Randall's Island goes Winter Hibernation

Path Under Hell's Gate Bridge

Randall's Island isn't hard to get to if you're anywhere in Manhattan. Take the Lexington 4 or 5 train up to 125th St. and walk East towards the bridge until you get to 1st Avenue. The

Above: Kyle Eccelston, 19, blowing dirt off the Hells Gate Trailfootbridge on 103rd St. has been closed since October 31st until it's expected reopening in Spring 2012, the first sign of the park closing up for the season. On 125th street swoop a right to 124th and catch the crosstown M35 across the bridge and hop out as soon as you get on land. The place is hard looking for pedestrians like yourself, however, as it is in the process of closing up for the winter. No one walks around up there save for construction workers who are working to finish the 'reconstruction' project that began in 2007.

The landscapers closed up s

hop today, December 14th.

"I'm just cleaning off the paths, and then we're finished" said Kyle Eccelston, a 19-year-old of Islip working for R+R Brett Landscaping.

The vast fields lie empty after a season of Electric Zoo and Cirque du Soliel at Icahn Stadium. The shows on Randall's Island draw many, 2011 Electric Zoo landed one-hundred thousand people, according to Andrew Wood of The Observer. Randall's Island revenue make-

Right: A Construction suit lies next to a comfort station on the north east side of the island Construction workers now have time to do maintenance.

s up $3 million of the $6 million revenue of the park. As a separate entity from the Park Department, Randall's Island Sports Foundation is funded by events as well as individual and institutional donors.

While the RISF park closes up seasonal activities, a garage on the west side of the Island

stays open, there is one City of New York Parks and Recreation park on the island, which lives on top of this garage. At a square 29,000 ft. the rooftop garden is the second largest municipal green roof in the cou-

ntry according to the Parks Department Chief of Technical Services, Artie Rollins, built in 2007, it was also one of the

Left: Kyle Eccelston, 19, blowing dirt off of Hells Gate Path

first in the city. The garden is open to the public, and boarders the Triborough Bridge. It won't be closing up for now, "[greenroofs] still have a function as long as it's not freezing" Rollins says, the roof functions because it still absorbs water, and after the frost comes "it's basically kind

of barren up there." Rollins says. Below: A plant foregrounds the Triborough Bridge looking into Manhattan

Below: A plaque explains what is in the bed. There are 25 systems total on the roof

A Rainy Service on The Intrepid for the 70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor

Photos of the event.

The Price of Remembering

Photo Credit: MTA, Bing Lee on Canal Street

photo of Calarava plan

The MTA has erected permanent art in over 150 locations throughout the Triborough area. Many of these locations make homage to it’s location in the city. Around Canal Street, Bing Lee made a tiled work entitled Empress Voyage, which looks at the history of trade between Asia and the United States. At Inwood 207^th Street Sheila de Bretteville created a work entitled To The Start…At Long Last in an attempt to recognize the multinational community in Brooklyn. In many there are depictions of the struggle New York City has faced with race. In Brooklyn While there are many of these commemorations in the stations, one was destined to take up the task of remembering September 11^th. Besides the constuction site downtown, the only other memorial to September 11^th is on the 69^th Street Pier in Greenpoint, it was erected in 2005 and is entitled Beacon, “Brooklyn remembers September 11^th” is inscribed in the bronze

MTA’s Art for Transit makes up less than 1% of the total $130 million operation, with minute budget of $1 million, according to the 2011 MTA Final Proposed Budget.

In terms of remembering September 11^th, Port Authority is taking a much larger role, as the PATH station stops at the World Trade Center Stop. With MTA’s income at zero for this fiscal year, after continually dropping since 2008, and a PATH station next to the new September 11^th memorial, Port Authority is working to make a ‘Transit Hub’ at the corner of Vesey Street and West Street to replace the existing one that boarders the 8 acres of the 9/11 memorial.

Construction began in September 2005. The opening will be in 2014 at an estimated budget of $3.2 million rising from a previous budget of 2.2 million. According to the Port Authority annual report of 2010, the station will be “the Grand Central Station of Lower Manhattan.” In 2004 Spanish Architect, Santiago Calatrava unveiled his design of a white, wing-like structure that would rise from the spine of the hub, creating the shape of a bird, however, since then, the cost of the wings has been too high and they have been clipped from the plan according to the Architectural Record. The structure is now the ribcage of a large beast, letting light in four stories down. The new station promises to be the perfect subway station flush with stores and “climate controlled platforms” according to the Port Authority World Trade Center site. It will serve 250,000 voyagers a day.

Calatrava’s now-ghost wings represent the weight of the project for New York City. Whether they are outwardly political or not, transportation authority of New York City is in many ways responsible for raising awareness of events in public spaces. Perhaps in 30 years from now, a New Yorker will be able to walk by an MTA, arts for transit piece on September 11^th with a short glance and a whisp of a thought. But until then, Lower Manhattan is still a crowded construction area whose importance seems to be bigger than any dollar sign amount. Manhattan photographer, Carlton Davis suggests, it is “a fresh wound in the minds of New Yorkers.”

The New School Looks To Find Home For Their Occupiers

Monday November 28^th, students and faculty attended a University wide Town Meeting at 2 West 13^th Street, aimed address a case of vandalism that had occurred in that specific room on Saturday by a select few of a group of occupiers who had moved from their original location at the Student Study Center on 90 5^th Avenue. The Student Senate who aimed to have, what Co-chair Melissa Holmes referred to as, “an informal town hall” monitored the meeting. Holmes added, “the meeting aims to look at how we are going to move forward, not only in terms of this space, but in terms of this community,” the meeting would decide if the students would be allowed to occupy the space, or any space in the school.

The meeting revolved around a queue of speakers from the audience. Many feared that the occupation was out of control. “They are writing demands that don’t make any sense,” student and worker, Adam Rodriguez said of the graffiti. Of the atmosphere within the occupation, one speaker referred the aggressive atmosphere within the occupation as being a “psychological pepper spray.” However, many agreed that The New School hosting an occupation was in accordance with The New School’s relationship to political activism. Occupier and Masters student, Ted, called the occupation a “revitalization of politics.”

Through a jungle of complaints and comments, a theme arose to support the occupation, though not in the Kellen Gallery. The Kellen Gallery is a semi-public ‘state-of-the-art gallery’ used for school events and art exhibits. The occupation would force the curator and people in charge of the space to reorganize their events.

The end of the two-hour meeting did not find a decision and the room had emptied to a group that could not represent a majority. A couple of forms of voting were proposed, one to create a class where voters would sign up, another was in email form. The Student Senate promised to email the student body an update as to where the occupation would go and how the final decision would be carried out.

Unveiling of New Temporary Art Bring Tears to their Eyes

Tuesday, November 15th, under a cloudy sky and the glacial UN building, Jonathan, of the New York City's Art in the Parks Program stood in front of a crowd of almost 30 people to unveil a new temporary work of art by Rachel Owens entitled, Inveterate Composition for Clare. The event took place in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at 1st Avenue and 47th Street. The atmosphere was a bittersweet one, for the 'Clare' referred to in the sculpture's name is the late Clare Weiss, who worked as the curator of temporary art for the Art in the Parks Program until her death in 2010 after struggling with breast cancer.

The fruition of this piece marks one of the last Ms. Weiss curated.

"The last thing I did with Clare was pretty much interview Rachel and-I don't believe in karma- but I think it was good." Jonathan said through tears as he ended his opening speech.

Inveterate Composition for Clare will stand in the center of the park until May 2012. It is a statue built from one Hummer SUV. The pieces have been remodeled and painted white to take the shape of an iceberg. Within, Ms. Owens placed the first underwater recording of a humpback whale made in 1971. The sound echoes from the great structure belly like from the belly of a hungry beast. The piece is in response to issues on global warming and consumerism to which Ms. Owens insisted,

"Though this piece does not propagandize, it sits in solidarity with freedom of speech and battles against oppression."

Although Inveterate was created originally for the location, Owens hopes that it will move on to other places at the end of its term.

Ms. Owens, born in Atlanta, Georgia is currently living and working in Brooklyn. With the exception of an exhibit in Miami, Owens has shown only locally to New York City. Many of her sculptures comment on global warming and the environment. She often uses found materials to create situations surrounding animals and their relationship to waste and consumerism.

As this is one of Ms. Weiss' last acheivments as curator, the Parks Department, like the scultpture has chosen not to forget her. A new award, entitled The Clare Weiss Emerging Artist Award will be put into action next year, the deadline being January 2012. The award recognizes upcoming artists as well as locations around the city, underserved with public art, the current outstanding location for the project is Joyce Kilmer Park in the Bronx.

