It may have looked like simple joyriding on a Friday afternoon, but the Parks Dept. employee careening around Battery Park near Whitehall St. yesterday afternoon was actually a man on a mission, i.e. to kill as many birds in the park as possible. Martin Hightower has been a Parks Dept. employee since 2005, but was arrested after 911 started receiving calls about a man driving recklessly on a golf cart at the southern tip of......

Photograph by forklift on Flickr An estimated three million people assembled along Broadway during yesterday's ticker tape parade to celebrate the Giants' 17-14 Super Bowl XLII win over the New England Patriots. After the many floats with Giants players (and cars with some dignitaries, like Governor Spitzer, Senator Chuck Schumer, and Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver) rolled up the Canyon of Heroes, Mayor Bloomberg presented the team with keys to the city. When David Tyree,......

No one knows for sure what’s to become of the future Union Square pavilion, but a strong contender for the space – formerly occupied by the shabby Luna Park – is a new restaurant helmed by Danny Meyer, who opened the Union Square Café in ’85 and whose Shake Shack in Madison Square Park is an object of obsession. Construction begins on a new pavilion this winter, but some insiders are betting Meyer wins the......

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......

There are many fun events today, like Ecofest at Lincoln Center and Atlantic Antic in Brooklyn, but for those interested in our fine feathered friends, we recommend you head to Central Park to check out the Parks Department's Falconry Extravaganza with the Urban Park Rangers. The Urban Parks Rangers are bringing a number of falcon species, such as the Saw-whet Owl, Screech Owl, Eurasian Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Barn Owl, Turkey Vulture, Harris Hawk, and Adrian......

This Labor Day weekend is not just the unofficial last weekend of summer - it's the official last weekend to enjoy the city's beaches and pools. After Monday, the 14 miles of beaches and 52 outdoor pools (including the Floating Pool - which will be heading to the Bronx for the summer of 2008) will be closed. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe says, "There’s no better way for New Yorkers to wrap up the summer than......

Alley Pond Park, the second biggest park in Queens, has a new attraction: The biggest adventure ropes course in the Northeast. Last Friday, the Park Department opened up the Alley Pond Park Adventure Course, which has zip lines, a climbing wall, webs, swings, trust falls, and balance boards.The course consists of 20 high and low elements that can be both physically and emotionally challenging and also encourages a connection with nature. The low elements take......

New York's own floating pool is opening tomorrow! The concept was that of Ann Buttenwieser, founder of the Neptune Foundation and a former manager of City Parks. The water on water can be found at Brooklyn Bridge Park, it's free and open from 11am to 7pm (the beach is open from 9am to 9pm) - seven days a week. The park's website tells us how to have fun whether you're floating or land-bound: "Take a......

As we mentioned earlier this week, the vendors who set up shop at the Red Hook ballfields may be at risk for losing their permit. According to the New York Times, the vendors have operated for years under a series of temporary use permits, but now they will have to place a formal bid with the city in order to remain in the space. But the vendors are not guaranteed to win this bid, so......

How hot does titanium get? And is it too hot for children to scamper on? Is corrugated cardboard sturdy enough after many rains? These are the questions that came to mind when we heard that Frank Gehry will design a playground for the Battery. At the Battery Conservancy's gala last night, Mayor Bloomberg and Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe announced that Gehry would design his first playground in Manhattan. Benepe said, "It is fitting that the......

With much fanfare, the city announced a new public space recycling pilot program last month at the Staten Island Ferry Terminals. Six locations across the city are getting blue and green recycling bins to encourage people to separate their glass bottles and newspapers from regular trash. Not a groundbreaking idea, an important step for the city to expand its recycling efforts. We hope the pilot program works, but there's some doubt about New Yorkers'......

The Parks Department has finally formalized rules for allowing pets off-leash in city parks, following a revision of the health code by the Health Dept. to allow free-roaming dogs and a decision from a judge ruling that off-leash dogs were okay. A press release from the Parks Department announcing the change in policy outlined the allowable hours and locations dogs could be unclipped to roam. It also outlines requirements for pet owners to keep......

If you see some adorable border collies bothering Canada geese in Central Park this April, you may have seen the Geese Police. The Parks Department will be conducting a one-month pilot program "using an environmentally-safe method to attempt to reduce the number of geese in Central Park": Using border collies to drive geese away! The border collies, part of the Geese Police, Inc (motto: "Call Us to Get the Flock Out"), never touch the geese......

The city's Franchise and Concession Review Committee is scheduled to vote this coming week on whether or not to approve a proposal to have twenty Manhattan private schools pay for part of the renovation of Randall's Island athletic fields in return for exclusive use of a majority of the fields. The plan, which is separate from the controversial water park, calls for schools such as Dalton and Spence to pay the city $52 million dollars......

The feathers are flying over plans to put a restaurant in the Union Square Park pavilion. The Villager is all over it: The Parks Department has been planning to put a new "seasonal" restaurant and expand the current playground. But critics don't want the restaurant plan at all and want a new playground immediately. Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates said, “This community has just two playgrounds, the fewest of any neighborhood in the......

To the relief of dog owners and to the dismay of the Juniper Park Civic Association, Queens Supreme Court Judge Peter J. Kelly ruled that off-leash hours for dogs between 9PM and 9AM are allowed, saying that the Parks Commissioner has the power to allow pups to frolic freely. While the Juniper Park Civic Association called the ruling "complete lunacy," Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said, "Tired dogs are good dogs." The Juniper Parks Civic......

