Protecting and improving the community for the people who live and work here

If true, this is problematic.

A lot of us spend volunteer hours, days, or lifetimes making our local park’s beautiful, functional and safe. The possibility that neighborhood input at Park’s public meetings is just a troublesome ritual to try to manipulate opinion to align with a foregone conclusion is insulting to say the least.

It’s insulting not only to Park volunteers, but to Park’s staff and workers who are intelligent enough to make a case – if there is a case to be made.

If Park’s can’t honestly do that? There’s a very good chance it doesn’t make sense for the park.

There is a place for bureaucratic proposal making. But it then needs to be tested against local experience and knowledge. Knowledge that has been honed over decades in many cases.

When Manhattan Commissioner Castro has attended public meetings we usually feel he listens and engages. We aren’t always ‘nice’ about it but he’s stayed trying to hear what is being said. And sometimes he argues back. It’s how democracy works. People need to be listened to – even if our thinking won’t work in the current circumstances. And, once in a while, Parks has to admit that it doesn’t know everything and doesn’t always have the best ideas! So far we’ve done well in our give and take. Though we have a few urgent issues that will need action to keep the public safe which could test our collegial ways.

Government is under attack these days because many people believe it doesn’t respond or care. That’s not good for democracy. And it doesn’t only happen in DC.

Oh, and though we doubt anyone from Parks who works around the LES and Chinatown would need reminding… but just in case…putting on a happy face to get us to agree to something will just make us wonder if you’ve been taken over by aliens.

According to the NY Post:

And you can leave a comment on the well known Park blog “A Walk in the Park”

“Parks Department ‘pressured’ workers to attend public engagement meetings“

“The lectures, titled “Public Engagement 101: Tips to enhance your public meeting experience,” are “intended to provide guidance for staff who regularly engage with communities and represent NYC Parks at public meetings, hearings, events, etc.,” …Feb. 23 internal Parks email obtained by the watchdog group NYC Park Advocates“.

…[C]ommissioner Mitchell Silver, provided tips on how to avoid community opposition of agency projects, according to workers who attended the sessions…

..key suggestions to rank-and-file staff… use picture slides to avoid talking too much, understand the demographics of the target audience…emphasized being extra positive and enthusiastic when discussing a project….

“…New Yorkers are savvy,” said a worker. “They can see through spin, and Commissioner Silver refused to acknowledge that. He somehow believes that if we are enthusiastic enough about an idea there won’t be any opposition.”

Geoffrey Croft, of NYC Park Advocates, said the lectures “fly in the face of the most basic community-based planning and consultation by government agencies.”

Parks Department spokesman Sam Biederman said it is a “complete mischaracterization” to call the public-engagement courses “spin classes.”

The NY Post carried an article on an attack near Forsyth Street (near Stanton Street) across from Sara Roosevelt Park.

A woman in her 50’s was beaten unconscious early Saturday at around 6 a.m. at the corner of Forsyth and Stanton Streets on the Lower East Side. She is apparently in stable condition.

The attacker ran but he was caught in a nearby deli. “The police found he was carrying 11 small ziplock bags of marijuana.”

We send our best wishes for the woman who was attacked with hopes of a speedy recovery.

This area has become a hotbed of drug selling, K2 in particular. Park goers and nearby residents have been threatened and harassed by drug dealers here. It’s becoming the 1980’s all over again.

We have vulnerable populations here: elders, children, high school students, a housing project with deaf residents, and a homeless population that is vulnerable to abuse from drug dealers. We can’t afford to have a drug problem making this worse for people who are already struggling.

We appreciate Park’s Department moving ahead on the bathrooms for Stanton Street. But much much more is needed now.

Park’s Department needs to turn over the Stanton Street Park building to public use.

We know how to turn this around:

• Have the building occupied and active 24/7
• Remove the cargo container alongside it (that holds overflow storage) where illicit activity happens day and night
• Have 24/7 security and maintenance for the bathrooms
• Create an RFP for a local not-for-profit to run, program and organize the “Stanton Center” The local not-for-profit coordinates shared space for:
•  A homeless outreach unit from a reputable homeless aide organization daytimes
• And a resiliency hub/education center to be run by a reputable resiliency organization daytimes
• And an after-school for the local high schools use early evenings
• And community meeting space evenings

We have been saying this, asking for this, since 1994.

