Join La Plaza Cultural:

8th Annual Chaharshanbe Sori (AKA the Persian/Zoroastrian fire-jumping holiday)
Tuesday, March 14th, 2017 – 5:30-8:30PM
La Plaza Cultural, SW corner 9th Street and Avenue C

“What we will do: We will light small fires at sunset, then jump through the fire. It is customary to sing the phrase, “zardi-ye man az toh, sorkhi-ye toh az man” as you jump. Literal translation: my yellow is yours, your red is mine. This is a purification rite. Loosely translated, it means you want the fire to take your pallor, sickness, problems and winter blues and in turn give you health, warmth, and energy.

Background: The ancient Persian New Year, Nowruz falls on the spring equinox, March 20th, on the Gregorian (western) calendar. Nowruz is based on the solar calendar, which is the direct descendant of the Zorastrian calendar. Chah?rshanbeh-S?ri is an ancient festival dating to the Zoroastrian past of Persia, going back circa 2600 BC. It is a prelude to the ancient Persian New Year festival, which marks the arrival of spring. On the last eve of Wednesday of the Zoroastrian year, just before the spring equinox bonfires are lit in the streets from dusk to early hours of dawn. People jump through the fire, to exorcise the old year and its misfortunes and bring about regeneration.

In Farsi, Chaharshanbeh means Wednesday and Suri means red. The bonfires are lit at sunset to keep the sun alive till early hours of the morning. From among the Zoroastrian festivals some of the most important ones pertained to fire, a symbol of good health, cultivation, light, and purity. With the help of fire and light, we hope to see our way through to the end of the year, to the arrival of spring’s longer days. The human faces her ultimate fear by jumping over the fire. That cleansing act is necessary before the advent of spring and the Vernal Equinox.

Another ceremony this night is Ghashogh zani, (spoon banging). Traditionally, many, specially children, wrap themselves in cloaks and run through the streets banging on pots with spoons, and knocking on doors for treats, symbolically reenacting visits from the spirits of the ancestors. Possibly, Halloween is a Celtic variation of this night. It is customary to offer “ajeel”, a mix of nuts and dried fruit to people on this night.
In Iran Chah?rshanbeh-S?ri serves as a cultural festival for Persians, Jews, Muslims, Armenians, Kurds, Turks and Zoroastrians who celebrate it and other Zoroastrian traditions Shabe Cheleh, the longest night of the year in December, or Jashne-Mehregan, the fall festival.

•Parents are responsible for their kids safety! We make all efforts to keep event safe, but we need your help. Please keep an eye on your children.

Rain date will be Wednesday, March 15th. Feel free to bring dried fruits, juice or any other treats to share.”

From BoweryBoogie:

“After 30 Years, the City Finally Returning the ‘Stanton Storehouse’ to the Community“

“After a protracted battle spanning decades, it appears the so-called Stanton Storehouse in Sara D. Roosevelt Park will finally return to community use. Gradually, at least. The Parks Department is set to outline its proposal this month to reactivate the onsite public bathroom. In the works for a few months, it’s a plan that could curb the excess excrement consistently found around the park….

…The Stanton Storehouse – once upon a time a youth center – was seized by the government around thirty-some-odd years ago. Its current function remains Parks Department storage (it serves Manhattan Parks) and de-facto parking lot for city vehicles. Since 1994, though, the eponymous Sara D. Roosevelt Park Coalition has fought to reactivate this structure for community accessibility. Four years later – in 1998 – the city even promised to return the brick box to the community.”

Community Board 3 Parks Committee Meeting with design plans on March 16th @ 6:30pm @ BRC 30 Delancey Street.

From Mashable’s website:

“The main components of the house, including the walls, partitions and building envelope were printed solely with a concrete mixture….

The total construction cost of the house? $10,134. The company has claimed that the house can last up to 175 years.

“We want to change public views that construction can’t be fast, eco-friendly, efficient and reliable at the same time,” says founder Nikita Chen-yun-tai…

“Our goal is to become the biggest international construction company to solve problems of accommodation around the globe.”

From Sanctuary Homes:

Organize where we live!

WHY #SANCTUARYHOMES?

Living our politics begins at home. For those of us who are employers of domestic workers—among the people who have been and will be most targeted in this political moment—one big thing we can do is support the women, people of color, and/or immigrants who work in our homes.

For those of us who aren’t employers or care consumers, our homes can still serve as a center of moral action, transforming where we live into a foundation for building the world as we believe it should be.

Together, our homes can be an important frontline in opposing and resisting the policies of the administration and 115th Congress.

WHAT IS #SANCTUARYHOMES?

At the heart of #SanctuaryHomes are 5 steps … [to] take to answer the call to create sanctuary by ensuring the dignity and integrity of every individual is respected and preserved.

