This is a letter to City Council Member Mark Levine, who is chair of Council Committee on Health and as a member of the Progressive Caucus. We are hoping to persuade the City Council to reconsider the budget item that will destroy East River Park. It is critical to contact City Council Members today! Dear Councilman Levine, I want…
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Opaque
City officials and Community Board 3 claim they are working with the community on the $1.45 billion East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR). In fact, they are engaging in a ‘conspiracy of silence’ about the massive park-topped flood wall has becomes less transparent to community partners all the time: • no town hall by electeds in…
East River Park Oak Tree
(after Marianne Moore’s “The Camperdown Elm”) by Marcella Durand Dear Mayor Bill de Blasio, I choose as my treean oak that standssomewhat alonein a triangular lawn-like spacefacing the East Riverin East River Park,which is slatedto be demolishedthis coming Septemberper your opaque and confusingplans to, at some point,protect the Lower East Sidefrom floodingduring superstorms. The oak…
Interim Flood Protection
Wrecking East River Park can wait, but the Lower East Side and East Village need storm surge barriers for the hurricane season coming up. The East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) plan that would demolish East River Park is likely to be delayed. “In New York City, which was crippled in 2012 by Hurricane Sandy, the…
Pandemic Refuge
Sarah A, an East River Park advocate writes, “The park’s been a tremendous source of comfort and relief to everyone during this pandemic. We go there daily and see many people from all walks of life using it and enjoying the spring beauty now erupting in the flowers and trees. It’s truly become a place…
Suing
How to stop the city from demolishing East River Park with an environmentally disastrous, climate damaging flood control project that is needed, paradoxically, because of climate change. East River Park ACTION and 15 other community groups along with some 75 individuals filed suit Feb. 6 to force the city to pursue Alienation from the state….
Unalienable rights Alienated
New York State has written guidelines on the alienation law that can help as you write your affidavit for our lawsuit. Here are some useful excerpts. Handbook on the Alienation and Conversion of Municipal Parkland New York State’s General City Law…explicitly provides that city-owned parkland is “inalienable” and requires legislative approval to alienate… The use…
Mitigation Blues
Where am I supposed to go? When demolition of East River Park starts in 2020, the city should have alternate spaces for park users–called “mitigation.” There is no mitigation planned for these park users. The mitigation that has been promised is pitiful, and what is planned is not likely to be ready when the bulldozers…
Rebellion, Celebration, Suit Up
Protest with Extinction Rebellion Saturday Celebrate and Honor East River Park ACTION with Rev. Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir Sunday Get seriously legal in 2020 Saturday, December 21, noon to 2:00, Union Square (14th St. side). Join Extinction Rebellion in a protest against the destruction of East River Park. We can help save the…
Alienated
It’s how we feel and also a legal term that can help East River Park First, some background Last fall the City abruptly jettisoned a plan formed by Lower East Side residents and experts working together, to shield our community from the negative impacts of flooding caused by extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy. They…