Kehila Kedosha Janina synagogue located on Broome Street since 1927 presents: 

First Greek Jewish Festival

Broome Street (Allen and Eldridge)

May 31 from noon to 6 p.m.

from The Kehila Kedosha Janina website:

“Kehila Kedosha Janina was first organized in 1906 by Greek-speaking Romaniote Jews from the city of Ioannina in northwestern Greece. In the early twentieth century there were hundreds of other synagogues on the Lower East Side that mostly served Ashkenazi Yiddish-speaking Jews or Sephardic Spanish-speaking Jews. Needing a place of their own where they could preserve their unique traditions, customs, liturgy and language, property was purchased at 280 Broome Street, and the congregation opened its doors to worship at its current location in 1927. For the past 88 years KKJ has served the Romaniote community on the Lower East Side and, after the closing of nearby Sephardic synagogues, many of the remaining neighborhood Sephardim. In 1997, a Museum was created in the women’s gallery to tell the story of this distinct community to a world that knew so little about them. Today KKJ is proud to be one of only a handful of active synagogues that remain on the Lower East Side.” 

Kosher Mediterranean food

Live music

Outdoor market (with local vendors  Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery  the Pickle Guys

The Museum at Eldridge Street and the Lower East Side Tenement Museum will have activities for children.

From DNAinfo

For other street fairs and parades in the Lower East Side and East Village this month see DNA article for links:

St. George’s Ukrainian Festival, May 15-17. The annual fair hosted by St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church: traditional foods and dances, as well as music and artwork.

Dance Parade and Festival, May 16. Tens of thousands of dancers are expected to shimmy, shake and sashay from Union Square to Tompkins Square Park in the ninth annual Dance Parade and Festival. 

The Loisaida Festival, May 24. The three-day festival’s main event, an outdoor fair and parade on Avenue C that pays tribute to the neighborhood’s Latino history, will include live music, theatrical events and kid-friendly activities.

IDEAS CITY Festival, May 30. After two days of lectures, panel discussions and art events, the New Museum’s IDEAS CITY Festival will cap its event with a free outdoor street fair featuring more than 100 cultural and community groups. Highlights of the fair, which will take place in Sara D. Roosevelt Park and the surrounding area, include a hands-on bacteria-printing workshop and a “Mayan Ball Game Tournament,” which meshes an ancient Mesoamerican sport with street basketball.

Essex Street Market 75th Birthday Block Party, May 30. The historic market will cap its month-long 75th anniversary events and Lower East Side History Month with a block party on Essex Street.

A great day at the Firehouse. Great people!

Thank you to the men and women who are regularly asked to risk their lives to save the rest of us.

We brought flowers from the M’Finda Kalunga Garden (from my plot!) and the Certificate from the Borough President Gale Brewer.

Captain Siani and Firefighters Sieli, Myers and Proctor

photos by Steve Elson

From the Pace High School Seniors:

Dear New York City Department of Parks & Recreation,

Parks are vital to our city, society, and well being.  They give children safe spaces for play and activities, provide ecosystems for native plants and animals, and help bring communities together.

We, students from PACE High School, want to help to make Sara D. Roosevelt Park a safer, cleaner, and more updated environment for the community.  Sara D. Roosevelt Park is a vibrant park in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, and stretches from Canal to Houston street.  It is utilized by many schools and cultural organizations in the area. It is also used by sports teams, elderly people in an aerobics class, and families simply enjoying the day often use the track.  This park is a cultural keystone to the Lower East Side and has impeded gentrification.

That said, portions of the park are in disarray.  The track requires fixing, the surface is deteriorating and many people can get hurt by getting caught on it.  Other facilities in the park also could use repairs, including the basketball courts, soccer fields, and the sidewalks.  There also continues to be a rodent problem in the park.

We, the undersigned, are advocating for more funding from the NYC Parks Department to aid in improving this culturally diverse and important park facility.

Sign the petition here!

The FDNY will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the department Saturday with its first-ever citywide open house program.

K Webster will represent the Manhattan Borough President’s office presenting a Certificate for service at the Pitt Street Fire House: 

25 Pitt Street (and Delancey)  Manhattan NY, 10002

Saturday May 2, 2015

11:00AM – 1:00PM

Learn more about the FDNY’s life-saving work at one of countless open houses across Manhattan. You will be able to take a tour, pick-up fire safety education literature, learn more about careers in the FDNY, and meet their local firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs.

More than 200 firehouses and EMS Stations will open their doors to the public from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

“For a century and a half, FDNY members have risked their lives bravely protecting life and property in our city, an enduring commitment steeped in pride and tradition,” he said. “That tradition of service is devoted to the people of our great city, and we’re inviting them all – every New Yorker – to join us in this historic celebration. We want them to come and meet the men and women who serve them with selfless dedication.”

Throughout the day firefighters, paramedics and EMTs will be educating the public about fire and life safety, conducting demonstrations, discussing the department’s storied history and offering tours of FDNY apparatus (engines, ladders and ambulances).

The FDNY Foundation, members will be distributing more than 6,000 combination smoke/carbon monoxide alarms and information on careers available within the Department. They will also be giving away more than 100,000 items commemorating this historic year including fire safety coloring books, fire helmets for children, flashlights and magnets with messages promoting the anniversary.

Volunteers from the American Red Cross will also be on hand at all locations to schedule free smoke/carbon monoxide alarm installations.

To find the nearest location and time, visit NYC.gov/FDNY

The origins of the Fire Department of New York date back to 1648, but it wasn’t until May 2, 1865 that the modern-day FDNY was established with the creation of the Metropolitan Fire Department (MFD). The first professional unit, Engine Company 1, went into service later that year with horse-drawn engines and ladder trucks responding to fire calls.

For sheer expressiveness, no contemporary design could outdo the ornamental shield on certificates given to volunteer firefighters in the 18th century. It depicts a scene of pandemonium as two engine companies — perhaps competitors — battle a fire in one house at the expense of abutters that are being consumed in flames.

Channel 7 news and NYC.Gov website

Please donate to Nepal relief efforts:

Beyond Beijing Committee 

and/or

Hamro Nepal: International Benefit Concert

When was the last time you were at the garden?  It is full of the most glorious flowers of all kinds, and begs to be seen.  They are weeping for you to come and pay them a visit, to smell their delightful fragrance and gaze tenderly on their most inspiring array of colors and textures.

The bulb flower peak is right here this week, so we might as well have our little celebration of them this weekend.

Here is the poster if you want to forward to any of your friends.  If you would like to bring any refreshments for Sunday, please feel free.

Thank you and hope to see you there and then!!

Come Celebrate the 36th Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Festival !

Working Together As One

Sunday, May 3rd 11:00-4:00 in Chinatown
(Mott St., from Canal to Chatham Square)

Come spend the day with us, watching music and dance performances, learning about APA community organizations, making new friends, and having fun!
More details at www.capaonline.org, where you can register to participate.

Delicious Food!

Music and Dance Performances!

AAPI Community Organizations!

Performers!

The garden opens today with it’s first monthly meeting. All are welcome to learn more about the garden and meet some of the gardeners.

Every April, Senator Squadron hosts an annual Community Convention. It’s a chance for the entire district to come together and help set his priorities both in Albany and in our neighborhood for the year to come.

Sunday, April 12 at LES Prep High School on the Lower East Side (145 Stanton, between Norfolk and Suffolk) from 2-5 p.m.

RSVP here or by calling his office at 212-298-5565. 

From the Senator:

Last year, the community set priorities, and we got results! Here are just a few:

• Hurricane Sandy devastated Lower Manhattan, and you asked for measures to protect our community from future storms. I worked with the community to secure millions more in resiliency funding to strengthen Lower Manhattan, along with my colleagues and City Hall.

• After five years fighting to prevent school overcrowding, we finally passed my legislation into law requiring more accurate student population projections and more transparency when planning school construction.

• Following the closing of Long Island College Hospital, you wanted to ensure that hospitals wouldn’t be jeopardized in other neighborhoods under similar circumstances. That why I worked with my colleagues and community members to introduce the Local Input in Community Healthcare Act, to make sure the community has a voice when a hospital closure is threatened. 

• And after hearing your concerns and suggestions on traffic safety measures in the Lower East Side, I worked with CB3, the City, and local residents to make our streets safer.

Come and join our community to help set priorities that will focus my work in 2015. It’s urgent that you be part of the push to improve our neighborhoods and our State.

Daniel Squadron
New York State Senator
26th District