From The New Forsyth Conservancy:

“The great Reformers of the Progressive Era agitated for greenspaces in tenement districts because they asserted that people need parks. Turns out the opposite is true too- parks need people (not only to chillax in, but to help maintain).

Last week our humble Tenement band got to work rehabilitating some historic gates in the plots of Sara D Roosevelt Park that we steward.

Look only on what a couple hours of dedicated work can do, and think about how much more we could accomplish with a larger group of volunteers!”

Sarah will meet non-Tenement Museum staffers at the SDR Park in plots just south of Delancey Street!

Speaking of the positive effect of grass roots activism and fearlessness:

“… history is not an army. It is a crab scuttling sideways, a drip of soft water wearing away stone, an earthquake breaking centuries of tension. Sometimes one person inspires a movement, or her words do decades later; sometimes a few passionate people change the world; sometimes they start a mass movement and millions do; sometimes those millions are stirred by the same outrage or the same ideal and change comes upon us like a change of weather. All that these transformations have in common is that they begin in the imagination, in hope. To hope is to gamble. It’s to bet on the future, on your desires, on the possibility that an open heart and uncertainty is better than gloom and safety. To hope is dangerous, and yet it is the opposite of fear, for to live is to risk.”

-Rebecca Solnit

From BoweryBoogie:

Magic Moment: Appeals Court Favors Children’s Magical Garden in Adverse Possession Claim

“The Appellate Court in the ongoing case – which pit the garden corporation against former landlord Serge Hoyda and current owner Horizon Group – has sided with the former regarding defendants’ motion to dismiss the “Adverse Possession” argument. It was on appeal from the prior judgement. It’s a major step forward for the Children’s Magical Garden in the drive to own all its land. “An extremely rare occurrence,” in the words of the judge, of “prime” real estate on the Lower East Side.”

From Bedford & Bowery:

“…Hamilton Clancy, artistic director of the non-profit that runs Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, bemoaned the potential loss of their performance space at the parking lot managed by the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center. His efforts to find a second home for the theater company in Sara D. Roosevelt Park had been met with bureaucratic red tape. All hope seemed to be lost.

“…K Webster– president of the Sara D. Roosevelt Coalition, which has tried to bolster community use of the park– heard Clancy speak at the community board meeting and volunteered to assist with outreach to the department. Of Clancy’s efforts to secure space in the park, Webster said, “What ensued was a bureaucratic dance that took too much time – especially since it had to happen quickly to get the performance up and running in the park…”

…Council Member Margaret Chin’s office also offered support to Clancy in his outreach with the department. Clancy told Bedford + Bowery that executive leadership of the Clemente—including Tim Laughlin as chair of the Clemente’s board of directors and Baltsar Beckeld as interim executive director of the Clemente—were responsible for bridging the impasse between the two parties.”

In the meantime, the company promised to try to come next year. Park’s Department willing.

As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.” Nelson Mandela

Free Summer Meals are Back! Rivington Playground!

Basketball!

Gardens in Flower and Respite from the Heat:

Water life: Spray shower and Turtle Pond:

And…Ceci Cela is around the Corner:

The Big Red Dot of Environmental Racism

Teaching Blockadia: How the Movement Against Fossil Fuels Is Changing the World

From the Zinn Education Project: