Dave Bolotsky has a dream: he wants to see Luther Gulick Park at Delancey and Willett Streets transformed from an eyesore to an urban oasis. There’s no doubt most everyone in the neighborhood shares his dream. But It became apparent early during last night’s community meeting- which Bolotsky organized- that reaching a consensus about the details will not be easy.
About 75 residents huddled around Parks official Bob Redmond, the subway rumbling across the Williamsburg Bridge. They took turns with a megaphone, speaking out about the future of a park, which has suffered from years of neglect. Many people in attendance remembered Luther Gullick’s glory days- a beautiful sitting area, a fountain that became an ice rink in the winter, chess tables, lush trees. Redmond explained that benches and tables were removed in the 1980′s, due to complaints from neighbors that the park had become a raucus cocktail lounge. Diseased trees were cut down about 10 years ago.
The meeting got off to a contentious start when one resident became agitated, complaining that adequate notice was not given about the meeting. Richard Ropiak of Community Board 3 shot back that information had been distrubuted several days ago. Redmond assured the man he would be happy to come back for another meeting, if anyone requested it. Another resident expressed concerns about late night noise in the park and smoke from barbeque grills that people set up on the weekends. The park borders the Hillman Housing Cooperative.
Redmond said no official planning would take place until the project is funded. He suggested the neighborhood lobby City Councilman Alan Gerson to make that happen. But Redmond was interested to hear ideas from the community, nonetheless. People in attendance said they wanted to see “lots of greenery and trees,” a wrought iron fence, bathrooms, a space for parents to play ball with their kids and an open design. Right now the park is divided by an old chain link fence – handball courts bordering Delancey, a playground on one end, basketball courts in the middle and a desolate area where the benches and tables used to be. In order to walk from one end to the other, you have to go out on to Delancey Street.
Redmond said the job would cost about $2 million and take two years to design and complete. A represenantive from Councilman Gerson’s office was optimistic about the project. She urged residents and, especially their kids, to write to Gerson in support of finding the money spruce up the park.
Bolotsky and other organizers are now coming up with a strategy to find common ground in the neighborhood and convince officials to allocate the money needed for the refurbishing.
Anyone interested in joining the Luther Gulick park campaign can email Dave Bolotsky: david@uncommongoods.com.
Check out the FREE New Museum First Saturdays for Families this weekend. This Saturday features the dance/movement piece Loneliness by Faye Driscoll and families will be invited to participate in movement workshops. Also, kids and parents can check out a 30-minute program of short films provided by Brooklyn International Film Festival’s kidsfilmfest.
Don't miss the FREE Egg Rolls & Egg Creams Festival this Sunday at the Museum at Eldridge Street. The rich cultural traditions of the Jewish and Chinese communities come together for their annual block party with games, art, music and dancing for everyone.
The Manhattan New Music Project presents saxophonist Colin Stetson & cellist Erik Friedlander tonight at Abrons Art Space Recital Hall as part of its New Composers Series "highlighting living composers with
new approaches to jazz and other forms of new music". Go here for more info and to buy tix.
Volunteers from Deloitte and Touche donning their rain gear this morning, to help spruce up the sculpture garden along the side of Henry Street Settlement's Abrons Arts Center.
Here are two recent videos in which the LES neighborhood is the star (or at least has a cameo). They both, of course, tout clothing labels but they reflect the roots of the neighborhood skate and graffiti scene that has now become profitable for some.
We found this one on Animal and features a “Day in the Life” of skate legend Mark Gonzalez (shot for Four Star Clothing). He stops by the Open Road Rooftop, which we featured recently in our story about New Design High School.
We found this neighborhood vid at Frank151. It features the store Sneaktip (next to Frank’s Chop Shop)
and local Craig Hackey, who “gives the viewer a good little look into
the retail culture that Frank helped to pioneer in Downtown New York”.
