Nyc Parks

NYC Council seeks to terminate Trump Organization’s contracts with the Parks Department

The Central Park Carousel is one of four NYC Parks properties operated by the Trump Organization; image by Shelley Panzarella via Flickr

December 20, 2019

NYC Council seeks to terminate Trump Organization’s contracts with the Parks Department

By Alexandra Alexa

Manhattan Councilman Mark Levine introduced a resolution on Thursday urging Mayor Bill de Blasio to terminate the Trump Organization's ongoing contracts with the city, the Daily News reports. The president's company has four contracts with the Parks Department to operate the Lasker and Wollman Skating Rinks in Central Park, the Central Park Carousel, and the Trump Golf Links in the Bronx. Levine—who issued similar demands in 2018 and 2015—argued that the contracts violate the Domestic Emoluments Clause of the Constitution and that Trump's association with the venues is causing the city to lose money.
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Policy

NYC Council considers turning mass gravesite on Hart Island into a city park

Photo of Hart Island via Flickr

May 31, 2019

NYC Council considers turning mass gravesite on Hart Island into a city park

By Devin Gannon

One of the country's largest burial ground may become a city park. The New York City Council is considering making Hart Island, an island located off of the Bronx coast where roughly one million people have been buried since the Civil War, more accessible to visitors. Because the city's Department of Correction (DOC) currently maintains the site and hires inmates from Rikers Island to bury bodies there, access remains restricted. During a hearing Thursday, the City Council introduced a package of legislation aimed at improving Hart Island, including one bill that would transfer control of the land from the DOC to the city's parks department.
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Policy

Rendering via MVVA and the Hudson Yards Development Corporation

May 3, 2019

Arts center near Hudson Yards faces demolition from city to make way for new park

By Devin Gannon

To make room for New York City's most expensive park project ever, a handful of properties near the Hudson Yards site face demolition. One of those buildings is Affirmation Arts, a gallery on West 37th run by William Hillman. According to THE CITY, Hillman said he is willing to give his building to the city for free, on the condition it remains a cultural center. "I would like to give this building to the people of New York City to share with the world," Hillman said during a hearing Tuesday.
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Uncategorized

Average NYC Parks bathroom costs taxpayers roughly $3.6M to complete, report says

Comfort station of DeWitt Clinton Park in Hell’s’ Kitchen; via Wikimedia

April 4, 2019

Average NYC Parks bathroom costs taxpayers roughly $3.6M to complete, report says

By Devin Gannon

Bathrooms in the city's parks are flush with cash. The average comfort station built by the New York City Parks Department costs taxpayers just under $3.6 million, according to a report by Yoav Gonen of THE CITY. The Parks Department spent $1.3 million on average for bathrooms in 2011. Last year, the city finished its most expensive park bathroom to date, a $4.7 million station at the Bronx's Ferry Point Park West.
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Policy

Hudson Yards Park renamed in honor of activist and former NY congresswoman, Bella Abzug

Rendering via MVVA and the Hudson Yards Development Corporation

March 5, 2019

Hudson Yards Park renamed in honor of activist and former NY congresswoman, Bella Abzug

By Devin Gannon

Update 3/25/19: Tishman Speyer bought last week an auto repair building on West 36th Street for $20 million, the New York Post reported Monday. The company will demolish the two-story building to make way for a greenway that will be the next segment of Bella Abzug Park. In exchange for paying for the new park, Tishman Speyer will get air rights from the city to put up a tower bounded by Tenth and Eleventh Avenues. The city on Friday renamed a park near Hudson Yards in honor of the late Bella Abzug, a former U.S. Representative of New York and stalwart supporter of the women's rights movement. The greenspace, formerly Hudson Yards Park, stretches just over two acres between West 33rd and 36th Street. First developed with the extension of the 7 subway line to 34th Street, the park will soon be extended to 39th Street and run over an Amtrak rail cut.
Details here

Architecture And Design

Image: Wikimedia commons.