Moses and the Mayors

Mayor William O'Dwyer

Lower Manhattan expressway- unbuilt

Mid-Manhattan Expressway- Unbuilt
Artistic rendition of the Mid-Manhattan Expressway

Photo by Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority
Idlewild Airport (A.K.A JFK) where the runways were terrible

Photo by T.W.A
UN Headquarters in Lower Manhattan
Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri

Hulan Jack, Mayor Wagner, Commissioner Moses, Loeb Boathouse Dedication, Central Park, March 12, 1954
New York City Parks Photo Archive, Neg. 28778.2
Wagner about to speak.

Photo by The New York Times

Upended Elephant in Union Square Raises Confusion

Photo Credit: images © marlborough gallery, new york, courtesy of galerie bruno bischofberger, zurich

There is a huge bronze elephant doing a trunk stand on the east side of Union Square, across from Beth Israel and the Au Bon Pain. It was set up in September of 2011 and will “act as a bridge from uptown to downtown” the Union Square Partnership site insists. The elephant is one of 54 temporary art pieces set up throughout the 5 boroughs of New York City. The instillations vary on size and form, some cost very little money to build and other's much more to put into fruition.

Art in the Parks is a government program that decides what art is put up when, and for how long. Temporary art pieces range from about 3 to 6 months. The Program was organized in 1967 in an attempt to "set [art] under the light of day where they intrude upon our daily walks and errands" according to the Art in the Parks website. Many places in the city have temporary instillations. The city gives no funding for the projects so the artists must come up with money to set up and take down the works. Though various grants and awards can be arranged for the artists. Manual labor is not provided by the New York City government.

Commissioner of Parks and Recreation, Adrien Benepe or a representative looks over the proposals that are sent in continuously. He decides how sustainable, durable and safe the art will be on the street. Community boards are called in to accept the proposal, “it’s just part of the procedure,” says Jennifer Lantzas, the Public Art Coordinator for the Parks and Recreation Program

Lantzas is trying to build the art out and immerse it into less lucrative boroughs. "Everyone wants Central Park" she says, "but we try to work with the artists to find a different location. Too much art in Central Park would not have been Olmstead’s vision," she adds. Lantzas hopes that locations will change with the help of the Clare Weiss Emerging Artists Award, introduced this year in honor of the late Clare Weiss who was the Public Art Coordinator until her death in 2010.

The elephant, entitled, 'Gran Elefandret' was constructed in 2008. It stands at 26 feet and weighs about 1/2 ton. This will be the second world class public art instillation in Union Square, a huge change from the regular exhibits in both Central Park and along the Park Avenue Mall.

The Spanish artist, Miquel Barcelo, was born in 1957 and separates his time between Barcelona, Paris and... The sculpture has travelled from Avignon, France and will be teetering in its position until late May. However, there are many complaints already, on the art site, 'Designer Boom,' several people have commented that the sculpture is a copy of another sculpture by the artist Daniel Firman whose piece Wursa at 18,00km from Earth resembles Barcelo's piece. “This is a Daniel Firman piece” one of the comments below says, “how can they allow it??” Another comment simply says “horrendous.”

Lantzas encourages controversy, “that’s the fantastic thing about the project.” She says. “There are people who like them and there are people who don’t.”

A Walk in Riverside Park

http://www.flickr.com//photos/69361301@N06/sets/72157628035820790/show/

New School Town Hall Meeting: Economic Challenges and Solutions for the Future of NSU

October 26th- President, David Van Zandt and Provost, Tim Marshall announced at the Town Hall Meeting of The New School University that, university wide, tuition is to be raised in the coming years. This past year the total enrollment only amounted to 22, only 5.5 percent of their expected 400-student enrollment. President Van Zandt mentioned that this is due to the worsening economy nationally and a trend for schools all over the country. The New School's revenue is 90% student charges. Students, he said, are beginning to question whether it is worth it to go so far into debt for education. As a result, however, there is concern that, due to the under enrollment the quality of education is subject to slip as well as the student makeup. Concern over the diversity and makeup of students as students and faculty alike expressed a reaction to the growing tuition.

A senior, Kathy at NSPE, made a grievance about the quality of the students themselves. She mentioned that other schools were beginning to accept students who could pay for school, but did not necessarily meet the other academic requirements. Tony Whitfield, the associate dean of civic engagement at Parsons followed up asking about the rise of tuition affecting the diversity of the student body.

