Saturday, November 23, 2013

NYC Parks, Boardwalk #646



The Rockaways 
Cover Story: Eric Drooker’s “Rockaway Beach” - The New Yorker (New Yorker) This week's cover celebrates the longest urban beach in the United States.









A Park's Commission Nobody Knows Makes A Promise That He Will Never Keep
de Blasioville Spin Promises, Plans Never Judge On Results by the Press
New York City Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver is making a push to expedite construction on the city’s green spaces, as advocates have long complained that it takes less time to build a skyscraper than finish a park, The New York Times writes: 

Spin Trash Plan De Blasio will enact a sweeping new plan to tackle the city’s trash problem and drastically restructure home-recycling programs in an effort to reduce waste exports, the Post reports: 
Spin Initiative to Reduce Premature Mortality Rate by 2040 The city will announce an ambitious initiative to try to reduce the city’s premature mortality rate 25 percent by 2040, in large part by targeting poor neighborhoods with preventive health programs, the Daily Newsreports:  Spin New Subway The de Blasio administration will ask the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to consider running a subway south along Utica Avenue in Brooklyn, despite the agency’s $15 billion budget deficit, Capital New York reports:  Renaming Bloomberg's Environmental Program In his most sweeping bid yet to apply a focus on income inequality across the municipal spectrum, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio today will introduce a reimagined take on the city’s ambitious environmental program, PlaNYC. *De Blasio’s new plan will tackle the city’s trash problem and drastically restructure home-recycling programs in an effort to reduce waste exports from 3.6 million tons now to just 600,000 tons by 2030.* Mayor @BilldeBlasio details new plan, but not the cost, to make city greener (CrainsNY) * Juan Gonzalez in the Daily News analyses the city’sfailure to build a 28-acre waterfront park in Brooklyn, the new Bushwick Inlet Park, which was promised almost ten years ago:



Mayor's park conservancy plans moving slowly http://capi.tl/1HmJAd8  via

Sinatra is the Chairman of the Board(Walk) Not Plastic  

Critics ripped de Blasio Sunday for going along with a $10 million scheme to replace the wood on Coney Island’s iconic Riegelmann Boardwalk with concrete and plastic, the Post writes:




The Coming Community Garden Battle With the Mayor 
The de Blasio administration may build affordable housing on up to 17 city-owned sites where people have been allowed to establish temporary community gardens. Wary of a New Threat, CommunityGarden Activists in New York Look Back  (NYT)
"I am committed to preserving community gardens and providing a voice for stakeholders in the process." de Blasio during the campaign
NYC community garden champions are debating how to respond to the de Blasio administration’s plan to build affordable housing on up to 17 city-owned sites where people had been allowed to establish temporary gardens. 8 in de Blasio administration granted residency waivers(Capital)* How Mayor de Blasioplays with your money (NYDN Ed) A deal to save $3.4 billion on city employee health care adds up to less than meets the eye


ParksMore on Parks 
Park's Commissioner Out of Town
Parks and Recreation — NYC-style(NYP) City Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver has been on the job for six months now, but you’d hardly know it from his schedule. He seems to spend almost as much time away from New York as he does here.This Administration Follows the Press
Parks Department spokesman leaves job amid bad press(Capital) Sunday Parks and Recreation — NYC-style(NYP Ed)City Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver has been on the job for six months now, but you’d hardly know it from his schedule. He seems to spend almost as much time away from New York as he does here.

Central Park Cuts Speed Limit After Two Bike Deaths
In the wake of two pedestrian deaths caused by collisions with bicycles, Central Park has lowered the speed limit for cars and bicycles to 20 miles an hour from 25, while reconfiguring intersections with heavy foot traffic, the Times reports


Out of Town Silver  
He needs to put it in park. Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver, who came on board in May, has a weekly teaching gig at Harvard University and has traveled to Singapore...



Parks 
Three years after approval and financing, a Brooklyn dog run has still not been rehabilitated, just one example of parks department bureaucracy in its capital program.* A study released this month shows that other New York City agencies often delivered projects faster and cheaper than the parks department, and delays in small-to-medium-size projects have frustrated lawmakers

. s new parks commissioner's out-of-town commitments  

  * New York City Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver told reporters he doesn’t have a plan yet how to address the concern over parks equity, an issue Mayor de Blasio championed in his campaign, Capital New York reports: http://goo.gl/DJ8B1t

Five acres devoted to sports and outdoor activities will be unveiled in Brooklyn amid a season of controversy over the park’s uses.

New Parks Chief Brings a City Planner’s Vision(NYT)
Parks are “not just a green space but a public space,” said Mitchell J. Silver, New York City’s new parks commissioner.

  Green Space So Exclusive It’s Off Limits Even to Residents(NYT)
At a growing number of upmarket buildings in New York, the ultimate amenity is an outdoor oasis so exclusive that no one but the gardener is allowed in.

It’s the trail of two cities: The long-neglected uptown stretch of the East River Esplanade — a four-mile cycling and pedestrian path that’s crumbling into Manhattan’s murky waterway — needs $115 million in speedy repairs in order to stay afloat, reports our Simone Weichselbaum. It’s a world of difference from the lush emerald pathways that afford access to the Hudson River waterfront. Said City Councilman Ben Kallos, “Residents on the East Side and in East Harlem need a park they can enjoy and feel safe in.”

 

Preliminary Budget Sparks Concerns Over Park Equity(NY1)


A Tale of Two Parks

New York City Council members questioned a senior Department of Parks and Recreation official over whether the city’s open spaces are better maintained in wealthier neighborhoods than those in neighborhoods where less private funding is available, The Wall Street Journal writes:







Barron: slammed at a Parks Committee hearing, ridiculing revenue sharing of city’s parks:
How the Hell Does Attacking Central Park 
 
Brooklyn Bridge Park affordable housing plan ruffles feathers: Brooklyn Bridge Park neighbors are up in arms over...
Blooms Return to Washington Square Park After Years of Renovation

Help the Mayor's Image or Tourism?

