This fall we walked through of Sara Roosevelt with NYC Manhattan Parks Commissioner Anthony Perez and Council Member Chris Mart, Parks Deputy Chief of Operations Ralph Musolino, Park Manager Jamil Phillips, and Storehouse Manager Dennard Harris to gather information and survey problems and what is working.

Resulting in immediate solutions for the park:

Brighter lighting in the park (see previous posting), CM Marte brought up issues around Canal area and the need for better lighting and work to deal with encampments. The removal of derelict and ineffective (sometimes dangerous) fencing around the sprinkler at Stanton and bench areas there, and the Hua Mei Bird area. The neighborhood’s request to return the benches at the front of the Pit – done! (Jamil installed the benches the next day!).

We walked the entire park. There was strategizing on increasing the public’s use of the Pit, recreating the Hua Mei bird fencing and the possibility of using pieces of fencing elsewhere in the park. (and the Coalition mentioned the possibility of a shared site at the Broome Parkhouse).

The police have requested to fence off an area south of Delancey – the dramatic lighting installed there has already made the area safer.

AND both Park Commissioner Perez and CM Marte let us know that the Stanton building will be released to public use: a new site and funding are found!! A structured timeline is being created!

The Commissioner also  promised to reinstitute Park Operations meetings for this park and he and CM Marte are committed to taking action about violence here.

Thanks to both Commissioner Perez and CM Marte for their support and partnership in re-centering our park to be for this community and the larger public!

Our new Manhattan Park Commissioner Anthony Perez and 5th Pct with Det. Vincent Cheung worked quickly to install brighter lighting along Broome Street and BRC Delancey. It made an immediate difference.

Thank you.

Great to be at one of our local high schools:

Council Member Marte and Pratt Professor Keena Suh and Pratt students

Forsyth Satellite Academy (FSA) celebrated their collaboration with The Level Up Project (TLUP) and with Pratt Institute School of Design, led by Keena Suh (Pratt and Keena are members of our local Stanton Task Force!)

And…

Today were joined by Council Member Chris Marte!!!

Principal Samantha Pritchard (standing far right) and Council Member Marte (standing middle) had a chance to talk briefly about needs for this incredible school and a quick walk-through (more to come apparently). Art teacher Paula Walters Parker (kneeling right). Toni McNeil Program Dit CAMBA (to CM Marte’s left) and Deanna Bowman Assist principal of FSA (to CM Marte’s right).

A great day with terrific students and beautiful ideas and artwork!

In the fall 2022, Interior Design students from Pratt Institute collaborated with FSA students to reimagine their high school library, sharing their talents, passions, and inspirations in a series of hands-on workshops.

Thank you to all including CM Marte staff Connor.

The Chinatown Revitalization Initiative presented many safety-providing, positive, interesting  proposals. We thank Governor Hochul for this funding.

This is a link to all the projects proposed

Specifically, on the proposal for Sara Roosevelt Park Hester to South Delancey:

We’ve listened to nearby residents, local organizations, gardeners, businesses, and sports users, we’ve sent out updates, used social media, and conducted one in-park tabling for ideas and to create awareness (not nearly enough).

Our proposals, as always, draft pending true community engagement.  “In-Park” outreach with no ties to gentrification histories needed.

For safety, for beauty, for public park uses, for maintaining our unique strengths and our diversity, while upgrading for even more positive use, for encouraging the neighborhood and public to see Parks as their backyards, get-away vacation spots, their air-conditioning, for for uses aligned with the needs of our neighborhoods, that do not encourage further displacement of the low-income communities of color here via gentrification:

• After a number of consultations with birders over the years: New wrought iron fence around the bird sanctuary 5-7’ tall -north end for safety, 4’ for south section with gate so there are two means of egress in an emergency. Consult birders for any changes.
• Grand St. entryway. Remove brick walls along Grand Str for maximum visibility from the street.
• South Delancey entryway Remove broken steps, create two wide accessible pathways.
• Retain community stewarded garden plots.
• Pipe a water source – for Bruckner box and water fountain.
• Remove low brick walls that front the two side plots – misused. Restore decorative gates.
• Attach two metal tables in the open walk-way areas. Visible from street to provide seating that doesn’t encourage harmful or unsanitary acts.
• Repair asphalt from Delancey to Grand, or as much as funding allows, for accessibility.
• New, brighter lighting, downward facing in the area.
• Less vital: Fix the benches along the Pit.
• Do in sections so most of the park can remain open.
• Fix drainage in Pit in southern end.
• Share the Broome Parkhouse with a local community organization or return it for full community activation.
• We are currently seeking information from those who would be most impacted but we do not have enough information on what the people of  Forsyth Hester to Grand section want/need. Such as, how would it affect their parking needs? Small businesses, the local schools, Parks Dept, and residents need to weigh in on this part of the proposal.
• We assume Parks Department will address and heed all of this.

