Results tagged “parks”

The Post is outraged over what it costs for school playgrounds to be open and closed: "The city plans to spend up to $14.5 million a year to have school custodians simply lock and unlock schoolyard gates."

When the Health Department first announced a plan to ban smoking in public parks and beaches run by the city, Mayor Bloomberg seemed caught off guard, and backed away from a full ban, saying, "Our Police Department has enough to do. They can't be going around giving tickets [for smoking]."

          

The first photographic study of New York City's parks since the 1930s will be on view at the Museum of the City of New York starting October 9th. The massive wall-sized prints will be on view through March 7th, introducing visitors to parks in all five boroughs (and making it easier to envision Mannahatta).

Yesterday Mayor Bloomberg stepped back from a plan to make smoking in public parks and beaches illegal, cautioning that the proposal would stop short of completely outlawing smoking on Parks Department property. Bloomberg boasted at a press conference, "Nobody is more of a believer in saving lives and stopping smoking. In fact, we already ban smoking, for example, in playgrounds." However! "There's also the practical aspect of how we can enforce it. Our Police Department has enough to do. They can't be going around giving tickets." Not with all those photographers and superheroes on the loose, anyway. The mayor explained that the ban would not cover entire parks, only select areas where large crowds might gather. He also acknowledged that if you, the embattled smoker, are "sitting in the middle of Sheep Meadow and you’re the only one there, are you doing any damage to anybody other than killing yourself? Probably not." At the same time, Bloomberg reaffirmed his tough anti-smoking stance: "Make no mistake about it. This city is not walking away from our commitment to make it as difficult and as expensive to smoke as we possibly can." So smoke 'em while you can still (barely) afford 'em.

One day after city health commissioner Dr. Thomas A. Farley revealed his intention to expand the city's smoking ban to parks and beaches, something terrifying happened: We woke up this morning to find ourselves in complete agreement with conservative NY Post demagogue Andrea Peyser. Obviously, this means that we were wrong in supporting the ban and ought to start smoking Lucky Strikes at once. Peyser opines:

Visiting the beach or the park should no longer require an oxygen mask. If one wants to smoke, there are places to freely enjoy that activity. Like China... The idea won't sit well with the pathologically addicted few who continue to force innocent citizens to unwillingly breathe their poisons. But this is a scenario whose time has come... Few things are more aggravating and disgusting than being forced to swallow fumes emitted by a mother, father, grandpa or stalker whose bond with nicotine prevents them from stepping outside the city's precious, toddler-filled recreation areas in order to slowly kill themselves.

Mayor Bloomberg, you really won some votes talking about bringing back the Brooklyn trolleys, but you'd really win over the city if you allowed public drinking in parks. The NY Post reports that he recently addressed the no-drinking policy, saying, "I never understood why we don't let you drink in the park." However, he didn't show any signs that he'd be changing the policy, only saying, "We don't let you drink in the park. I mean, you go to watch the Philharmonic, you can't have a bottle of wine." In the past he has suggested that a bottle of wine while watching something akin to the Philharmonic is okay—something that was called out for being a classist sentiment. Recently Marty Markowitz was also supporting a form of drinking in public, after he was spotted with a glass of white on a stoop in Brooklyn (but he wasn't fined, like the Brooklynite drinking a beer was).

No fancy-schmancy tally counters here: many of the supervisors don't even use pen and paper to take census; they just "estimate" mentally and log the numbers later. As Deputy Parks Commissioner Liam Kavanagh explains, "Crowd estimates are notoriously difficult to do well or accurately...Beaches in particular pose a challenge because beaches are pretty dynamic places. People are flowing in and out all the time."

The roundup of Canada geese around NYC airports is now nearly halfway complete with a total of 800 having been trapped and gassed. Operation "Goose-Be-Gone" has now removed geese from 15 of the 40 sites within 5 miles of Kennedy and LaGuardia Airports that is expected to kill around 2,000 birds. However one wildlife expert told the Queens Tribute that the city's removal program is only skimming the surface. Dr. Steven Graber said, “They’re definitely on the right track. They’re finally doing what they’ve been supposed to have been doing this entire time. However, they’re forgetting about 90 percent of the property and 90 percent of the problem.” A spokesman for the mayor's office disputed that saying, “In the City, there isn’t much open space that isn’t city owned." The Times had more pictures of the geese being rounded up earlier in the week at Randalls Island.