February 25, 2019

East River Esplanade projects to receive $75M in mayoral funding

By Michelle Cohen

NYC Parks has announced that Mayor Bill de Blasio has allocated $75 million in additional funding for ongoing East River Esplanade reconstruction projects underway from East Midtown through East Harlem. The new funding has been allocated to three distinct esplanade projects: East Harlem from 114th to East 117th Streets, the Upper East Side from East 90th to East 94th Streets and Midtown East from East 62nd to East 63rd Streets.
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Uncategorized

City will spend $250M+ connecting and greening 32 miles of Manhattan waterfront

Concept rendering of Harlem River Greenway Link view toward RFK Bridge.

October 11, 2018

City will spend $250M+ connecting and greening 32 miles of Manhattan waterfront

By Michelle Cohen

The NYCEDC, the NYC Parks department and NYC DOT announced today the results of a study on how to close the 32-mile loop of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway along with plans to invest over $250 million to get the project started in Inwood, Harlem, East Harlem and Midtown. The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway announcement outlines a strategy for connecting open waterfront spaces that total over 1,000 acres that will add about 15 acres of quality open space and integrate the Greenway into surrounding neighborhoods.
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LIC group wants to rename Hunter’s Point South Park to make it more recognizable citywide

Via Flickr cc

October 1, 2018

LIC group wants to rename Hunter’s Point South Park to make it more recognizable citywide

By Devin Gannon

A Long Island City parks group wants to change the name of Hunter's Point South Park, a waterfront green space in the Queens neighborhood, the LIC Post reported on Thursday. The Hunters Point Parks Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that manages the 11-acre park, says despite being a "gem of Queens," the park does not have "the city-wide recognition it deserves."
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Uncategorized

INTERVIEW: Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver is making NYC parks accessible for everyone

Park image via Elliot Scott on Flickr; image of Silver via NYC Parks

August 10, 2018

INTERVIEW: Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver is making NYC parks accessible for everyone

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

Mitchell J. Silver, the commissioner of the New York City Parks Department, tells us he’s 58 years old. But with his vibrant enthusiasm and energy for parks, fitness, and life in general, it’s hard to believe. Only as he details a list of his achievements and accolades over the years does his age show. Silver, who oversees the management and operations of nearly 30,000 acres of city parks, calls himself the “commissioner of fun,” a title he strives to live up to every day. This summer, Silver launched “Cool Pools,” an initiative to renovate public pools, celebrated making Central Park car-free, and increased accessibility to parks for all New Yorkers. If you want to feel good, follow his Instagram and see him sliding, swinging, running, jumping, swimming, kayaking and more. Silver is training for his first marathon this November (with his best friend from college) after completing four half marathons. 6sqft jogged beside the commissioner and got his running commentary on the biggest challenges facing NYC parks, what he attributes his success to, what we can expect for the future and where he buys his running gear.
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July 12, 2018

Grow a green thumb this weekend with free activities at over 70 of NYC’s community gardens

By Devin Gannon

Long Island City community garden, photo via Quench Your Eyes on Flickr With nearly 600 community gardens across New York City, picking just one to join can be difficult. GreenThumb, the largest community garden program in the country, wants to help connect New Yorkers with local gardens by hosting the first-ever Open Garden Day NYC. This Saturday, the organization will celebrate their 40th anniversary by opening more than 70 community gardens to the public, with lots of free, environmentally-friendly activities.
Go green

Events & Things To Do

See the colorful makeovers of five NYC public pools

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

To coincide with the opening of all 53 public pools yesterday, the city's ever cool and joyful parks commissioner Mitchell Silver launched the Cool Pools NYC pilot program. The initiative gave a colorful makeover to five outdoor pools, one for each borough, in underserved neighborhoods. Prior to Cool Pools NYC, none of these sites had a major renovation since they were built in the 1970s. In addition to the cheery paint jobs, these pools have been outfitted with polar-themed art, lounge chairs, and landscaping and will offer drop-in fitness classes for adults and obstacle courses and scavenger hunts for kids.
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June 26, 2018