The blog run by the Civic Center Residents Coalition reports the city has put the controversial Chatham Square reconstruction on hold for at least a year. Apparently a Department of Transportation commissioner made the announcement at a meeting of the Chinatown Consolidated Benevolent Association earlier this week. According to the blog, work cannot begin because the DOT has not sent out bids for the project. But it speculates that political pressure on the mayor is the real reason for the delay.
Grand Street residents fed up with bicyclists riding on the sidewalks (see here) will be interested in this one. A man from Brooklyn riding on the sidewalk was sent to jail.
New York 1 reports a plan to expand cell phone service in the subways has gone nowhere, two years after the MTA first announced it.
Susan Stetzer and Bob Gormley, district managers of Community Boards 3 and 2, speak out against budget cuts that would cripple their organizations.
LES residents met with an official from the city's Parks Department last night about revitalizing Gulick Park. We'll have a report on that later this morning.
Yesterday morning, we reported City Councilman Alan Gerson lost the endorsement of the Downtown Independent Democrats to Pete Gleason. Today the Downtown Express is out with more details. Reporter Josh Rogers called the defeat a "body blow" to Gerson's re-election efforts. Explaining the influential club's vote, Rogers wrote, "Gerson has lost the support of some Downtown political leaders who previously helped him get elected."
Gerson supporter Bob Townley said his candidate is facing more opposition in this election, in part, because voters were expecting new blood in District 1. Gerson would have been prevented from running due to term limits, but he supported Michael Bloomberg's campaign to extend the limits for the mayor and the Council. Townley said Gerson should be re-elected due to his experience and track record helping Lower Manhattan. But a former Gerson supporter Julie Nadel says while she likes him personally she beieves he's "totally disorganized." For Gerson's part, he noted that he won most of the other club endorsements and that the DID "does not represent the district."
Gerson's other opponents are Margaret Chin, PJ Kim and Arthur Gregory. Chin's campaign manager, Jake Itzkowitz, told us she directed her supporters to vote for Gleason so Gerson would not win the endorsement. Itzkowitz says it was a demonstration of Chin's organizational prowess. Incidentally, we'll be interviewing Chin next week. During the campaign, we hope to conduct Q & A sessions with all of the candidates and to cover the 1st District race extensively.
The New York Post reports Police are looking for a teenage girl who stole a pocketbook from a woman on Hester Street (between Orchard & Ludlow), then pushed her to the ground. The incident happened the afternoon of May 13th. The victim, a 47-year old woman, injured her head during the mugging. Anyone with information should call the CrimeStoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS. The mugging was caught on tape:
Representatives of the Parks Department and Community Board 3 will meet with Lower East Side residents tonight to discuss plans for refurbishing Luther Gulick Park/Playground. The park borders Delancey, Willett, Columbia and Broome Streets. Over the years, there have been various complaints about noise and dangerous conditions in the park. As a result, the 7th Precinct requested the removal of certain equipment, like the built in chess tables that used to be there. Some people in nearby buildings have called for the removal of barbeque grills in Luther Gulick, saying the smoke wafts up to their apartments and poses a danger to small children on the playground.
The park was originally named for State Senator Bernard Downing in 1933. But in 1985 it was renamed in honor of educator and community leader Luther Gulick (see Google map above; maybe they didn't get the memo. You can zoom in for a closer view). It's also sometimes called Sheriff Park. The city's Parks & Recreation web site says this about Luther Gulick:
"…the park has
benefited from extensive renovations in recent years. In 1999, nearly
$200,000 was allotted to a reconstruction effort that provided new
asphalt pavement, modular play equipment, a sprinkler system, and a
roller-skating area. Yet older attractions remain: visitors can still
sit in the shade of the pin oak and London Plane trees, or, with the
park’s first namesake in mind, play a game of basketball."
Residents might take issue of this characterization. Many people feel the park is in serious disrepair and in need of a facelift. The meeting takes place at 7pm near the handball courts. No decisions are expected tonight. This is an opportunity for people in the community to offer their ideas for the park's future.
