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... more ›

Thinking about playing hooky in a city park with your laptop? The Parks & Recreation Department has created a Google mash-up of parks with WiFi. There is even a live status update for the hotspots - looks like our plan to blog from the polar bear area of the Central Park this afternoon is foiled! more ›

This Saturday, the City Parks & Recreation Department will open the first official mountain biking trail at Highbridge Park in Inwood. According to the Parks Department, the "new trail system includes black diamond features, a BMX track, and a challenge trail for younger or newer riders," as well as "trailhead kiosks, trail markers and interpretive signage, natural resources monitoring, landscaping material to replant denuded areas, trail building tools, and educational pamphlets that advocate safety and environmental stewardship." more ›

The confetti is swept away. Champagne bottles are emptied. It’s 2007, do you know where your New Year’s resolutions are? Probably not. Resolutions are often unattainable or just plain boring. But for those still looking for some noble acts of self-sacrifice, it’s not too late— city programs offer some unique and helpful activities for your first weeks in the New Year. more ›

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 were true: It seems that some police officials actually supported havng rallies at the lawn and that the city just wanted to tamp down politicial rallies during the convention and so close to Bloomberg's re-election. Last week, the NY Sun raised the issue in a story about a John Lennon tribute concert being rejected by the Parks Department, and today the NY Times looks at court papers; both papers find that the mayor was more involved with the permit-blocking that he previously admitted and that the Parks Department did everything possible to prevent events at the Great Lawn. From the NY Sun:

An e-mail from the Parks and Recreation Department's head marketing officer, Elizabeth Smith, said, "This [music of John Lennon] event does look great but we had to admit that it was going to be difficult, right after all our problems with the rally requests for the park, and right before Mike's re-election (this is for Oct 05) that this is likely to happen on the Great Lawn." more ›

Now that New York is experiencing a consistent amount of decent weather, I'd like to move my workouts from the gym to Central Park. One thing I'm concerned about is the amount of traffic on the park's main loop. When is Central Park closed to cars? more ›

- Three hundred sets of seats will be auctioned later this year more ›