While aggravated Brooklyn residents near McCarren Park have launched an organized campaign against the insipid jingles incessantly blaring from parked ice cream trucks, parents in other parts of the borough are taking aim at Mister Softee not for how he sounds but for what he sells to their children. Well, two parents anyway; a Bensonhurst mom tells the Daily News she takes her 7-year-old daugher to Seth Low Park for exercise, but an ice cream truck parked there is tearing her family apart: "I’ve had fights with my daughter in the past about it. You kind of feel like it’s pushed on you. It’s one thing if they’re just in the neighborhood, but to be here by contract [with the city], they might as well be selling drugs." (They've been known to do that too!)

The Post has an exclusive about "Brooklyn's canine vigilante"—a man who documents dog owners who illegally let their pooches go leash-free in Prospect Park as well as other parks. Bird watcher Orrin Tilevitz has a website—Committee for Responsible Dog Ownership—that apparently has photos and videos of dogs going free in areas that are not designated as leash-free. One example shows pups off leash at 1 p.m. (off-leash hours are before 9 a.m. and after 9 p.m.), plus "After one of the dogs stole food from a baby and smeared our correspondent's friend with his wet, muddy paws, the owner and another dog owner continued into the Ravine with their dogs unleashed, right past a sign that prohibits off-leash dogs in the Ravine." Tilevitz tells the Post he was once attacked by a dog so now he's armed with pepper spray (some other birders also pack pepper spray), "I have become militant, and that itself is the Parks Department's fault" for not enforcing the off-leash rules. Dog owners simply say that their dogs need freedom, but one admitted undercover parks officers busted him and other people for having their unleashed dogs earlier this month.

Hundreds of protesters came out on the Upper East Side to voice their dissatisfaction with word that the developer Related Cos is planning to build a 40-story office tower on the spot that is now home to Ruppert Playground, the popular park on East 92nd between 2nd and 3rd. Geoffrey Croft, NYC Park Advocates President, said, "This is an incredible shame. The quality of life for these residents would sink to a new low." Could the quality of life on the UES any lower? Related Cos gained the ability to develop on the site last year after a 25-year deal with the city to maintain the playground expired. Croft told Crains, "This community ranks dead last in the amount of parks and open space in the entire city...The city sold the property to a developer and the city can negotiate a deal to get it back!” Google Maps clocks the walk to Central Park at approximately seven minutes.

If only you'd stayed in school, you'd still be in bed right now. Then, around noon, you'd probably go frolic in today's winter wonderland, your carefree yelps of joy piercing the ears of bitter office drones stumbling through snowdrifts on their harried lunch breaks. And as if an entire day of unbridled freedom from tests and homework isn't enough of a gift, the Parks Department will be sweetening the deal today with "free winter fun" in all five boroughs. Sucks to have a job today!

The Independent Budget Office estimates the cost of replacing parks around the new and old Yankee Stadiums has risen 67%—from $116 million to $195 million—since the project was first started. And the city is the one footing the bill, due to its deal with Yankee Stadium. NY1 reports the increased costs are the result of rising construction costs, more complicated environmental issues and adding more park space and features, like "a waterfront park with tennis courts and an ice skating rink." But NYC Park Advocate's Geoffery Croft" says, The tax payers are paying for a waterfront park that they were never supposed to pay for. And if the city had done a proper environmental impact study, some of these costs wouldn't be there as well." The park displacement has also been criticized because over 20 acres of continuous park space was given up for the new stadium; now there will be eight smaller parks spread out over the neighborhood.

Don't just toss your tannenbaum out onto the sidewalk; this weekend there are two events designed for the ultimate holiday arboricidal massacre. First up is the city's annual MulchFest, which invites you to bring your tree in to a designated city park (they'll open up shop in all five boroughs), where it will be turned into nourishing mulch. "You are encouraged to bring bags to take advantage of the free mulch" that will be provided at certain sites. More details here.

Put on your snowpants! Today, between 12 p.m. and 4 p.m., the Parks Department is welcoming New Yorkers to their neighborhood parks for a Snow Day: "White-capped hills around the city are open for sledding, snowman-making and more. Parks & Recreation will provide sleds and hot chocolate at selected locations across the city." These are the selected parks:

Alan Spitalnik, a Jewish truck driver for the Parks Department on Staten Island, says he walked into a break room at Forestry Division headquarters last Wednesday to find three tree pruners performing an anti-Semitic skit for eight co-workers, who all "burst out laughing" when he entered. A source tells the Daily News that one worker wore a motorcycle helmet emblazoned with a swastika, another had a Hitler-style mustache, and the third comically brandished a flaming aerosol can. The trio then apologized, explaining that it was just a joke.