Representatives of the Parks Department and Community Board 3 will meet with Lower East Side residents tonight to discuss plans for refurbishing Luther Gulick Park/Playground. The park borders Delancey, Willett, Columbia and Broome Streets. Over the years, there have been various complaints about noise and dangerous conditions in the park. As a result, the 7th Precinct requested the removal of certain equipment, like the built in chess tables that used to be there. Some people in nearby buildings have called for the removal of barbeque grills in Luther Gulick, saying the smoke wafts up to their apartments and poses a danger to small children on the playground.
The park was originally named for State Senator Bernard Downing in 1933. But in 1985 it was renamed in honor of educator and community leader Luther Gulick (see Google map above; maybe they didn't get the memo. You can zoom in for a closer view). It's also sometimes called Sheriff Park. The city's Parks & Recreation web site says this about Luther Gulick:
"…the park has
benefited from extensive renovations in recent years. In 1999, nearly
$200,000 was allotted to a reconstruction effort that provided new
asphalt pavement, modular play equipment, a sprinkler system, and a
roller-skating area. Yet older attractions remain: visitors can still
sit in the shade of the pin oak and London Plane trees, or, with the
park’s first namesake in mind, play a game of basketball."
Residents might take issue of this characterization. Many people feel the park is in serious disrepair and in need of a facelift. The meeting takes place at 7pm near the handball courts. No decisions are expected tonight. This is an opportunity for people in the community to offer their ideas for the park's future.
State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver now has a proposal of his own to fix New York's ethics oversight commission. He's calling for four separate commissions to oversee state government. As the Times put it, the plan would "preserve the Legislature's tradition of regulating itself." Since Silver is at odds with the governor and State Senate leader Malcolm Smith, nothing is likely to happen soon. The governor says he hopes to take the issue up again in the fall.
According to the New York Post, celebrations after the NYFD's "Medal Day" got a little out of hand yesterday. A woman named Rebeca Izquierdo claims, as the Post paraphrased it, "A party bus blasting hip-hop and reggaeton music pulled up at Allen and
Stanton streets on the Lower East Side as 30 of New York's Bravest
stumbled out. Izquierdo said, "They were all in uniform with open containers and they were soliciting
young girls to get on the bus." A Fire Department spokesman says they are looking into the situation.
A coalition that includes the United Federation of Teachers, the Alliance for Quality Education, the
NYC Coalition for Educational Justice and the Campaign for Fiscal Equity will hold a rally at City Hall today at noon. They'll urge Mayor Bloomberg to restore money cut from the the Dept. of Education budget. Yesterday, we reported how the New Design High School is coping with the budget cuts. The group will also protest the elimination of funding for community-based after school programs. We profiled the Educational Alliance's Teen Program, which is among the organizations set to lose its city funding.
Even though Daniel Boulud's highly anticipated new spot on the Bowery, DBGB, doesn't officially open until June 8th, it looks like they might be taking "walk-ins" at the bar. The restaurant has been in preview mode for awhile, if you know someone who knows someone. But Grub Street has been monitoring the foodies on Twitter — and it might just be that any ol' Joe can saunter up to the bar and sample some of those much discussed sausages and a cold beer.
Victor Osborne, a custom hat shop, has opened at 160 Orchard. You can watch the hats being made right in the store.
Principals across New York City are having to make some tough choices. Last month the Department of Education announced $405 million in budget cuts, averaging 4.9 percent per school. But recently a group of principals told the New York Post the cuts were actually deeper, more like 10 percent.
We asked Scott Conti, principal of New Design High School on Essex Street, for his take on the situation. He said they have until the middle of this month to figure the budget out, but his initial impression is that New Design will have to cut about 5-percent. Conti says he expects a deficit of around $150,000. He told us, "All schools have to make some tough decisions right now and, thus, being as thoughtful as possible about where the cuts will take place. The tough thing is that some of our expenditures (like some salaries) are going up so we are feeling the cut much more."
