According to New York City officials and some elected representatives, we need artificial turf fields more than we need to protect the climate of NYC and the earth. NO. We need more real grass playing fields and other open, natural spaces for the health and joy of more New Yorkers and for the future of…
The Lower East Side Ecology Center’s compost program in East River Park was the first of its kind in the city. We’re helping this important climate-centric community group to continue. By Wendy Brawer Every bit of food scrap that goes into the drop-off bins provided by the Lower East Side Ecology Center (LESEC) at the Tompkins…
Amazing fact. The population density of our Lower East Side and East Village is 95,965 per square mile. That far exceeds anywhere else in the city, and get this–it far exceeds Kolkata, India, with 77,952 people per square mile. This is one reason we need greening—more trees and other plantings and real grass turf fields*–to…
We’ve been invited to do a program by the Storefront gallery at 97 Kenmare St. Tuesday, April 30, 6:30 to 8:00. (just E. of Mulberry). The Storefront for Art and Architecture displays multimedia work and arranges discussions about new ways to think about architecture, art and design. It will feature a special showing of Harriet Hirshorn’s…
Sign the Petition! Four years ago, our Lower East Side/East Village community petitioned the City Council to reconsider the East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) plan that would demolish its beloved mile-long East River Park and build a massive levee. Less destructive alternatives were possible. Our voices went unheard. Today, we face the consequences as the…
New sculpture adds more dystopia to East River Park An art installation, “Joined an Avalanche, Never to be Alone Again,” opened October 4 at the foot of the temporary Corlears Hook Park bridge. The piece features gravel, corrugated steel, core samples, repurposed fencing from the FDR–and asphalt. At a recent walk-through, the DDC Public Artist in Residence Carlos Irijalba…
In the absence of birds, I counted vehicles. There were plenty. by Marcella Durand There is a new hawk in town: a juvenile red-tailed hawk that sits on trees and fences between Corlears Hook Park and the tiny oblong of passive lawn in what used to be East River Park. I like to keep an…
The cost of cutting down 29 oak trees in East River Park—just a few of the approximately 600 trees destroyed one year ago by New York City Marcella Durand In Nature’s Best Hope, Douglas Tallamy writes, “Ecologically, oaks are superior plants, and it would be easy to make a convincing case that they deliver more…
Sparse shade in the remains of East River Park means that temperatures in the former oasis are dangerously high. We need remedies. Some intrepid Actioneers braved the outdoors despite heat advisories August 9. We measured temperatures around the area of East River Park. (We started measurements at Corlears Hook Park as shown above because that’s where…
With half of East River Park’s once verdant space now a barren construction zone, the vegetation— that formerly filtered emissions from the FDR Drive, the Williamsburg Bridge and Con Edison — is gone. How will the quality of the air be affected as a result? And what can we do about it? We’re wondering as well,…