We have a synthetic turf field in this section and are oversaturated with synthetic turf fields (used primarily by outside groups). Issues with carcinogenic materials.

More problematically, no one we spoke to, who lives (or plays) or has businesses here (for decades) had heard of this or, if they had, did not think it affected them.

In this area of SRP ‘The Pit’ is one of the only active, versatile, and well used space (by the community): The Burmese Water Festival, the New Museum, elected officials, ROAR, badminton, Tai Chi, Bike Polo, Soccer (the soccer ‘pitch’ recently painted as an East River Park mitigation), etc. As such, The Pit use makes the area safer, as does the gardening by SRPCC volunteers and the 5^th Pct’s Youth Explorers. City Relief also provides a safety on south Delancey on Thursdays.

– Revised December 18th 2022

(former draft proposals are kept on the website – we get smarter and more informed as we ask our neighbors).

A little history:

NYTimes: Gathering Neighbors’ Dreams for a Shabby Playground 

“This is about community preservation in a neighborhood facing displacement,” said Anne Frederick, executive director of the Hester Street Collaborative, a nonprofit group that works on designs for public spaces, and one of the lead organizers in yesterday’s event. She said the goal was “for people to think about the park in relation to the larger community as well.” ED of Hester Street Collaborative and President of the SRPCC at that time.

Here is a great tool for finding out which trees exist in this park (and all of NYC)

check it out here.

Or go to the park and see one in – person!

or join with the Coalition and with the NYC Parks Department, to help care for or plant one!

Manhattan Parks Commissioner Perez, Dan Tainow, Keena Suh and volunteers!

K, Alexei, Steve planting the Red Maple / Gingko

Worth a read – every bit of it.

Debra Jeffreys-Glass creator, organizer, collaboration builder of  M’Finda Kalunga Garden’s Juneteenth. The longest running Juneteenth on the Lower East Side. And winner of Downtown Arts and FABnyc 2022 Hero Awards

Hi everyone, I’m Debra Glass, Vice President of the Sara Roosevelt Park Community Coalition.

I’m a proud partner of K Webster, who many of you know as a tireless advocate for this park and the local and greater communities that it serves. She’s not able to be here with us today but she’ll be soon, back doing what she does – bringing us all together to do good things.

First, I’d like to thank University Settlement and Myles, and her tremendous staff for pouring your hearts, minds, souls, bodies, and energy into this neighborhood and park’s well-being.

We deeply appreciate how for this entire summer; this park has been filled with a mighty and glorious ROAR. Aside from it being a powerful sound of strength and power, ROAR – set this community up all summer long to Rejoice! Organize! Activate! Reclaim! – this amazing park resource. Every Saturday and Sunday, even on those hot and muggy afternoons, ROAR! provided over 200 hours of FREE programming – yes, “free-99”, and accessible to anyone and everyone, week after week: Playground activities, programs and classes for ALL AGES from dozens of community partners in Chinatown and the Lower East Side. Thank you so much.

ROAR is a shining example of the kinds of anchors of safety we all need in this park – making them spaces that are alive and active with positive community use. Our children, our grownups, our elders, our teens, our visitors, we all deserve this kind of life affirming community building – not only as a summer long festival, but as a permanent feature of this park.

As K wrote, “We, and our community and partners, remain determined to have a park where all people are greeted as an opportunity for friendship and caring across every divide. We will continue to advocate for all resources we know are necessary to create a safe, beautiful, resilient, joyous, and welcoming neighborhood park – a park of peaceful coexistence in our complex city. We have worked hard for many generations here to have the community we would all wish to live in, and it is the only kind of community we will accept.”

What K wrote is not an abstract concept or a hope. There is a well-defined roadmap to creating permanent anchors and resources that would make this neighborhood park safer.

First and foremost, returning the Stanton building to the community would allow us to ROAR like this all year long. It would make this kind of active community use a regular and ongoing feature of this park — and this neighborhood. We know that multi-generational and cross-cultural opportunities to meet and share experiences with others – are essential to building connections – and creating, as well as sustaining, community.

Other areas of the park need resources and attention for us to reclaim them for community use. South of Delancey, the Hua Mei bird sanctuary needs new fencing – this would allow these long-time residents of our community to safely share what they love with the larger community.

Both Grand /Delancey streets need safe, accessible entryways into the park so that coming inside feels welcoming and open.

A couple of days ago, one of my colleagues encouraged the group of educators in the meeting to think about our work together – not from the perspective of “what’s wrong”, but approach with the question “what’s possible”. We know what’s possible in this park. We’ve done it before, and we’re going to do it again. It is possible for this park to be a glorious example how our collective community might and energy can reclaim this park as a safe and vital neighborhood resource for us all.