"We’re the new school, we should be thinking innovatively about this and not just following what every other university does out there" said Van Zandt. He proposes doing this by rethinking the way classes are taught, when classes will meet and how students should interact with teachers. Van Zandt insists "we had a dependency on growth," he said "that's not sustainable." "We're the new school, we should be thinking innovatively about this and not just following what every other university does out there" said Van Zandt. He proposes doing this by rethinking the way classes are taught, when classes will meet and how students should interact with teachers, this will be done by shrinking existing programs including the Fashion and PhD programs.

A new faculty member who transferred from MIT brought up another solution. He insisted that grants for research based progress both for students and teachers would lessen the student supported revenue.

Bike Share Program in New York City Anticipates its Opening

October 24th in Washington Square, next to the arch, several bikes were in a line, locked to a steel structure with a small solar panel and a little screen. All of the bikes were the same model, with a bold front and two wheels covered in plastic. A Melbourne bike, a Montreal, a Minneapolis and a D.C, a London and a Portland. Two volunteers with green shirts saying 'I bike smart' wandered around the structure answering questions until 3pm. A volunteer, Al Silvistri takes the bike out showing that, unlike the Velibs in Paris, these bikes will stay to their ports.

The event was one of several demonstrations taking place around the city in the preparation for a new bike share system in New York City. According to their site, the privately sponsored system will have 10,000 bicycles and 600 stations throughout the city starting the summer of 2012. This is significant next to Montreal's 5000 bikes and DC's 1000. New York City is the last of the large, cosmopolitan and high demographic cities in the world that is adopting the bike share system. Bike sharing began in Amsterdam in the 1960's and has slowly infiltrated the world.

For New York City, the program will involve a membership to the company Alta Bike Share. Annual membership will cost $94 with options for less long term time as there has been complaint about using the bikes in the winter time. The first half hour is free, "most people won't have to pay more than the annual fee because most commutes in the city are less than 2 miles" said Silvistri. In 2010 there were 17,491 cycling commuters in New York City. Alta Bike Share hopes to raise this, "people don't have places to store their bikes" Silvistri said, which would make having bikes outside more convenient.

The issues involved in the bikes occur when there is theft or vandalism, poorly maintained docking stations and people not wearing helmets, according to Portland Oregon's website on bike sharing.

Regulation in New York City will be implemented financially by holding credit card information. This Contrasts with the Velibs in France where there is no annual fee, but a hold of 200 Euro on the Credit Card in case the bike breaks during the voyage. The bikes are also equipped with GPS chips in each. Silvistri demonstrated the lock, there is a lock at the front of the bike that connects to a titanium hook in the dock so that people are not able to wrench the bike from a more exterior lock, which has often occurred in France.

All of the docks are steel structures placed on the sidewalks so that there is not need for construction on the site.

25% of all accidents on the street involve pedestrians or bicycles. Concern over biking in New York City will be addressed as soon as there are more bikes on the road, "there is safety in numbers" Silvistri said, "people will start policing each other." There is more to bike safety than just helmets and density of bikers though, The BMJ organization of health went even further to say that, according to their studies, cyclists that mimic cars and car behavior, by obeying traffic laws and staying at a high speed, will lessen chances of injury.

According to Bikes Belong a site that studies biking trends in the United States, biking in cities like Chicago, Minneapolis and New York have expanded significantly or doubled since 1990.

The project has not yet decided where the bike stations should be. There is an interactive page on their site allowing the public to choose their most convenient locations. The stations are marked in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and on Staten Island.

"This whole city could be a biking city." Said Silvistri as he locked the Montreal bike back into its dock.

Video on how it will work

Schools Leave Teaching Wall Street to Parents

Photo Credit: Associated Press

               “I know people are sleeping over at a park.” Said 7-year-old Cloe Davis who is a second grader at Little Red School House in the West Village. “But I don’t know why,” she added. All evidence shows that lower schools have left the education of the Occupation on Wall Street to the parents. [maybe be more clear- what is a lower school? Also, that is a strong statement, to say that all evidence shows that schools have left it to parents, can you back it up?]

               Schools have been vague about teaching the Wall Street protest to children. It is a debate as to whether the protest should be discussed at all in schools. But there are many alternative sources to aid parents in their attempt to explain what it means.

