Tragic on all fronts:

From The Lo-Down: 24-Year-Old Man Indicted in Connection With Brutal Forsyth Street Attack

“A 24-year-old man has been indicted in connection with a vicious attack on a 61-year-old woman near Sara D. Roosevelt Park last month…The Daily News reported yesterday that the woman may have permanent brain damage. She has been hospitalized since the morning of the attack…“Her vocal cords were severely damaged so she could barely speak. She still cannot eat or drink without a tube.”

From DNAinfo: Man Who Beat Woman Near Lower East Side Park Indicted for Attempted Murder

“A man accused of brutally beating a 61-year-old woman near Sara D. Roosevelt Park last month has been indicted on an attempted murder charge…The victim was left with bleeding in her brain, and was still hospitalized as of Wednesday, according to prosecutors.

…District Attorney Cyrus Vance:”No one should have to fear walking our City’s streets and my Office will continue to vigorously prosecute anyone who threatens the safety of our citizens.”

A neighbor wrote:

“I just got home, I walked through the park, I counted 15-20 people in Soccer Field tonight.  Make shift boxes, mattress, blankets etc. Wow, is this the norm for the upcoming months?

I’m just worried about the children that play on field, isn’t this a health hazard as far as keeping clean.  I smell Y2K.  I feel bad that we don’t have enough beds for homeless in this City.  Just put up gate.  I notice our park doesn’t have secure areas for kids such as our sprinklers, now the soccer field.  Wow!!!”

Our Answer:

The Police can’t enforce anything without Park’s providing signs or putting up a gate in the field. Parks Enforcement doesn’t have dedicated officers to make this work – AND all law enforcement have other things to do with their time.

We have proposed a solution to the rising use of SDR Park as an encampment for the homeless: a shared building with on-site Homeless Outreach workers and a resiliency/emergency center and meeting space for the community as a whole. It’s a win/win. We have interest (and need) from a homeless provider of good reputation, local community organizations with the know-how and experience who have the trust of this neighborhood.

The Mayor seemed interested at the Town Hall. Our Council Member Chin is on board. The Community Board is with us. What’s the hold up?

We feel the current situation pits vulnerable homeless against other community members and park-users in our neighborhood. It also attracts drug sellers who prey on the homeless. We are urgently in need of an anchor here. One that sites real help for those who are homeless with daily opportunity to build the kinds of relationships that help move people into shelter or homes.

For now:

Call 311 Get the complaint number and call or email the Community Board 3 Office: Susan Stetzer <sstetzer@cb3manhattan.org>.

Disappointing news that the Community Board Transportation Committee okayed this bus stop. We understand the position:

NYC Department of Transportation tends to ‘rubber stamp’ bus stops despite over-saturation on the LES.It’s a larger NY STATE problem. If we don’t get them to sign ‘stipulations’ (controls on bus company behavior) the bus companies operate ‘freely’.

However, as park advocates we are opposed to granting this permit.  Here’s why:

• This bus company moved from Pike Street here – still not sure why? They’ve been operating on Chrystie Street illegally and now want to go legit. We reward this?
• This company alone would have 10 trips daily from 10am to 12:15am.
• On Chrystie now: two bus ticketing/waiting areas though no one is supposed to be operating there. If you see buses leave a comment here?

95 Canal behind the school

147 Canal (Bowery Slip)

• A driver for this company was responsible for the death of an elderly pedestrian in CT in 2013. These buses will be navigating school kids and the many seniors here.  http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/20160908/mass-bus-driver-found-guilty-in-mohegan-sun-workers-death   The driver apparently had prior problems:  http://www.wickedlocal.com/article/20121207/news/312079324
• None of these buses, 6 of them, have pollution controls.
• It’s not optimal to have more exhaust from buses and more traffic here. We are the on ramp and off ramp to the Manhattan Bridge.
• Three schools opposite: Pace HS, MS 131, Emma Lazarus HS. These schools are majority immigrant, of color, and low-income. We think there should be an environmental study with any proposed increase in pollution and traffic – especially alongside parks or schools. For instance, what are the asthma rates in the schoolchildren here? We know adult asthma is almost a third higher than the Manhattan average in LES/Chinatown.
• One of the schools Administrators and a local children’s soccer organization are already opposed.

• The “L” train shut down is going to affect our area. 200 buses will make round trips from Williamsburg to Manhattan. A large number (they don’t know yet) will be coming across Delancey Street eventually making their way up Lafayette or 1st Ave.We are not opposed to bus services in general – we understand the need and that they bring customers for local businesses. But if bus companies want to earn money here they need to protect the children, park users, and elders here by:
  • having a history of respect for local law
  • hiring drivers with good safety records
  • installing pollution controls on their buses (or buying new ones).