The principal of JHS 123 in the Bronx, Virginia Connelly, painted a much bleaker picture for the Post. Saying the cuts at her school amounted to a half million dollars, she pleaded, "I'm used to doing things with one hand tied behind my back. But don't tie both my hands." The Department of Education has promised no teachers will be fired due to the cutbacks but after school programs are likely to be targeted.
Conti said he understands Connelly's point of view, but he's upbeat: "We are focusing more on the core things we can do better and using the cuts to have conversations about what we really value. We are working harder at fundraising and continuing to look for ways to make the school feel richer and fuller for staff and students. On the opening day of school next September I expect the school to be a better place."
New Design High School is one of five schools that replaced the low-performing Seward Park High School in 2005. They emphasize a rigorous college prep education with design woven through the curriculum.
Check out our recent video report from the roof of the New Design High School, profiling the "Rooftop Legends."
State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver tells the New York Times he has doubts about Governor Paterson's ethics reform proposals. Senate leader Malcolm Smith, who backs the legislation, took a shot at Silver yesterday, saying legislative leaders should not have outside incomes. Silver, an attorney, has resisted calls for him to disclose his client list. Silver's spokesman says he continues to believe in a citizen legislature.
As we reported earlier, City Councilman Alan Gerson lost the endorsement of the Downtown Independent Democrats last night to Pete Gleason. The blog, Soho Politics, says Gleason only won by two votes in the first round. But after a recount, his lead widened 64-52. Meanwhile, another influential club, the Stonewall Democrats, endorsed Gerson, even though they chose to stay out of other races in which incumbents are "under siege." The Daily News says Gerson is poised to lose the upcoming endorsement of the Working Families Party.
EV Grieve has details of the community meeting last night to discuss complaints about late night noise and other problems from the Cooper Square Hotel. It appears to have been a rough replay of the contentious meeting last week concerning noise at the Thompson LES Hotel. There was one difference. Jeremiah's Vanishing New York reports people attending the meeting walked outside to witness a lavish private party at the hotel to celebrate the unveiling of the new Astin Martin.
Senator Charles Schumer's office says the Grand Street Settlement is one of 13 New York organizations to receive grants from the Corporation for National and Community Service. Grand Street will get $260,000 to hire 40 AmeriCorps members to "help New York City students to improve their education."
The Downtown Independent Democrats (DID) voted last night to endorse challenger Pete Gleason in the First District City Council primary against incumbent Alan Gerson. We received a late night email from the club's president, Sean Sweeney, saying the vote was 64-52. In some ways, the result was not a surprise. Some political insiders were taken aback two weeks ago when Gerson barely squeaked out a win at the endorsement meeting of his home club, the Village Reform Democratic Club. But Gleason, a former cop and firefighter (now an attorney), is a favorite son of the DID. Sweeney has been openly critical of Gerson, saying he does not serve his constituents effectively. Other members were upset that Gerson supported Mayor Bloomberg's bid to extend term limits. But in the last few weeks, Gerson had been packing the club with his supporters. We'll have more details later.
Educational Alliance Teen Center students Mariah, Nadia, Andrea, Maranda and Bianca with tour guide at Cornell College.
Andrea Scott has an infectious smile. She rattles off a list of activities – dance, poetry club, raising money for kids in Africa — faster than I can write them down. Like most teenagers, she’s a little bit torn about whether to go to college close by or far away from home. But a couple of years ago, withdrawn and struggling emotionally, it didn’t seem all that likely Andrea would being going to college at all. Her turnaround can be traced to the Educational Alliance’s remarkable after school college prep program. But in spite of its 100-percent success rate, the “Edgies” Teen Center is one of 88 after school programs the city is abandoning in order to balance next year’s budget.
Citywide, the budget cuts mean almost 11 thousand kids will have nowhere to go after school. Now the Educational Alliance is spearheading a campaign to restore the $6 million cut by the Bloomberg administration. They already have 2600 signatures on a petition that will be delivered to the mayor at a City Hall rally June 10th.