               

               On October 10^th all of the lower schools in Manhattan were off to celebrate the day Columbus is said to have discovered the Americas. However, a group of PTA parents from the Four Central Park East II Elementary School brought their children made to Zuccotti Park, in an event they named ‘Un-Columbus Day’ according to alternet.org. According to [try not to avoid repeating phrases] the Occupation’s website, October 14^th marked another family day in order to educate children. [check the grammar on this sentence. I am also confused as to what this Un-Columbus Day event had to do with the OWS protests]

               It is not clear whether schools are teaching the protest, though one teacher in Zuccotti park held up a sign last night that read ‘Inform, not Reform.’ There are safety and political reasons why teachers are not allowed to bring their children down to Wall Street. Though there were many teachers with their own children on 'Un-Columbus Day.' [This starts to feel wishy-washy. It's not clear whether they're providing OWS information to students, so how can we assume that parents have assumed the responsibility? Also, try to specify if the kids are students of the teacher, or the teacher's actual kids..]

         Others believe that, especially for Lower School, [what is Lower School?] the protest should not be dealt with in the classroom. “It’s hard for them to understand.” Said Marie, a Secretary at Spruce Street School an elementary school on Spruce Street located near City Hall. A representative of Brooklyn Friends School of Downtown Brooklyn said she wasn't sure, but added, "I'm sure that some classes might be doing something on the protest."

               Sarah Casselle the President of the PTA committee of P.S. 89 insisted that children are not learning or talking about it if they are not directly faced with it every day. [That sentence is confusing. How can the principal be sure that children aren't talking about it? What do you mean by "being faced" with it]  P.S. 89 is located Warren Street on the Lower West side of Manhattan, several blocks away from the park. According to Casselle, it is for this reason that her son is not asking about it. Casselle said, “P.S. 89 is quite a few blocks away and several physical barriers away from the protest.” She added, “my son doesn’t come home discussing the protest with his friends.”

            According to Casselle, the protest is not in school policy and should be left for home discussion with parents. She added that her son looks through newspapers and is informed by that as well.

Though many schools do not advertise discussions of the Occupation, parents are being encouraged to educate their children through bringing their own children to protest locations, or with with alternative sources on the web such as videos on youtube.com. [I understand that the piece is about parents taking on responsibility, but the evidence to back that up seems to be inconclusive compared to your opening declaration that "all evidence" points to at-home discussions only.] The young adult writer Lemony Snicket, best known for her Series of Unfortunate Events book recently published a book that attempts to describe the protest to children entitled The Lump of Coal, according to the Washington Post. [I see the relevance of the Lemony Snicket book, but I don't think it's a strong ending to a piece that isn't directly related. Maybe the piece could have ended on a quote to sum everything up as cleanly as possible]

Story Edit

Brad Lander and the 39th District

Since his election in November 2009, fresh-faced city (how is he fresh faced? Is he young?) councilman Brad Lander has proven himself as progressive force to his constituents in downtown Brooklyn.

Most recently (When?), Lander introduced a “participatory budgeting” initiative, which lets constituents weigh in on the spending of $1 Million in capital funding that is to be reinvested in the community. District 39's Neighborhood Budget Assembly's will serve as a forum for residents to voice where they would like to see the money spent –whether is be on fixing potholes or funding schools – and choose budget delegates. (This is interesting, you could get into this more. When will it begin? Where will the community want the money?)

Lander represents the 39th district in Brooklyn, which consists of Borough Park, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Columbia Waterfront, Gowanus, Kensington, Park Slope, Prospect Park, and Windsor Terrace. (This could be the second graph, give a little more demographics)

Lander has been endorsed by prominent members in the Jewish community in Brooklyn, even while he holds sometimes controversial opinions about the Israel-Palestine conflict. While he maintains his support for the state of Israel, he disagrees with the American Council for Judaism, citing their Zionist leanings.

In 2003 (What was he doing then?), he came under fire from some members in the Jewish community following a set of controversial remarks he and his wife made during his son's brit.

