roseman Film by Marta Renzi and Daniel Wolff.

Catherine Murphy

Recent Work

Peter Freeman Gallery (6 March – 19 April 2025)

Catherine Murphy and Harry Roseman

Film by Marta Renzi and Daniel Wolff.