   

  If you want a voice in this:

  • Write an email/letter to elected representatives (email addresses below)
  • Come to the full board meeting to speak – This is where the final vote will be taken:

   

  Community Board 3, Full Board Meeting

  Tuesday, June 27, 2017 – 6:30pm

  PS 20 – 166 Essex Street (E Houston & Stanton Sts)

   

Email Addresses: 

Send to:

Mayor de Blasio’s Office: Tommy Lin <tlin@cityhall.nyc.gov>

Community Board 3 Office: Susan Stetzer <sstetzer@cb3manhattan.org>

Senator Daniel Squadron’s Office: Fendi Linan <fendi@danielsquadron.org>

AssemblyMember Yuh-Line Niou’s Office: Mauricio Pazmino <mauricio@yuhlineniou.org>

Council Member Chin’s Office: Vincent Fang <VFang@council.nyc.gov>

Manhattan Borough President’s Office: Andrew Lombardi <andrewlombardi@manhattanbp.nyc.gov>

A Tree Map of Sara Roosevelt Park!

Thanks to The Hort’s Pam Ito and the students. Sustainability and Climate Change Resiliency start at learning the natural world we inhabit. This project makes us all smarter and more aware.

Perhaps aware enough to get involved in tackling the care of our environment?

A Tale of Two …Buildings.

Ask the Mayor to help Return Two Buildings to Community Use:

The Stanton Building in this park could serve our community with a resiliency center, emergency FEMA center, a homeless resource center (right here where help is needed) and a meeting space to serve a wide spectrum of groups. It would anchor the area to care for and keep safe!

Rivington House: Our long-time partner and former AIDS Nursing Home. Ask the Mayor to join the fight to get it back and to rescind the STOP WORK ORDER recently and inexplicably lifted to benefit unscrupulous developers who deliberately hid their intentions from the city – despite agreements to keep this a nursing home in perpetuity.

Please join our 311 Campaign (below) to ask the Mayor reinstate the Stop Work Order on #Rivington House

It matters to the entire city that we say YES to innovative use of Park Buildings. And NO to the removal of public resources by profiteers.

rsvp today.

M’Finda Kalunga Garden has posted a new item, ‘Juneteenth Coming Soon’

Juneteenth is a holiday celebrated every year in the garden. 

Saturday, June 17 is the day, from 12 to 3.

“Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration of the ending of slavery. Dating back

to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas

with the news …” …more at M’Finda Kalunga Garden website

We received a thank you for our work and an offer of resources on Container Gardening and a request for feedback on what kind of gardening related subjects that we think would be useful. Contact Forever Curious here to weigh in.

Posted here from ForeverCurious

“Forever Curious is a labor of love by a group of librarians and educators seeking to curate the best educational resources and lesson plans for people of all ages.  From preschool through college and adulthood, we seek to foster a love of lifelong learning that has kept all of us forever curious.”

The Cost of Care  By Jody Wood

With: Eva Glaser, Georgia Jenkins, Katrina Leung, Doriane Swain, and Cassidy Wingate

Friday June 23rd at 6:30pm & Saturday June 24th at 5:00pm

$15 General Admission, $10 Students and Seniors, Free for University Settlement Staff

Speyer Hall Theater The University Settlement

184 Eldridge, New York, NY

The Cost of Care is a live artistic performance exploring the unintended consequences of caretaking on care providers. The piece explores the caregiver’s perspective and effects of “secondary trauma exposure” on the body and mind. The cast is composed of care providers with first-hand experience of the subject matter, and their performance aims to translate the helplessness, repetition, and limitations of caregiving through movement and repurposed text taken from interviews Wood conducted with various care providers.

This performance follows a series of workshops entitled Choreographing Care. These workshops addressed secondary traumatic stress with social workers at the University Settlement and The Door: A Center of Alternatives. Workshops were facilitated by Jody Wood and led by theater professionals Jan Cohen-Cruz, Rebeca Rad, Margaret Lally, and Rose Ginsberg.

With support from The Performance Project.

Additional rehearsal space provided by Soho20 Gallery

From the Garden Club of the Tenement Museum:

Greetings All!

The summer of 2015 marked the beginning of a relationship between the Tenement Museum, New York City Parks Department, and members of the New York Gardens Movement. A cohort of green minded (and green thumbed) Museum Staff took stewardship of three pieces of Sarah D Roosevelt Park. Our group assumed the name of the previous gardeners, thus we are called, The New Forsyth Conservancy.

Over the past two years we built birdhouses and cobblestone paths, we had fundraisers, and mulched, weeded, pruned, and planted… and mostly cleaned. And this year we are staring it up again!

The New Forsyth Conservancy is looking for new members to join the fun and make a positive neighborhood impact. We meet Thursdays after work at 6:00PM outside the Groups Entrance. It is recommended that you wear a long sleeve shirt and pants that you don’t feel precious about. Gloves and tools are provided (with special thanks to Barry Roseman).

You don’t need a green thumb to be involved. In fact, if you have an interest in object based storytelling and archeology, you might be the best candidate for membership in The New Forsyth Conservancy! During our weekly maintenance sessions at SDR Park, we have uncovered an offbeat assortment of historic objects ranging from cassette tapes to wallets to beer taps to costume jewelry (and of course, the ubiquitous boot). Seen together, these discarded, lost or forgotten objects offer an interesting look at life in city parks.

The New Forsyth Conservancy kicks off their 2017 season of stewardship and storytelling this Thursday (June 8) at 6:00PM. RSVP to jeisner@tenement.org if you plan to attend.

Yours,

Jason Andrew Eisner

Education Associate for 97 Orchard Street

Lower East Side Tenement Museum

91 Orchard Street

NY NY 10002