NYC needs to invest nearly $6B over the next decade to fix aging park infrastructure, report says

By Devin Gannon

Photo via Geoff Stearns on Flickr A report released Tuesday by the Center for an Urban Future found that while city parks are seeing record use by the public, officials have underinvested in their basic maintenance and infrastructure for decades. The average city park underwent its last major renovation in 1997, despite being on average 73 years old. The think-tank estimates an investment of $5.8 billion over the next decade is needed to address the repair and replacement of existing infrastructure, a number which does not include the cost of constructing new structures. "The subway system isn’t the only vital piece of infrastructure in New York that is aging and in need of investment,” Jonathan Bowles, executive director of CUF, said in a statement. "Parks in every borough are experiencing infrastructure problems brought by age and magnified by record usage and decades of under-investment in parks maintenance."
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March 30, 2018

Celebrate Prospect Park’s opening weekend with an 1860s-style ballgame, a scavenger hunt and more

By Devin Gannon

Image by Elizabeth Keegin Colley for the Prospect Park Alliance Spring has officially sprung. And what better way to welcome the season than celebrating with a weekend full of activities at Prospect Park? To kick off the park's opening weekend on April 7th and 8th, the Prospect Park Alliance will bring events like free yoga, a baseball parade and 1860s exhibition baseball game, a fair, history tour and much more. Although most events are free, a few require advance reservation and some cost a couple of bucks. Ahead, check out the full schedule of events.
More details here

Events & Things To Do

February 28, 2018

Local artists will bring 10 public art installations to NYC parks this summer

By Devin Gannon

New York City's parks department will bring art installations to 10 designated parks across the five boroughs this June. As part of "Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant Exhibit," public art will be displayed in parks that currently lack cultural programming. Japanese clothing company UNIQLO, as the initiative's sponsor, will give grants worth $10,000 to 10 emerging artists for the installations. The city's Art in the Parks program began in 1967 and is responsible for bringing over 2,000 public pieces of art to the city's parks.
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Events & Things To Do

September 10, 2014

For One Day Only, Tour 300 Acres of Freshkills Park

By Diane Pham

Freshkills Park is the largest landfill reclamation project of its kind in the world, and aside from a weekly public (but escorted) program, it remains a closed site during its massive transformation. Now, the park is ready to give New York inhabitants a better look at what's underway, letting visitors roam free across more than 300 acres of the 2,200 acre park on September 28th from 11AM-4PM. The event, which celebrates the New Springville Greenway, will be like no other, offering up a flurry of fun outdoor activities and music and, above all, a chance to experience the impressive infrastructural project as it moves forward.
More on the sneak 'peak' event here

Nyc Parks

NYC Council seeks to terminate Trump Organization’s contracts with the Parks Department

NYC Council considers turning mass gravesite on Hart Island into a city park

Arts center near Hudson Yards faces demolition from city to make way for new park

Average NYC Parks bathroom costs taxpayers roughly $3.6M to complete, report says

Hudson Yards Park renamed in honor of activist and former NY congresswoman, Bella Abzug

East River Esplanade projects to receive $75M in mayoral funding

City will spend $250M+ connecting and greening 32 miles of Manhattan waterfront

LIC group wants to rename Hunter’s Point South Park to make it more recognizable citywide

INTERVIEW: Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver is making NYC parks accessible for everyone

Grow a green thumb this weekend with free activities at over 70 of NYC’s community gardens

See the colorful makeovers of five NYC public pools

NYC needs to invest nearly $6B over the next decade to fix aging park infrastructure, report says

Celebrate Prospect Park’s opening weekend with an 1860s-style ballgame, a scavenger hunt and more

Local artists will bring 10 public art installations to NYC parks this summer

For One Day Only, Tour 300 Acres of Freshkills Park

Throw garden parties all summer long at this $1.8M Brooklyn Heights co-op

144 Vanderbilt Avenue in Clinton Hill

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