Bob – I had intended to recognize Bob’s impact on our neighborhood and park. I want to acknowledge that so much of what we do is as a result of his efforts – from riding around on a bike patrol chasing drug dealers out of the park, to offering the chance to contribute labor to the upkeep of the park…Many of us are here because of Bob’s understanding of the importance of the invitation, “Can you help me with something?” That it gives us all a chance to be a part of making our community a better place.

Environmental Defense Fund statement from Kate Boicourt

(NEW YORK — Nov. 9, 2022) Yesterday was a big win for New York State’s nature and communities with the overwhelming passage by voters of the Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act. As the largest environmental bond act in state history at $4.2 billion and the largest on any ballot anywhere in the nation in 2022, the measure will support environmental improvements that preserve, enhance and restore New York’s natural resources and create more than 84,000 local jobs. …

read on…

Play Fair Coalition from New Yorkers for Parks:

We joined the Play Fair Rally for Capital Reform at City Hall held on December 6th at City Hall, followed by:

NYC Council Oversight Hearing: Improving the Efficiency of Parks Capital Projects

Council members heard testimony on 3 capital reform/parks construction bill proposals. Sara RPCC advocated for these as members of the PlayFair Coalition.

Our Council Member Chris Marte supported these bills!

NYC Council Oversight Hearing: Improving the Efficiency of Parks Capital Projects

BILLS ON THE AGENDA:

T2022-2417 — NY4P has been working with Council Member Shekar Krishnan on this bill, which would require the parks department to create a strategic blueprint to reduce the average duration of capital projects by at least 25%. It will be followed by a second bill that requires all reporting agencies to deliver the same type of plan.

Intro 174 –– Requires NYC Parks to add more detailed information on its capital tracker on the website, including the reasons for delays, the dates projects were fully funded, the total number of projects in its portfolio, projected and actual cost overruns, individual sources of funding and the length of time it took to complete each project.

Intro 680 — Requires DOT, DEP and DPR to survey dead end streets to assess if those areas are suitable for tree plantings and vegetation.

• Build Back Faster
• Stretching NYC’s Capital Dollars (Center for an Urban Future
• Building the Future of New York (New York Building Congress report)

TALKING POINTS:

T2022-2417

• The Preconsidered Intro bill would require the Parks Department to deliver a blueprint for reducing parks capital project timelines by 25% — an average of 2 years.
• The Preconsidered Intro bill is focused on the parks department as a first step. But a similar bill should be passed that requires the same blueprint from all capital agencies.
• We need our parks repaired and built more quickly and inexpensively so New Yorkers have access to these critical spaces.
• We need our parks project to cost less to put that saved money towards badly needed operations and maintenance.
• NYC’s parks system has been underfunded and inequitably funded for 40 years.
• The mayor can start to fix that now by delivering on his promise to dedicate 1% of the budget to NYC Parks

Intro 174

• Adding more detailed information to the parks capital tracker will make it a more accessible and useful tool for the parks department and park stewards to fully understand the delays associated with projects.
• This additional detail will ensure NYC Parks capital expenditures reporting is updated in real time with sufficient detail for the agency and its partners to evaluate pain points and progress toward a more efficient system.

Below: CM Marte, SRPCC member Sandy Pliego, Union members, CM Krishnan addressing the rally.

The Hua Mei Bird Sanctuary: (see photos and read Brian Dubé’s full story on his website)

New York Daily Photo

Excerpt from a post on 9/8/2009 by Brian Dubé:

“…In 1995, three men, a Chinese banker and two former waiters, approached Anna Magenta, who, with Federico Sabini, had started the Forsyth Street Garden Conservancy in 1994 to improve the park. With her help, they petitioned the Parks Department, and in 1995, the Hua Mei Bird Garden was hatched. Bird gardens are common in China, and there are even restaurants that cater to patrons with their birds in tow.

Every morning, a group of Chinese men gather with their songbirds, finches, sparrows, and blue jays among them. But the raison d’être of this garden is the Hua Mei with its songs. On weekends, the population of men and birds reaches its zenith, with dozens of cages along the walkway and hanging from lines. Most of the birds’ owners are retired Chinese men.

The Hua Mei is a fighting song thrush – in the company of other males, it fights, and for females, it sings. The distinguishing physical feature is a white line that circles the eye and extends towards the back of the head. The birds are kept in ornate handmade bamboo cages, frequently with a white cloth covering the cage to shield them from the impact of the city. The birds are imported from China and Vietnam – they are quite costly, requiring quarantine before being brought into a domestic environment.

The gathering is a social one for both the owners and the birds. The Hua Mei needs exercise, and the owners take the opportunity to introduce the birds to each other while bird talk dominates the conversation…”

PHOTO Here by Lee Elson

“To love. To be loved..To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.”

– Arundhati Roy