"Your name contains our deep hope that you will explore and celebrate your Jewish identity without confusing it with nationalism," they said. "We pray fervently that by the time you read this, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza will be history."The remarks were published in Wrestling with Zion, a "compilation of progressive Jewish-American responses to the Israeli - Palestinian conflict." Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and activist, edited the work. (Why is this important to his political career? This is a long graph that doesn’t add too much to the story)

In an October 16 interview with the Jewish Press Lander expressed regret for some of his comments . "Look, I regret a couple of things," he said. "I regret some of the language I used, and I regret it being published in a way which can be taken out of context and exposes Israel to her terrorist enemies"

On June 1, 2010, Lander, along with city council-members Daniel Dromm and Julissa Ferrera and 50 other demonstrators, was arrested in lower Manhattan while protesting Arizona’s controversial immigration law. (This comes out of nowhere! But this might be the most interesting part of the story? How did it affect his career)

For picture give a caption, it’s hard to tell what’s going on in this picture

Give more personal and political history

What are some of his achievements?

I was interested what is now the second graph, that kind of stuff is good.

Schools Leave Teaching Wall Street to Parents

Photo Credit: Associated Press

“I know people are sleeping over at a park.” Said 7-year-old Cloe Davis who is a second grader at Little Red School House in the West Village. “But I don’t know why,” she added. All evidence shows that lower schools have left the education of the Occupation on Wall Street to the parents.

Schools have been vague about teaching the Wall Street protest to children. It is a debate as to whether the protest should be discussed at all in schools. But there are many alternative sources to aid parents in their attempt to explain what it means.

On October 10^th all of the lower schools in Manhattan were off to celebrate the day Columbus is said to have discovered the Americas. However, a group of PTA parents from the Four Central Park East II Elementary School brought their children made to Zuccotti Park, in an event they named ‘Un-Columbus Day’ according to alternet.org. According to the Occupation’s website, October 14^th marked another family day in order to educate children.

It is not clear whether schools are teaching the protest, though one teacher in Zuccotti park held up a sign last night that read ‘Inform, not Reform.’ There are safety and political reasons why teachers are not allowed to bring their children down to Wall Street. Though there were many teachers with their own children on 'Un-Columbus Day.'

Others believe that, especially for Lower School, the protest should not be dealt with in the classroom. “It’s hard for them to understand.” Said Marie, a Secretary at Spruce Street School an elementary school on Spruce Street located near City Hall. A representative of Brooklyn Friends School of Downtown Brooklyn said she wasn't sure, but added, "I'm sure that some classes might be doing something on the protest."

Sarah Casselle the President of the PTA committee of P.S. 89 insisted that children are not learning or talking about it if they are not directly faced with it every day. P.S. 89 is located Warren Street on the Lower West side of Manhattan, several blocks away from the park. According to Casselle, it is for this reason that her son is not asking about it. Casselle said, “P.S. 89 is quite a few blocks away and several physical barriers away from the protest.” She added, “my son doesn’t come home discussing the protest with his friends.”

According to Casselle, the protest is not in school policy and should be left for home discussion with parents. She added that her son looks through newspapers and is informed by that as well.

Though many schools do not advertise discussions of the Occupation, parents are being encouraged to educate their children through bringing their own children to protest locations, or with with alternative sources on the web such as videos on youtube.com. The young adult writer Lemony Snicket, best known for her Series of Unfortunate Events book recently published a book that attempts to describe the protest to children entitled The Lump of Coal, according to the Washington Post.

October 5th, Working Groups in Zuccotti Park

October 5- Zuccotti Park is a maze, first entering, it is difficult to tell where to go first, TV cameras are everywhere. People are discussing, wearing signs or meditating. But the protestors have made sure that it is not as disorganized as it may seem. In Zuccotti Park, where protestors are occupying Wall Street, signs hover overhead notifying visitors on where to find information or help. The signs advertise ‘legal,’ ‘media’ and ‘general information’ among others. Beneath each sign is a group of a few people manning desks. A person with a red cross on their arm will every once in a while wind through the crowds. Towering above will come voices that say ‘mic check!’ a call for the people surrounding to repeat their announcement. Occupy Wall Street Journal Newspapers are being handed out.

Each station or person with a red cross refers to a different working group. Working Groups are a phenomenon of the protest in an attempt to organize the event and meet the needs of the protestors. At 7pm every night The General Assembly, a gathering led by a chosen group of people called 'facilitators,' meets and those who feel the need for an organized program in the confines of the park can bring it up and have it be accepted as a Working Group or rejected.