We think it is long past time Park’s listened to us.

We got a bunch of help today from the Holy Virgin Protection Orthodox Church in the LES and their group of High School students!

Mark, Allen, Sophia, Sylvia, Alexandra, and Seymore!

The dirt pile reduced, children’s area raked and swept, front of the BRC got more soil, as did parts of the M’Finda Kalunga Garden. New friends who will come back to help us out!

Nice to have a few long-time neighbors stop by too!

Great Day in the M’Finda Kalunga Garden with Ladybug releases, food, clean-up, neighborhood “kitchen table” conversations, and much more.

Thanks for donations from Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream, Starbucks and Mottsu Restaurant! And homemade goods from the gardeners!

We heard from The Hort on their ongoing gardening efforts with a terrific group of local Emma Lazarus High School students. This time they worked all over Sara Roosevelt Park. Thanks to Council Member Chin who helped fund these activities here!

“It rained intermittently, but nonetheless, we persisted.  It was a good day. We planted 40 perennials yesterday and weeded 3 trash bags!  The Irises are blooming and the lemon balm is back!  We cleaned up the cherry tree and the euonymus topiary… trimmed the tulips…hacked at the daffodils.  We chipped away at the compost pile, but I fear that we were too tired to get more than a handful of wheelbarrows!

Here are some pictures here of our fall activities (most of which didn’t occur in “our plot”).  We worked with the gardener down [near] Canal Street to spread piles and piles of mulch. Some students also scraped and painted lampposts.   We also planted paperwhite bulbs for the seniors and have a very sweet visiting day.

We will bring the Emma Lazarus High school group by the plot two more times before the end of the school year.  Will focus on watering and maintaining the plot and finishing our fall tree map project.

Water is still a huge concern.”

Pam – The Hort

From the Indypendent:

“On Friday night, roughly 100 people gathered outside the Hester Street Playground at the bustling intersection of Chrystie and Grand Streets in the heart of Chinatown. Across the street, images of anti-gentrification agitprop were projected on the side of a five-story tenement building that loomed above the crowd.

“We’re using this as a way to reach out to Chinatown tenants and people living in very precarious situations,” said Betty Yu, co-founder of the Chinatown Art Brigade(CAB). “We chose this very consciously as a place where tenants hang out on a Friday night when the work week is over.”

During our periodic walk throughs we take photos of how things are going in our narrow strip of park.

The community knows how to use resources: handball courts and basketball courts are filled. The redesigned Hester Street Playground is alive with families. Bathrooms are open to the public (more on that later).

The resting area near the Hester Street Park’s Building has people enjoying every inch of space. Green spaces are being maintained with sparse staffing. Cleaning is a top priority given the heavy usage.

The oval is used by everyone for enumerable activities: whatever can be imagined: sports, dancing, impromptu badminton,  volleyball (more on that later). Pace HS, MS 131, Emma Lazarus HS all use this field for necessary outdoor time.

The Bad News: Then there is the extremely hazardous sports field oval, parked cars taking up park space creating hazards, lack of nets for games that many girls want to play. Bathrooms are misused and impossible to maintain given current funding and staffing. See photos below.

It’s My Park Day May 20th from 1-4pm in Sara Roosevelt Park will be centered out of the M’Finda Kalunga Community Garden. (Gardens in other parts of the Park will be worked on as well). Stop by and get dirty!

And…help distribute ladybugs! (Flyers in Spanish, English and Chinese below).

TimesUnion:

“The Senate should stop blocking a proposed law to hold oil storage facility owners accountable in the event of a disaster.”

“The dangers of mishandling highly flammable crude oil came into focus in 2013 with the explosion in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, that killed 47 people and caused $2 billion in damage after a tank car filled with highly volatile crude oil broke free, crashed and exploded. The small railroad company involved subsequently went bankrupt and its insurance only covered $20 million — a fraction of the damage the explosion and fire caused. It underscored the need to make sure companies handling explosive oil have adequeate financial resources in the event of a disaster.”

Like the gas industry, the oil industry seems happy to privatize profit and socialize risk…..The [NY State] Senate …is supposed to be looking out for the public’s interest. Passing the Petroleum Storage Surety legislation would do just that.