Fight Over Park Conservancies Funds

Ideology War
Mark-Viverito at odds with de Blasio on parks funds(NYP) City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito expressed reservations Friday about a proposal to force well-funded park conservancies to share their donations with small or neglected parks. Mayor wants to tshare 20 percent of their funds with smaller parks. De Blasio, who backed the controversial money-sharing proposal during last year’s mayoral campaign, called it “promising” when asked about it again Friday.*New Parks Dept. Leader Shares de Blasio’s Goal of Addressing Inequities(NYT)In naming Mitchell J. Silver, an urban planner with broad national experience, to lead the parks department, Mr. de Blasio said the agency would do more to “work for all our people.” * Parks commissioner wants to redistribute money to parks in poor areas(NYDN) *   Mayor de Blasio to Appoint Mitchell Silver Parks Commissioner: Sources(NYO)  Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to announce tomorrow that Mitchell Silver will be the new parks commissioner in his slowly-growing administration, source say. Mr. Silver is the former president of the American Planning Association, and is currently the  head of planning at Raleigh, North Carolina, according to an online bio.
de Blasio to name parks commissioner | Crain's New York Business  North Carolina Planner Named to Head New York City Parks Dept.(NYT) The new parks commissioner, Mitchell J. Silver, has extensive New York experience, with degrees from Pratt Institute and Hunter College.* Mitchell Silver tapped to be new Parks commissioner: sources(NYDN) * De Blasio to tap parks commissioner(NYP) * New Parks Head With Urban Cred(WSJ) * De Blasio Appoints Mitchell Silver New Parks Commissioner(NYO) BdB reiterates openness to redistributing money from wealthy (private) parks groups, to fund less-maintained parks.* Leave green parks alone (NYDN Ed)  Don’t rob some to fund others
Flashback De Blasio Picks More Liberal Activists Than Managers for City Posts(NYT) * Stasi: Dear mayor, you're right about the carriage horse ban — when you love animals as much as we do the livelihood of those carriage drivers takes a backseat(NYDN)

Mayor de Blasio First 3 Months 
More on the City's Parks 
More on Horse Carriage Politics 
Bill de Blasio's son attends a school with a healthy private endowment. Tax it and spread the wealth around?


De Blasio Is Urged to Alter Housing Plans at Brooklyn Park(NYT)
A group of elected officials is calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to halt plans for two residential towers at Pier 6, one of several recreational piers in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Opponents want last chance to block Union Square restaurant(NYP)

Losing the pavilion in Union Sq to a restaurant...

Stop Fancy Park Eats


Protesters of fancy restaurant in Union Square Park call on Mayor de Blasio to halt project (NYDN)

Chef Driven Market, say the opponents to the proposed new eatery given the go-ahead by Mayor Bloomberg, would ruin the public green space.



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A Tail of Two Parks

In case you missed another of Miguelito's legacies: It's a 'Tale of Two Parks' in the Bronx
One Side of Bronx Park Has an 18-Hole Golf Course. The Other Lacks an Essential.(NYT) Ferry Point Park in the Bronx, with 422 acres on the East River, is divided neatly in half by the span of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge. On the eastern side, construction was completed in October on the sculpted mounds of the Trump Golf Links, a new 18-hole, 192-acre golf course atop a former garbage dump. When the course, which cost $120 million, opens next summer for youth play, it will bring public golf to a luxurious new level, eventually with greens fees to match. Building it took four years, a large part of which was devoted to capping the landfill. On the western side, where thousands of visitors and soccer fans set up camp on weekends, the dusty fields have steel pipes for goal posts, water fountains are dry and — worst of all, parkgoers say — there are no restrooms, despite a decade of requests for one.

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A Tail of Two Parks

In case you missed another of Miguelito's legacies: It's a 'Tale of Two Parks' in the Bronx
One Side of Bronx Park Has an 18-Hole Golf Course. The Other Lacks an Essential.(NYT) Ferry Point Park in the Bronx, with 422 acres on the East River, is divided neatly in half by the span of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge. On the eastern side, construction was completed in October on the sculpted mounds of the Trump Golf Links, a new 18-hole, 192-acre golf course atop a former garbage dump. When the course, which cost $120 million, opens next summer for youth play, it will bring public golf to a luxurious new level, eventually with greens fees to match. Building it took four years, a large part of which was devoted to capping the landfill. On the western side, where thousands of visitors and soccer fans set up camp on weekends, the dusty fields have steel pipes for goal posts, water fountains are dry and — worst of all, parkgoers say — there are no restrooms, despite a decade of requests for one.
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Brooklyn Bridge Park Gets $40 Million Gift to Build Field House(NYT) * The Velodrome Comes to Brooklyn(WSJ)



A Tale of Two Parks
Philanthropists and parks advocates are worried that de Blasio’s past support for requiring well-funded New York City park conservancies to share money with poorer parks would negatively effect charitable contributions,De Blasio Parks Stance Unsettles Some(WSJ)




Washington Square Park Blog


What About Parks?
Anxiety Builds as New York City Parks Await a Leader(NYT) The de Blasio administration has not yet hired a chief for the department, leaving some to wonder what the effect will be on longer-term policy issues.

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Stealing Parkland Again


Tennis Group and City Swap Parkland for U.S. Open(NYT)
Efforts by the tennis association to take over the plot of land have been fiercely opposed by local residents. * Expanded Willets Plan to end committee review(Queens Crap) *Fake park advocates think fake parkland swap is great(Queens Crap)
 

 




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