Thanks Jane, Rob, Kate, Carol, Debra, Bob, Jason and others for M’Finda Kalunga, Elizabeth Hubbard and New Forsyth Conservancy in SDR Park who spent time thinking through what was needed here. Thanks to Aziz and Charles for their tireless efforts.

DNAinfo:By Allegra Hobbs

“The first phase of an expansive $2 million project bringing protections against flooding to more than 40 Lower East Side and East Village community gardens has concluded, paving the way for construction on new infrastructure to begin by summer 2017.

The New York City Community Garden Coalition has wrapped its roughly year-long study of 47 neighborhood gardens, identifying the best ways for each garden to absorb more storm water and prevent sewers from overflowing in the event of a future storm….

The entire feasibility study results, broken down by community garden, can be viewed on the coalition’s website.”

From The Next City: “Mapping Tool Aims to Keep Public Spaces Public” by Oscar Perry Abello

Such as the Stanton Building in Sara Roosevelt Park!

“Paula Segal, founder of 596 Acres…“The truth is, we’re in a city, most of our infrastructure and our assets are shared — the subways, the roads, the sidewalks, the water, something like 30, 40 percent of all housing in the city is some form of cooperatively owned. … privately owned property can start to seem like the real outlier.”

“Residents…have long been organizing around many of these assets. …Common Cause and the other NYCommons partners started to see a pattern in the organizing [of] … public assets.

Susan Lerner: “We started thinking about the fact that all of these separate challenges had similar underlying policy issues that have to do with how does government think about commonly owned, shared assets.”

“…NYCommons went to 10 neighborhoods…where they knew people were organizing. Lerner:..“[we found] a tremendous amount of energy in all five boroughs” for sharing best practices and connecting with others doing similar work…

NYCommons picked three neighborhoods for pilots, and provided them documentation, workshop facilitation and other resources to begin developing a tool kit. …The Sara D. Roosevelt Park Community Coalition was one of the pilot sites.

“The coalition’s current focus is a former recreation center, currently used as a systemwide parks storage facility, smack dab in the middle of a well-used area of the park. “We’ve been having a conversation about this building since 1994,” says Webster.”

1) The Jewish Ghetto in Postcards: Eastern Europe to LESFrom the Lo-Down: “A fascinating exhibition opens tomorrow evening at the Museum at Eldridge Street. Through a collaboration with the Blavatnik Archive, the museum will be showcasing a collection of postcards depicting life on the Lower East Side during the early part of the 20th Century -through March 8.”

2) Within a New York City Housing Authority complex, a historic building remains inaccessible to the public and the surrounding community. The Baruch Baths, located at 326 Delancey Street is a large, neoclassical building, a 115-year-old landmark along the easternmost section of Rivington Street on the LES.

photo: Jamie Jenson for Untapped Cities

3) From BoweryBoogie: Trump’s Grandfather Lived at this Lower East Side Tenement in 1885 

“The first Trump Palace was a fairly ordinary tenement on the Lower East Side. One that now overlooks Sara D. Roosevelt Park.

Donald Trump’s grandfather Friedrich arrived in the United States on October 19, 1885. It was on a steamer called the S.S. Eider. At 16, a barber’s apprentice, he left Germany…”

4) From The Villager: “KAWS courts cool, yet cause for concern” on our lovely new basketball courts (sans the volleyball nets often used by girls!).

5) Mapping Shadows: NYTimes on Shadows in our city. “The Struggle for Light and Air in America’s Largest City” Almost all of the shadow profiles drawn from 3-D building models are drawn from 3-D Building Model3-D Building Model

Nice write up in BoweryBoogie on the fight to return the Stanton Storehouse to the Community’s Use.

“…efforts to force its return are finally gaining some much-needed exposure. The Coalition held a series of scoping sessions over the summer to brainstorm possible uses. (There were several ideas floated related to it becoming an “innovative resiliency center.) …Coalition … provided testimony earlier this month during City Council Parks & Recreation Committee on Parks Department’s “Inaccessible Parks Buildings,”…

Hoping to have the neighborhood, local not-for-profits, Parks Department, Council Member, Community Board 3, Manhattan Borough Commissioner, State Senator Squadron, AssemblyMember Cancel, ALL weighing in on what use would best serve the area!

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World: Opening Reception

THURSDAY, DEC. 15th

6-9pm

City Lore Gallery

56 East 1st Street (btw 1st and 2nd Avenue)

Lower East Side, NYC

http://citylore.org/event/poetic-voices-of-the-muslim-world-opening-reception/

The exhibit runs until April 9th. Schools, community orgs, poets, non-poets, neighbors, people new to the content or fearful of it, families, friends, all WELCOME.