        

The farewell party for the famous "Toy Tower" at the Avenue B and 6th Street community garden took place yesterday. Vanishing New York estimates about 100 well-wishers were in attendance to eulogize the found object art tower, which rose to a height of 65 feet over the course of two decades. The eclectic structure is the work of the colorful East Village character Eddie Boros, who passed away one year ago this month.

A tipster tells Vanishing New York that the iconic found object “Tower of Toys” that began rising out of the Avenue B and 6th Street Community Garden in the mid-80s will be demolished by the Parks Department. According to the garden's executive committee, the 65-foot tower has been deemed unsafe. And, let’s face it, it’s just not in keeping with the city’s ever-expanding ‘generic and soulless’ real estate trend.

The 61-year-old Stamford, CT man accused of sexually abusing three children in two different Brooklyn park bathrooms begged for mercy as he was being apprehended, but pleaded not guilty in front of a judge. Michael Martin was arrested after allegedly molesting three children at two Brooklyn parks. After the second incident, Martin was quickly caught by civilian patrol officers at the park and begged them not to call the police. He allegedly yelled, "I know what I did! I'll seek professional help!"

A 61-year-old man from Stamford, CT, Michael Martin, was arrested Thursday afternoon after he allegedly abused three children at two separate restrooms in Brooklyn parks. The first incident occurred at a park in Gravesend, Brooklyn Thursday, when Martin is accused of following an 8-year-old girl and a 4-year boy into a public restroom where he sexually assaulted them. Later, he is accused of attacking another 8-year-old girl in the bathroom of a Kensington, Brooklyn park. Cops say that Martin ran off on both occasions when the children began to cry.

The American Institute of Architects is looking to supplant the idea of replacing the Gowanus Expressway with a tunnel, and instead proposes a suspended highway and formation of a Gowanus Greenway. In 2006, the Dept. of Transportation gave a green light to a $12.8 billion proposal to build a 3.5 mile, seven lane tunnel underneath the Brooklyn Waterfront and then destroying the elevated highway. The plan for a Gowanus Tunnel appears to be in perpetual stall though, and would take approximately 15 years to finish.

After years of protesting renovations to it -- this evening community members will be grieving Washington Square Park, and protesting those with its blood on their hands: the Parks Commissioner, Mayor Bloomberg, and City Council Members. Yesterday we received this letter, sent out by the Open Washington Square Park Coalition.

It is with frustration and remorse that I write to inform you of a memorial service for the spirit of Washington Square Park.

Continue reading "Washington Square Park, R.I.P."

Earlier this year some renderings for a Governors Island redesign were released. Out of the five contending designs, all of which the NY Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussof called "unambitious", a winner was finally chosen. Earlier today at the Whitehall Ferry Terminal, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Spitzer announced the Dutch firm West 8 has been selected to recreate the open space on the island. This was one of the firms that Ouroussof pointed out as having a "thoughtful" design back in June. So what's in store for the 90 acres of parkland?

A Gothamist tipster emailed us this photo of a prohibitively tall bench on the median of East Houston Street near Suffolk. Is this guerrilla art or city-sanctioned furniture? The new cool “Bench Club” for East Village scenesters? A lawsuit in-waiting from the city’s more vertically challenged residents? A prototype anti-homeless bench? A photoshop hoax?

Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, who was in charge of Economic Development and Rebuilding in the Bloomberg administration, announced he would resign by the end of the year. The Post called the news "stunning," but we'd like to call it "classic," because his new job will be president of a little company called Bloomberg LP. At a City Hall press conference, Mayor Bloomberg said, "As a result of Dan's efforts, we've allowed for the creation of...

The family of late Detective Dillon Stewart was joined by Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and other city officials in the dedication of a Prospect Park playground in Stewart's honor. The Parade Ground Playground, at the corner of Caton Avenue and Parade Place, near East 16th, was renamed the Dillon Stewart Playground. Stewart was killed on November 28, 2005, when he and his partner stopped a car for a traffic violation. Someone...

The city's last privately owned island was sold to the federal government for $2 million. South Brother Island, a 7-acre island (just west of Rikers Island), will be turned over to the city's Parks and Recreation Department and will remain, as amNew York reports, "significant nesting colony for several types of shore birds, including Egrets, Cormorant, and Night Herons." According to the NY Times, the deal, which was "brokered by the Trust for Public...