Nice: Court papers have been released showing how the city successfully blocked protests in Central Park, most notably protests during the Republican Convention. You might remember from two years ago that the some of the city's excuses for not having the protests on the Great Lawn were to protect the lawn (which had been renovated) and that the police might not be able to secure the lawn. But it turns out everyone's conspiracy theories......

Ooh, the debate over whether or put the West Side Highway underground for a stretch on the Upper West Side (Lincoln Center area, really) in the West 60s is examined in the NY Times. And there's a graphic of how the tunnel would be placed and how new parkspace would be created as a result. The undergrounding of the highway won't happen for at least 10 years, and the project's funding is debatable, but......

This summer there's a series of (expensive) concerts going on at McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn. The site has been closed since 1984, and last year started undergoing renovations. Recently we received the following email from an unhappy local: This pisses me off. Clear Channel paid off the parks department to take over the McCarren Park pool site for a series of 6-10 $30 concerts (+ $14 service fee) this summer. They "improve the......

The great scourge of city trees, the Asian Longhorned Beetle, is making Congressman Anthony Weiner very angry. In fact, angry enough to say that President Bush has been "standing with the bugs"! The federal government gave $80 million to Chicago for their Asian longhorned beetle problem, but has ignored NYC's cries, which might mean a hefty bill for the eventual fighting and re-planting of trees. AM New York reports Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe as saying,......

Gothamist loves stories about public bathrooms, so we got a kick out of today's NY Times feature on the two month, two-hundred grand restoration of Bryant Park's beautiful public bathroom. The bathroom, built in 1907, reopened today, and boy, does it sound amazing:The Baths of Caracalla it is not, but the new interior has grand 10-foot coffered ceilings, mosaic tiles, a crown molding of painted wood, illumination from brushed stainless-steel wall sconces, indirect cove lighting,......

Holy Acme Company! Reporters on the respective parks, animals-on-the-loose, and Canis latrans beats hit the trifecta yesterday, with news that there was a coyote wandering around Central Park, not too unlike a tourist in awe of the 800+ acre urban oasis. Visitors to the park reported seeing a wolf-like animal yesterday afternoon, and even Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe saw the coyote (and then hit speed dial to the press office to round up some reporters).......

NYU graduates and their families won't have to take the 7 train for commencement this year, as originally thought: Graduation is set for Washington Square Park once again. NYU had moved graduation to Shea Stadium, because of the Parks Department's planned renovations to the park, but, lo and behold, the renovations are even going to get started until after the May 11 ceremony, so NYU officials worked fast to move back to the Village. NYU......

Gothamist loves city parks, and we might love sleeping even more, so we were pretty intrigued by the Times story about public "lounge chairs" in various parks in the city. Since New Yorkers are more (!) civilized (!) than (!) ever (!), the city - and the landscape architects it works with - finds it easier to put more lounge-like park outdoor furniture out there. Formerly, residents didn't even want benches, for fear of loitering......

A number of city agencies celebrated working together to give Columbus Circle a glorious makeover yesterday, marking the end of the circle's long restoration. The mess of construction at one of the city's most infuriating intersections (or roundabout, rather) seemed to linger on forever, and then suddenly, there were fountains and benches! The Mayor was joined by the Commissioners from the Parks, Tranportation, Design and Construction and City Planning Departments, as well as TimeWarner......

Yesterday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to approve the Parks Department's plans to redesign Washington Square Park, but the Parks Department will scrap its plans for gates. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said, "The gates were clearly a hot-button issue that went beyond the neighborhood. The people have spoken, and we have listened." Yes, the gates people like are saffron and removed after sixteen days. Reaction to the approval is mixed, with many residents feeling left......

Dunh dunh DUNH! The Parks Department has found the Asian longhorned beetle in a tree at East 70th-71st Streets and Fifth Avenue in Central Park, joining 47 other trees in the NY area. The Asian longhorned beetle is no friend of trees, their larvae will hatch and end up infesting and destroying trees. And the beetle is such a menace that the U.S. Department of Agricultural Farm Service sends people to inspect the trees. The......

The City Parks Department contacted Gothamist to set the facts straight about the disappearance of the Astor Place Cube, the rotating sculpture beloved to New Yorkers. Director of Public Information Warner Johnston told us that the cube was removed last night for repairs: One of the four large bolts that attaches the cube to the base was missing! When people would try to rotate the cube, the cube would tilt, so the Parks Department......

Yesterday, a construction company removed the 11 year-old nest of red-tailed hawks from a Fifth Avenue apartment building, upsetting both residents, bird lovers, and city officials. Mary Tyler Moore, a resident at 924 Fifth Avenue (at East 74th Street) where hawks had roosted, told the NY Times, "These birds just kept coming back to the edge of the building, and people kept coming back to see them. This was something we like to talk about:......

Mayor Bloomberg is proposing that the 2,200 Fresh Kills landfill be transformed into a Olympic park as the City finalizes its Olympic bid. Wow - the Mayor and his cronies never run out of ways to turn straw into gold! The Mayor, joined by Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden and Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, presided over a demonstration of "Mountain Biking and BMX, the Olympic Games' newest, exciting sport,"......