Developed by City Lore, in collaboration with the national poetry library and literary center Poets House, Poetic Voices of the Muslim World is an exhibit that has travelled to 11 cities and finally opens here in our New York City Home.

The potential of poetry to create indelible images, extend the reach of language, and express complex ideas and feelings through metaphor makes it a powerful force for illuminating cultural experiences. In Muslim cultures poetry plays a central role in all aspects of life-intellectual, spiritual, social, and political. The exhibit includes artwork inspired by Muslim poetry and art.

Thursday, December 15

6:00pm-9:00pm

Free & open to the public. You can share the event on Facebook here. 

(The exhibition will run from December 15, 2016 – April 9, 2017. Subsequent gallery hours are Friday 2:00 – 6:00pm; Saturday & Sunday noon – 6:00pm)

Disagreement over the delay of Forsyth Plaza.

By Allegra Hobbs | December 9, 2016

“The construction of Forsyth Street Plaza — an elevated park described by some as Chinatown’s “mini high line” — will wrap up nearly four years behind schedule because the project’s contractor filed for bankruptcy, according to city officials…”

Read more here.

Hello all,

We received a D on our ‘report card” from NYers for Parks. For all of you out there who ever got a “D” we understand!

However, it does give us some weight in terms of asking for help. Which we will do. I also want to remind folks that this grade, as is often true of grades, does not tell the whole story. NYers for Parks agreed heartily on this.

I wrote this recently in response to someone about our park. I’ll paraphrase:

“…The people of this neighborhood have been caring for this park and its people since 1982 when they rid it of drug dealers and pimps. They risked their lives doing it. We continue to care for it as we can with no money and volunteer help. If you walk through here you’ll often see an older African Heritage guy cleaning or organizing homeless people to help him. And they do. This park is surrounded by poor people and working families with little time to do the daily care that should be better funded. We have three major homeless providers here and no homes coming for their people. Parks has no real budget. Our Council Member has given us money to help throughout her tenure as has our Borough President. Some of it still waiting to be spent.
Check out our website for the Park and see what children, the homeless and a shitload of neighbors are doing.
If you haven’t been here cleaning up needles, dog shit, human feces, fighting for housing, fighting to reclaim Rivington House, fighting to get the Stanton Street park building back to the community, fighting Climate change/racism/sexism, fighting to get safe bike lanes installed, organizing Halloween/Juneteenth/Sukkot/Chinese Moon Festivals & music & art events, caring for Alzheimer’s inflicted neighbors, planting, raking, weeding, pruning, painting, caring for chickens and turtles and songbirds and caring for this place (for decades) we would welcome your help. It isn’t glamorous but you’ll find an amazing community here too. It will be good for you.

We love our park and our people. D’s and all.

Below is Testimony from the Stanton Building Task Force during NYC Council’s Parks & Recreation Committee on Parks Department’s “Inaccessible Parks Buildings” December 1, 2016

There were many fascinating grounds and buildings spoken of that day. Including North Brother Island:

Below are  links to media coverage of the Stanton Building Task Force, NYCommons and neighborhood’s efforts (at the very very bottom of this page)!

Please also see: 596 Acres website for more testimony!

Articles listed on Stanton Building

http://thevillager.com/2016/11/23/33225/

https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20160525/lower-east-side/sara-d-roosevelt-park-still-need-of-public-restrooms-locals-say

www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2013/02/oped-its-time-to-reactivate-stanton-street-park-building.html

http://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2015/02/some-lower-east-side-parks-projects-receive-funding-while-others-languish.html

http://thevillager.com/2012/10/18/study-seeks-new-uses-for-forgotten-park-buildings/

http://thevillager.com/2016/08/04/building-power-in-local-parks/

http://bedfordandbowery.com/2016/07/lower-east-side-community-imagines-a-future-for-sara-d-roosevelt-parks-stanton-building/#

http://www.boweryboogie.com/2016/07/store-no-time-reactivate-stanton-building-sara-d-roosevelt-park-locals-say/

https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20160706/lower-east-side/task-force-launches-workshops-turn-parks-building-into-youth-center

http://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2016/07/campaign-to-reactivate-stanton-street-park-building-resumes-today.html

http://thevillager.com/2016/07/21/push-to-restore-stanton-storehouse-to-community/