News

Two issues that affect Sara Roosevelt Park:

• Bus depots: At least two more have now located on Chrystie near Canal across from 3 schools and a park.
• No pollution controls required for these buses.
• No legal way to restrict them due to bad driver/bus company track records.
• No legal means to locally protect bus riders, pedestrians and bicyclists. NY State and Federal Government are tasked with enforcing/monitoring bus companies.

Full coverage here from The Lo-Down.

“…Republican opposition forced former Sen. Daniel Squadron …to water down their intercity bus regulation law enacted several years ago….

…Squadron…led a task force that worked with local law enforcement agencies to go after rogue bus operators. Now State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou … tells us she prepared to reactivate the task force…”

• Bike lane signage: We have (still) new two-way bike lanes that hug the west side of SDR Park. We’ve had reports of many many near collisions with pedestrians. We have blind folks here, we have deaf folks here we have elders, children, park goers who are needlessly endangered by the lack of awareness from bike riders. Signage to warn everyone of the pedestrian/bike areas are needed NOW. Before another tragedy happens. From BoweryBoogie here:

“Mr. Leung was crossing Essex Street from east to west in a marked crosswalk with the pedestrian signal in his favor when he was struck by the bicyclist. The bicyclist was traveling southbound on Essex Street in the left travel lane and disobeyed a steady red signal at Hester Street where he struck Mr. Leung.”

The Parks Commissioner has promised to work with DOT on this bike signage.

SDR Park Volunteer Days Fall 2017

If you’d like to volunteer please contact the person listed for the site listed under

“Stewarded Gardens” below)

October 11^th (Wednesday) 2017

Volunteer Group: Citizen’s for NYC & company

Contact: K or Bob

Location: Stanton Street Area/BRC Front

October 21 (Saturday) 2017 10am-2pm

Volunteer Group: It’s My Park Day:

Contact: K

Location: Stanton Street Area

October 21 (Saturday) 2017

Volunteer Group: It’s My Park Day: The Hort/Emma Lazarus

Contact: Pam Ito

Location: Hester Street Area

October 21 (Saturday), 2017 12pm- 4pm

Volunteer Group: It’s My Park Day, M’Finda Gardeners:

Contact: Jane

Location: M’Finda Kalunga Community Garden

October 21 (Saturday), 2017 12pm – 4pm

Volunteer Group: New Forsyth Conservancy Gardners:

Contact: Jason

Location: New Forsyth Conservancy (on Delancey Street – south)

November 11, 2017

Volunteer Group: New Yorkers for Parks

Contact: K

Location: TBA

IMPORTANT: From Sara D Roosevelt Park Manager:

– Please check for poison ivy

– Please check for used needles. Do not remove them yourself (we are working with local providers on this issue)

Stewarded Gardens in Sara Roosevelt Park

To work in these gardens you need to reach out to the Contact Person listed. Please be patient – these are volunteers and will respond as soon as they can.

New Forsyth Conservancy 

Contact: Jason Eisner

Contact information SDR Website: https://sdrpc.mkgarden.org/contact/

M’Finda Kalunga Community Garden 

Contact: Jane Barrer or Debra Jeffreys-Glass

Contact Information MKGarden Website: http://www.mkgarden.org/

Elizabeth (‘Betty’) Hubbard Garden

Contact: Rob Watson

Contact Information SDR Website: : https://sdrpc.mkgarden.org/contact/

The Hort/Emma Lazarus details for Fall activities and dates TBA

Contact: Pam Ito, Director of Education The Horticultural Society

Contact Information:

pam@thehort.org or SDR Website: https://sdrpc.mkgarden.org/contact/

Hua Mei Bird Sanctuary

Contact: Tommy Chan

Contact Info: SDR website: https://sdrpc.mkgarden.org/contact/

Stanton Area:

Contact: Terese or K

Contact Info: SDR website: https://sdrpc.mkgarden.org/contact/

To volunteer anywhere else in SDR Park:

Juan Torres: Park Supervisor

Contact: Juan Torres

Contact info: Juan.Torres@parks.nyc.gov

Mayor de Blasio was interviewed by Errol Louis on NY1.com visited the High- Line, apparently it’s a big deal that he hasn’t visited there before.

