Elected officials and local residents cut the ribbon on Parque de los Niños after a $4.35 million reconstruction project. Image Credit: NYC Parks/Daniel Avila

Reconstruction project cost $4.35 million and features a new track and ballfields. On August 13, 2019, the Department of Parks and Recreation announced the reopening of Parque de los Ninos, located on the corner of Morrison Avenue and Watson Avenue in the Soundview section of the Bronx. Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, was joined by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., New York State Assembly Member Marcos A. Crespo, New York City Council Member Ruben Diaz Sr, members of Bronx Community Board 9 and local residents to celebrate the reopening of the playground.

The Gowanus Flushing Tunnel Pumping Station. Image Credit: NYC LPC

The buildings all hold a connection to the Gowanus Canal’s industrial history. On June 25, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to calendar five buildings in Gowanus section of Brooklyn for potential designation as individual landmarks. The five buildings – the Gowanus Flushing Tunnel Pumping Station and Gate House, the Somers Brothers Tinware Factory (later American Can Company), Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) Central Power Station Engine House, Montauk Paint Manufacturing Company Building and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) Rogers Memorial Building. All of the buildings hold a connection to the Gowanus Canal’s industrial history.

Dean Anthony W. Crowell, New York Law School & Lynn B. Kelly, New Yorkers for Parks, Executive Director invite you to join us for:

Open Space Dialogues: Reconstructing the Capital Process

Thursday, September 12, 2019 from 6-8PM

New York Law School

185 West Broadway, New York, New York 10013

REGISTER HERE

Brooklyn Bridge Park, Williamsbridge Oval, Lyons Square Playground, Estella Diggs Park: all were constructed or renovated in major capital projects recently. The ribbon-cutting of a park opening is one of the most joyous sights in New York City, but the process to get to that celebratory moment is sometimes lengthy, expensive, and confusing. When NY4P released a report in 2014 on capital projects management, anecdotal concerns about parks capital projects coalesced into a citywide conversation. Since then, NYC Parks has improved their operations. Alongside, political pressure and the growth of resident-involvement programs, like Participatory Budgeting, have ratcheted up New Yorkers’ expectations of the speed, public involvement, quality, and cost-efficiency of parks capital projects. The time is ripe to consider the successes, as well as the room for improvement, in New York City’s parks capital process.

• What has NYC Parks done to improve the process? What is outside their scope?
• What are public expectations of funding, designing, assigning, and building park projects?
• What can be learned by looking at public-private partnerships?
• How can the capital process be more equitable?

Presenters

Susan M. Donoghue, President & Park Administrator, Prospect Park Alliance

Diane Jackier, Chief of Capital Strategic Initiatives, NYC Parks

Charles McKinney, Practical Visionary

Respondents

Andrew Cohen, Council Member, 11th District (Bronx)

Celeste Frye, Founder & CEO, Public Works Partners

Jennifer Godenzo, Senior Director, Participatory Budgeting Project

Moderator

Eli Dvorkin, Editorial & Policy Director, Center for an Urban Future

There is no charge for this event.

For more information on the individual panels, click here.

This event is graciously hosted by The Center for New York City Law and The Impact Center for Public Interest Law at New York Law School.

Dean Anthony W. Crowell and

 Professor Ross Sandler, Director 

cordially invite you to the 162nd  CityLaw Breakfast

Featuring Speaker

Dr. Oxiris Barbot, Commissioner, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Speaking on:

Measles: NYC Policy and Thoughts on Anti-Vaccine Movement

Date

THURSDAY, September 5, 2019

Council Member Rafael Salamanca Jr. joined representatives from HPD, NYCHA, and the development team for the ribbon cutting of 1880 Boston Road on August 5, 2019. Image Credit: NYC HPD/Twitter

168 residential units were created on top of an existing building structure that will serve low-income and formerly homeless seniors. On August 5, 2019, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC), and the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) celebrated the completion of 1880 Boston Road, a 168-unit affordable senior housing development in the West Farms neighborhood of the Bronx. HPD, HDC, and NYCHA celebrated the project’s completion with project partners Foxy Management, Hebrew Home at Riverdale, and Alembic Community Development.

Map shows the storefronts studied in SoHo. Blue dots represent occupied stores; pink dots represent vacancies; yellow dots represent vacancies with construction or a store coming soon. Image Credit: NYC DCP

The causes of vacancies vary due to differences in local economies and other community characteristics. On August 8, 2019, the Department of City Planning released “Assessing Storefront Vacancy in NYC”, a report which examines retail patterns and storefront vacancies across 24 different neighborhood shopping corridors around the city.