We appreciate Senator Squadron’s ongoing commitment to establishing and then ensuring equity in our parks. Our public parks are “The Commons” where the entire city meets.

TESTIMONY OF STATE SENATOR DANIEL SQUADRON REGARDING NYC COUNCIL BILL 384-A 

“…local parks in some of the wealthiest parts of the city are doing very well.. .. the disinvestment in the parks system of the past years has not registered with many … Our marquee parks are doing better than ever, but we cannot let most parks fall behind while others thrive.

…we started the focus on parks equity nearly two years ago, it was clear that there was a limited understanding, and scant data, about the significant role conservancies play in our parks system. This bill would provide important information by requiring the Department of Parks & Recreation to gather regular information from conservancies that have contracts with the City on their total expenditures for maintenance and operation of their respective parks.

Beyond … transparency, Intro 384-A would also force stakeholders to truly understand the costs, and stark realities of government disinvestment, of current park operation. …

… Significant public dissemination and discussion of the information is critical, so it serves the goal of allowing the public, elected officials, parks advocates, and the conservancies themselves, to understand the impact different conservancies have, identify who is doing more with less, and help point to the most efficient and effective ways to improve parks throughout the system — those with conservancies and without…”

A plea from local bike activists:

Chrystie Street has a problem. The road is simply not safe enough for the thousands of daily users traversing it on two feet, two wheels, or behind the wheels of a vehicle. The last major change to Chrystie street happened more than six years ago, before Citibikes were a way of life and Vision Zero was the Mayor’s master plan for safer streets. Now in 2015, NYC’s Department of Transportation is looking to repave the roadway and so the time is right to re-examine the roadway and re-allocate space to better serve all those who use it. Join the conversation and help bring positive change to Chrystie Street. 

Contact: Paco Abraham, dave.paco.abraham@gmail.com

Transportation & Public Safety / Environment Committee
Thursday, January 8 at 6:30pm — University Settlement at Houston Street Center – 273 Bowery

1.    Approval of previous month’s minutes
2.    Request for traffic control at Corlears Hook Park
3.    Request for traffic safety measures on Clinton St at mid-block crossing
4.    Informational presentation on the Chinatown Curbside Management Pilot Study Findings (click for info)
5.    Presentation on Safety Concerns in the Chrystie Street Bike Lane
6.    Consideration of state legislation to address the K2 legal/enforcement problems
7.    Possible sites for relocation of 18 Allen St bus stop

We Found Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses’ Love Child

BY GIDEON FINK SHAPIRO | DECEMBER 10, 2014

“This is Sara D. Roosevelt Park, a hard-working public space in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Opened in 1934, it cuts a seven-block-long, roughly seven-acre swath through neighborhoods that have long been, and still are, home to a heterogeneous mix of communities….”

Read the full article in the link above.

DANIEL SQUADRON SENATOR, 26TH DISTRICT THE SENATE STATE OF NEW YORK

Prepared Testimony of State Senator Daniel Squadron to New York City Council Committee on Parks and Recreation Regarding the Parks Department’s Community Parks Initiative November 5, 2014

My name is Daniel Squadron, and I represent the 26th District in the New York State Senate. My district includes the Manhattan neighborhoods of Tribeca, Battery Park City, the Lower East Side, Chinatown, the Financial District, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, SoHo and the East Village and the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Vinegar Hill, DUMBO, Fulton Ferry, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, and Carroll Gardens. I thank Parks Committee Chair Mark Levine for convening today’s hearing on the Community Parks Initiative, and for the opportunity to testify.

The Community Parks Initiative’s focus on local, neighborhood parks goes to the heart of what it means to talk about equity in the parks system. Real credit is due to the Parks Department for identifying the neighborhoods to begin CPI, including some in my district: Luther Gulick Park, and Sol Lain and Henry M. Jackson playgrounds on the Lower East Side.

But, today, CPI is still only in 35 parks. We know the Parks Department has identified more than 200 additional parks with a real need.

It is critical that the Parks Department expand upon CPI’s important and impressive foundation, with a goal to reach even more parks and communities in need over time. Doing that successfully requires keeping the parks equity push going. It requires a continued focus on inequities in the system, as well as a greater overall investment in the public parks budget, which commands just over one half of one percent of the City’s budget.

As I have long said, the way to do that is to continue to change the dynamic around the way parks are funded. This year’s discussion of parks funding and equity has been robust, with real leadership from the Mayor, Commissioner Silver, Chair Levine, and the City Council.

But we must create a dynamic that will continue over the long term. In 2001 we had the 1% For Parks campaign, but it died out and wasn’t really replaced until last year, an inadvertent consequence of the success of some of the wealthiest conservancies. In some of the most powerful and wealthiest parts of the city, the local parks are doing better than ever – to the great credit and generosity of donors and the effectiveness of the conservancies. But as a result, the disinvestment in the parks system is invisible in some of the most powerful parts of the city. It’s hard to get excited about a campaign to nearly double the parks budget to one percent when your local park is doing so well.

I am continuing to work with the Mayor, Commissioner Silver, Chair Levine, advocates, and the conservancies to expand the structural impact of the Community Parks Initiative, by ensuring the conservancies play a meaningful role long into the future, which the conservancies have expressed a real openness to.

Whatever final form it takes, participation by the conservancies must fundamentally link them and their patrons, to the overall system. This year we had the parks equity push. In 2001, we had the 1% For Parks campaign. It is critical that the stakeholders and this committee work together to ensure that the parks equity push is not something that comes up every twelve years, but something that comes up every year until the crisis is solved.

This year’s conversations, including those with the conservancies, have helped to change the dynamic, and I am hopeful that, at the end of this year, we will have a fundamentally different structure that ensures the dynamic is changed going forward.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Free talk by Commissioner Silver on:

The Future of New York City Parks

PRATT INSTITUTE | MEMORIAL HALL AUDITORIUM

200 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 20146:00 PM — 8:00 PM 

Bowery Boogie covered the proposed redesign of the Canal/Forsyth Streetscape and Plaza Reconstruction Project – Dept. of Design and Construction (DDC) will present. Item 2:

1.    Approval of previous month’s minutes
2.    DDC: Forsyth Streetscape and Plaza Reconstruction Project 
3.    Request for support of proposal for WTC pediatric follow-up study
4.    Bridge deck rehabilitation at Houston St over the FDR
5.    Request for loading zone for Howard Johnson Inn, 5 Allen St
6.    Request for support for traffic calming measures at the North East corner of Gouveneur Slip West and Water Street, and South West corner of Gouverneur Street and Water Street 
7.    Support for state legislation A5355-This will amend the procedure for siting of electric substations to provide for Public Service Commission Review, which includes environmental review and public hearings 
8.    Request for state legislation to address the K2 legal/enforcement problems
9.    Follow up analysis of intercity bus mapping and potential recommendations