When asked why:

Mayor de Blasio: “…my focus has been on the many many parks that haven’t had investment”.

Kind of have to agree. Not to mention the privatization of parks and how it can drive park policy and hyper-gentrification.

Perhaps it’s time for a visit to Sara Roosevelt Park?

Interesting interview.

We (volunteers, park gardeners, Bird Sanctuary guardians, park users, Parks Department, Goddard Homeless Outreach, Police, PEP officers, City and State electeds (who have given funding and offered more funding) are all working hard but our park remains a struggling strip of land…poverty, lack of resources, and heavy use by a community where this is the only “vacation” spot or air conditioning or get-away green space and, increasingly, home and daytime living room.

We get good help from Parks on helping us maintain the publicly stewarded spaces. But we need infrastructure help that requires the park’s department to make decisions and allocate resources or at least permission.

The Oval Track and Soccer Field at Canal/Hester Streetway: dangerous and almost unusable

We’ve offered ideas (labor and fundraising) on how to shift things: return Stanton Building to Neighborhood Use, Remove the Cargo container alongside it, Repair the Oval for 3 schools and community after-school soccer teams, Open Broome Street Bathrooms, Install Bike Racks for public’s bikes, Big Bellies (and pick-ups of trash within them), more frequent cleaning, Remove cars and trucks parking in this narrow park (incentivize parks staff with Metrocards?) etc.

We are not interested in endless blame, we are interested in solutions and moving forward. Awaiting Parks.

Manhattan Borough President Brewer, Council Member Rosie Mendez and Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver announced in Sauer Park the final list of Community Parks Initiative (CPI) parks. CPI was launched in 2014 in response to Senator Daniel Squadron‘s efforts to bring Park Equity to NYC.

“Every child deserves bright, green space right in their neighborhood…I commend Senator Squadron for putting forward a proposal that sparked a critical conversation around how to improve smaller parks in less wealthy neighborhoods and engage the city’s park conservancies in that effort,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Photos of the park pre-renovation:

CPI Projects:

Bronx: Prospect Playground and Mapes Ballfield

Brooklyn: Bartlett and Lewis Playgrounds, Penn Triangle

Manhattan: Bill Bojangles and Harlem Lane Playgrounds, Joseph C. Sauer Park, Playground One

Queens: Chappetto Square

Staten Island: Mariners Harbor Playground

Council Member Mark Levine Chair of the City Council Parks Committee: “We want every park in NYC to be as great as those parks that are fortunate enough to have well-funded conservancies. The City Council has also moved to close the Parks equity gap this fiscal year, by allocating funds through the Parks Equity Initiative to parks stewardship groups that don’t receive significant private money. I’m thrilled by the partnerships we are announcing today….”

History:

As debates happened on park funding important questions on the issue of the privatization of parks emerged in a fuller light:

NYTimes Michael Powell weighed in: “Reducing Some Parks to the Status of Beggars”

We see a resurgence of that debate in the demise of “Diller’s Island”. From “Inside Philanthropy“”…the fundamental failing of what became known as Diller Island was that, as a plan for a public space, it was just far too reliant on and driven by one man’s vision and wealth.”

“The Community Parks Initiative, launched by Mayor de Blasio, is NYC Parks’ first major equity initiative and part of OneNYC, the Mayor’s plan for a strong and just New York City. CPI is a multi-faceted investment in the smaller public parks that are located in New York City’s most densely populated and growing neighborhoods where there are higher-than-average concentrations of poverty.”

The Mayor also addressed the current crisis in Puerto Rico and the City plan to send assistance.

He urged NYers to donate specific items (nothing else!!) to these Fire Department locations Manhattan  Locally:

Engine 28/ Ladder 11: 222 E. 2nd Street, New York, NY 10009 (Lower East Side)

• Diapers
• Baby food
• Batteries
• First Aid Supplies
• Feminine Hygiene Products

Evening to benefit the continuing efforts of Dixon Place: “…we were driven by curiosity, imagination and our desire to figure it out”…Ellie Covan 

“Since 1986 Dixon Place has been dedicated to fostering the NYC arts comunity by developing and presenting original new work in every stage of development in every artistic genre. From its roots in a tiny East Village storefront….” (yes I remember!)…

Evening performances by Brinda Guha & Arielle Rosales, Chesney Snow, R. Sikoryak & Nancy Giles and Ellie Covan.

