New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announcing beaches will be closed for swimming Memorial Day Weekend Image Credit: Mayor’s Office

“No swimming, no parties, no sports, no gatherings.” On May 17, 2020, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the City will not open its beaches for swimming on Memorial Day weekend or in the foreseeable future. The Mayor explained during a press conference that despite this decision, people will be permitted to walk the beach so as long as they do not congregate. This weekend and going forward, beach patrons can expect a NYPD and Parks Department presence to enforce these measures. Closed sections of the beach will also be marked with signs and red flags.

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Art vendor in Manhattan. Image Credit: CityLaw

Parks’ rules limited where vendors of expressive material could sell their wares in City parks. The Parks Department adopted “Expressive Matter Vending Rules” which restricted the sale of “materials or objects with expressive content, such as newspapers, books, or writings, or visual art such as paintings, prints, photography, or sculpture.” The new rules limited the sale of expressive materials to 100 specifically designated spots in Union Square Park, Battery Park, High Line Park, and Central Park. The spots would be available on a first-come, first-serve basis with only one vendor per spot. (read more…)

Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver Image Credit: John McCarten

Other agencies still missing from Council’s hearing on Park’s capital process. On November 12, 2019, the City Council’s Committee on Parks, Committee on Contracts, and Subcommittee on Capital Budget held a joint oversight hearing titled “Improving the Efficiency of Parks Department Capital Projects.” The hearing was chaired respectively by Council Members Peter Koo, Ben Kallos and Vanessa L. Gibson. This hearing was held in order to create a dialogue about the state of the capital process. In Fiscal 2020, the Parks Department has 619 active capital projects and anticipates spending almost $2.7 billion. These numbers have steadily increased since Fiscal 2016.

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Image Credit: NYC Parks Department.

The $1 million project is the latest in a series of renovations of the Triborough Bridge Playgrounds. On July 16, 2019, the Parks Department announced the completion and opening of a new dog run and revamped basketball courts at Astoria’s Triborough Bridge Playground C with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Triborough Playground C is one of six in a family of playgrounds, located on Hoyt Avenue North and Hoyt Avenue South between 21st and 26th Streets, that provide the neighborhood with a variety of athletic and recreational spaces. Playground C is the latest to receive attention, with Playground A having debuted a new soccer field and adult playground two summers ago and Playground B getting a similarly refurbished basketball court in Winter 2018 as the result of a partnership between Parks and the Big Ten Network. (read more…)

Map of area around Olmsted-Beil House Park (center, green). Proposed lots to be acquired are in red. Image Credit: NYC CPC/ NYC Parks & Recreation

Proposed historic park expansion will provide space for programming and direct access from Hylan Boulevard. On October 31, 2018, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing for an application on the acquisition of property at 4485 Hylan Boulevard in the Eltingville neighborhood of Staten Island to expand Olmsted-Beil House Park. The Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services jointly filed the application.  (read more…)

The Fire Watchtower in Marcus Garvey Park, prior to disassembly. Image credit: Parks Department

Because individual landmark will be accessible to the public, railings and other safety features will be incorporated into reconstructed tower, as well a stainless steel structural elements. On July 14, 2015, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered and approved an application to reconstruct the Watch Tower in Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park, an individual City landmark. The four-story octagonal tower, built around 1855, originally served as a fire lookout tower for Northern Manhattan. It is the only extant example of the several fire towers that once stood throughout the City. Built of cast iron, the structure has severely degraded, and cannot be restored without reconstruction. The landmarks designation only encompasses the structure and the land it stands on, and none of the surrounding parkland.

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