Is this what you want Barge Park to look like? Photo rendering: NYC City Planning
Parks. Everybody loves them. They are green, full of trees, and the perfect escape for people seeking refuge from NYC’s concrete jungle. But these days the word ‘park’ is unfortunately a matter of semantics. According some, tossing some green astroturf on the ground, installing a couple of plastic benches along a cement walkway, and sprinkling a couple of real plants here and there for good measure is considered a park.
We all know Greenpoint is hardly green, but thanks to the infusion of developer money and some motivated city officials, we are about to get two brand spanking new parks. How they look and smell, well…that’s where we come in. Continue reading →
That’s right folks. Get ready to tie up those laces because our favorite and only ice skating rink is now back in business! From now until January 4th 2015, Greenpointers can ice skate their hearts and fannies off at the McCarren Park Ice Rink. Thanks to a nice $100,000+ injection from Councilman Levin’s office for parks-related improvements, our little ice rink is now a whopping 25% bigger!
This year the ice rink has stretched in size to 60 feet wide by 150 feet long. That’s give us 9,000 square feet of room to fall on our asses, knock into fellow neighbors, squeeze in some hand-holding, and get in touch with our inner Evengi Plushenko. Continue reading →
As if we need another reason to complain about reckless bicyclists on the streets of Brooklyn – not only do they put their own lives at risk in order to make the city a less polluted and traffic congested place, but they kill trees!
Not by crashing into them – this is a slower more painful death. Apparently trees, those things with green leaves, are mistaken for bike racks. And blame it on forgetfulness or rust or stolen parts, whatever the reason, many bikes are abandoned attached to trees.
As the trees continues to grow they literally get choked by the chains that becomes tighter and tighter around the trunks, a fatal process called girdling.
One Brooklyn man is sick and tired of seeing these soon to be suffocated trees and began the Treedom Project to save them. He needs your help!
If you see an old rusty clunker chained to a tree, report it. On Sunday May 26th, Rob and his team of DIY tree heros will be cutting the locks off reported bikes.
I met up with tree vigilante Rob Birdsong and his big hound dog Bo on the corner of Moultre St and Norman Ave in Greenpoint to take a look at a reported tree. A rusty bike with flattened tires, unrideable after a rough winter, was left chained to the tree. It’s clear this cyclist doesn’t care about his bike – or the tree. And right around the corner we found another tree choking bike.
Parks’ Art and Antiquities Department invites New York – based emerging artists to submit a proposal for the Clare Weiss Emerging Artist Award.
Clare Weiss (1967-2010) was the Public Art Curator for New York City’s Department of Parks & Recreation. During her tenure she curated more than 100 outdoor public art installations throughout the city and organized complex, thought-provoking and visually compelling thematic exhibitions for the Arsenal Gallery. Clare’s passion, humanity, energy, courage, and collaborative zeal were valued by all who knew her.
The annual award is granted to an artist who submits the most compelling proposal for an outdoor sculpture for Tappen Park in Staten Island. This location has been determined based on its visibility and its proximity within a neighborhood underserved by public art: the location changes annually. The sculpture will be exhibited for a maximun of one year.
The award recipient will receive $10,000. The recipient is highly encouraged to visit the site, as well as procure in-kind support and other additional funding necessary to support a one-year outdoor installation.
Look at all the goodness I picked up at the first ever McGolrick Park Farmers Market yesterday! It’s going to be a good week in my kitchen. If you missed it, it’s every Sunday from 11am-4pm until November on Russell St between Driggs and Nassau. And if you are closer to Cooper Park, there is one there, too!
“I am so excited about this,” I overheard a Greenpointer say as she examined the gorgeous bounty. Everyone was buzzing about, finding fresh local treasures.
Joe Lentol & his wife
While the sidewalk on Russell St proved to be a little cramped, it was a great day to bump into neighbors, like artist/terrarium teacher Claire Typaldos, Lincoln Restler, and Joe Lentol and his wife, who live right on Russell St.
Lauren, of Farm to Baby, was hard at work picking up fresh local veggies for her baby food, which she will deliver right to your door.