They include ways to:

1. Be visible and vocal in your daily life, from posting a sign to offering concrete support.
2. Educate and prepare yourself to provide timely practical and legal support
3. Organize and invite your people in to support targeted communities
4. Connect your groups to trainings, actions and community defense efforts.
5. Maintain a fair home and caring workplace. 

SOLIDARITY BEGINS HERE

We ask you to do your best to make your home a Sanctuary Home. Sign the #SanctuaryHomes commitment and let us know how you’ll bring sanctuary to your home and community.

Text HOMES to 877-877 to receive action alerts from the #HereToStay campaign.

Important read from DNAinfo: What You Need to Know if You Can’t Pay Your Rent, and How the City Can Help

“Mayor Bill de Blasio’s new plan to tackle the skyrocketing homeless population across the city includes an expanded effort to keep at-risk New Yorkers in their homes through rental assistance programs, he said Tuesday.”

For those who have heard of a rally at Rivington House on March 3rd we are not participants nor do we endorse it. It appears to be organized by another group on behalf of their own agenda – not ours nor the people we are fighting for and alongside.

There were decades of work done by our organizations on behalf of and in partnership with Rivington House staff and residents. This is a cynical co-opting of the site, our people, our neighborhood, our labor, our battle in the service of someone else’s agenda.

It’s fine to have an agenda – not fine to exploit the extensive labor of others when you’ve had no part in those labors.

Neighbors to Save Rivington House

For those who have heard of a rally at Rivington House on March 3rd we are not participants nor do we endorse it. It appears to be organized by another group on behalf of their own agenda – not ours nor the people we are fighting for and alongside.

There were decades of work done by our organizations on behalf of and in partnership with Rivington House staff and residents. This is a cynical co-opting of the site, our people, our neighborhood, our labor, our battle in the service of someone else’s agenda.

It’s fine to have an agenda – not fine to exploit the extensive labor of others when you’ve had no part in those labors.

Neighbors to Save Rivington House

The Museum at Eldridge Street

Exhibition opening: Thursday, March 16 from 6-8 pm

The Museum at Eldridge Street presents an exhibition of vintage postcards of Central and Eastern European synagogues from Prague-based collector Frantisek Bányai. These remarkable images depict a world that was all but destroyed during the Second World War. The exhibition will be on view at the Museum through June 8, 2017.

“From Prague-based collector František Bányai comes a remarkable collection of historic postcards on Jewish themes. Both beautiful and poignant, the postcards offer a view of a time and place that no longer exist – synagogues, many destroyed during the Second World War, people on their way to prayer, celebrating and sending greetings in a vanished Eastern Europe of a century ago. On View through June 8, 2017. Included with Museum Admission.”

There is no charge for the event, but they ask that you please RSVP.

Parks, Recreation, Cultural Affairs, & Waterfront Committee:

2.       The long awaited Parks presentation of Stanton St bathroom design!!!

Date: Thursday, March 16 at 6:30pm 

Location: BRC Senior Services Center – 30 Delancey Street (btwn Chrystie & Forsyth Sts)

Please come and voice your opinion about YOUR Park!

Councilwoman Rosie Mendez & NYC Parks and Recreation:

Monday February 27th, 2017

6:30pm -8pm

Public Resources decided by the public.

“Born in the wake of Ferguson, the Creative Reaction Lab rejects “design thinking” for a more inclusive approach to systemic inequality.”
“…workshops aren’t just for designers; they also bring together policy experts, speakers, community partners, and citizens working in different fields. Importantly, they look and sound nothing like a design event. You will not hear Carroll preaching about “design thinking” or solutionism. Rather, the Creative Reaction Lab starts from the premise that design’s greatest value is in exposing the invisible mechanisms of inequality, many of which were by design themselves.”

From MOTHERBOARD:

“Citing recent research findings that “brighter residential nighttime lighting is associated with … impaired daytime functioning and obesity,” the American Medical Association adopted a set of guidelines for reducing the potential harm some types of LED streetlights could cause last June. The new guidelines recommend that outdoor lighting shouldn’t have a color temperature above 3,000 degrees kelvin (K). Many of the mobile lights set up in NYCHA housing, including those at the Riis Houses are 1250-watt Allmand Night-Lite Pro II models, which give off light with a color temperature of 3954K….

In launching the initiative, de Blasio said he hoped “to light up the areas that have previously been obscure and problematic, and make it easier for the NYPD to do its job.” But a VICE article argued that the machines were part of a larger strategy of “omnipresence,” which the Times had already reported entails increasing police patrols while deemphasizing interaction with community members. In further illuminating sidewalks teeming with cops, the lights add the impression that police are always watching NYCHA residents….

In a June report in Crain’s, a teenager and resident of a housing block told the reporter, bluntly, “These lights are for you.”