Joy Tomchin (Ex. Producer of Academy Award Nominated “How to Survive a Plague”), Mark Russell  (Former Ex. Artistic Director of the East Village Performance Space -PS 122) and Lisa Kron ( Tony Award winning “Fun Home”) were honored.

October 11^th (Wednesday) 2017

Volunteer Group: Citizen’s for NYC & company

Contact: K or Bob

Location: Stanton Street Area or BRC Front

October 21 (Saturday) 2017 10am-2pm

Volunteer Group: It’s My Park Day:

Contact: K

Location: Stanton Street Area

October 21, 2017 12pm- 4pm

Volunteer Group: It’s My Park Day, M’Finda Gardeners:

Contact: Jane

Location: M’Finda Kalunga Community Garden

TBA 2017

Volunteer Group: New Forsyth Conservancy Gardners:

Contact: Jason

Location: New Forsyth Conservancy (on Delancey Street – south)

November 11, 2017

Volunteer Group: New Yorkers for Parks

Contact: K

Location: TBA

IMPORTANT: From Sara D Roosevelt Park Manager:

– Please check for poison ivy

– Please check for used needles. Do not remove them yourself (we are working with local providers on this issue)

Stewarded Gardens in Sara Roosevelt Park

To work in these gardens you must to reach out to the Contact Person listed. Please be patient – we’re all volunteers and will respond as soon as we can!

New Forsyth Conservancy 

Contact: Jason Eisner

Contact information SDR Website: https://sdrpc.mkgarden.org/contact/

M’Finda Kalunga Community Garden 

Contact: Jane Barrer or Debra Jeffreys-Glass

Contact Information MKGarden Website:  info@mkgarden.org 

Elizabeth (‘Betty’) Hubbard Garden

Contact: Rob Watson

Contact Information SDR Website: : https://sdrpc.mkgarden.org/contact/

The Hort/Emma Lazarus details for Fall activities and dates TBA

Contact: Pam Ito, Director of Education The Horticultural Society

Contact Information:

pam@thehort.org or SDR Website: https://sdrpc.mkgarden.org/contact/

Hua Mei Bird Sanctuary

Contact: Tommy Chan (no volunteers needed – but donations accepted for upkeep)

Contact Info: SDR website: https://sdrpc.mkgarden.org/contact/

Stanton Area:

Contact: Terese or K

Contact Info: SDR website: https://sdrpc.mkgarden.org/contact/

To volunteer anywhere else in SDR Park:

Juan Torres: Park Supervisor

Contact: Juan Torres

Contact info: Juan.Torres@parks.nyc.gov

From the NYTimes:

“….bats are … essential to ecosystems. As pollinators and agricultural pest-eaters, they’re valued at $3 billion a year for U.S. farmers. In New York City, where nine species of bats are known to migrate during the summer, a single little brown bat is capable of devouring up to 100 percent of its body weight in insects, a diet that includes mosquitoes…

Cropped -CreditMichelle V. Agins/The New York Times

….an abundance of Eastern red, big brown and silver-haired bats ….

Bat research is beginning to mobilize beyond Staten Island. At New York City Audubon, the ecologist Kaitlyn Parkins uses full-spectrum acoustic recorders to survey bat activity on green roofs across the city, including the one at Manhattan’s Javits Center, one of the largest green roofs in the country. “We definitely find more bat foraging activity on these roofs versus traditional ones,” she says. “The plants seem to provide habitat for the right kind of arthropods.”

….a small but important addition to a body of bat knowledge that is growing only now, as the fatal white nose syndrome threatens bat populations across North America. With nearly seven million bats dead since the disease emerged from a cave in upstate New York 2005, the scale of mortality is unprecedented among wildlife disease outbreaks, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service….Little brown bats have been particularly devastated. Once one of the most common bat species in the U.S., they have virtually vanished from New York and other eastern states.