“We have between 10 and 20 Working Groups, but it’s hard to know exactly.” Said Cara Hartley a Brooklyn resident working with the Community Outreach group. According to the General Assembly website there are 20 groups, but the numbers are predicted to grow “everyday, we are getting constant submissions for working groups.” Hartley said. Some are more utilitarian than others including the food, health and media groups. Others include arts and culture and the Info Desk Working Group. There is a subset called Thematic Groups which deal with discussion of a topic.

Anyone can join a Working Group and many have difficulties keeping up with those who are more experienced. Alex Nathanson, a photographer and protestor on Wall Street is working for the Internet Working Group. “I know some coding.” He said, “but I think they’re all really good hackers or something, I learned so much from them.” He added. Some working groups get more aid than others. Workers from the Nurse’s Union comes to train the medical team on EMT and how to be safe from the cold. The General Assembly website shows posts of professionals who offer to help in the training or the working groups including medics and social workers. “There is so much skill sharing in the working groups.” Said Nathanson.

The working groups act as structure. There is one for each of the basic needs of the people. The goal is to create horizontal government where each individual can do any job, according to Evan Wagner, a Brooklyn resident. “We’re trying not to create a hierarchy but it's beginning to happen.” Said Wagner. “An example of this hierarchy,” he added “is that one side of the park gets Internet access while the other side doesn’t. The technology group is working on that now." This means that there is not an equal access to information.

Though this form of social organization cannot be taken so easily out of the park, and it is difficult to imagine it in an outside setting. “I just hope that this reaffirms the importance of the Unions.” Said Nathanson, “Because it’s about the workers.” Wagner referred to the park as a laboratory, “It’s a space where we can practice these ideas.” He said.

PapaCookie: A Public Event at Home, Sit Down and Hear the Noise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00KXnCDiCd8

Photos from the SlutWalk

SlutWalk 2011, First SlutWalk in New York City October 1st 2011, Union Square, NYC

signs in a trash can in Union Square

M.G., student of Fine Art at Parsons holding a sign in Union Square

Renee Sherrill, originally of Arizona, now a New York City resident

An organizer, June, in yellow, discusses getting cat calls with three participants. June is wearing a hat that spells 'kunt' on the brim. "I want to redefine words like 'slut' and 'cunt.'" She says.

Left to Right: Besty Robson of Boston, Linda Shirar a Student at SVA, Roberto of Boston.

"Improvements" for Bushwick are Questioned

Bushwick, NY- Mixed opinions rose after a power point presentation kicked off the first meeting of Community Board #4, the board for Bushwick in Brooklyn. After a two-month vacation, the Community Board came together on Wednesday September 21^st at 6:00pm for the first time since June. The meeting was held at Hope Gardens Multi-Service Center on Linden St. at the corner of Wilson Avenue. The board's chairwoman, Ms. Julie Dent, led the meeting along with 33 board members and a crowd of approximately 40 people from the public, a slim crowd compared to the over 100 that attended the Community Board #2 in Manhattan.

Community board at #4*

Representatives of the Department of Design and Construction presented one of their new projects concerning school safety improvements. This is a citywide project adding up to a total project cost of $2,883,365, according to their website.Construction is planned to begin in the Fall of 2011 and completed in the Spring of 2012. The DDC's city project will include the implementation of ramps at schools, trees and street lights. The project proposed to the Bushwick community specifically, would be to expand 8 intersections near throughout Brooklyn, the intersections are in the vicinity of schools and will create a better field of vision from the driver’s point of view.

Left: Expanded sidewalk at intersection

The DDC representative said, “The intersections will create the illusion of the road getting smaller,” he added added, “so most of the cars will want to slow down.”

Studies conducted in 1998 proved that there was an annual total of 400 pedestrian fatalities, which is more than a 10% increase from the pedestrian fatalities in 2010 according to the New York Pedestrian Safety Study and Action Plan. According to the presentation, the DDC conducted studies at several intersections around grade schools in Brooklyn and Queens. And chose the intersections in their similarity to those they chose in Bushwick.

There was a recommendation in favor of the project by a public attendee, John Wright, 54. However, the board, with support from several voices in the community, decided that voting would be suspended after a resident of Bushwick avenue and Putnam street, an intended location for the project, testified. He insisted that since the study had been conducted, stop signals had been erected at the corners.

“We need up to date data.” He said “since the studies they have made adjustments.”

Worries arose over neighborhood disruption during the construction, snow pileup. There were fears that the project would have become obsolete due to studies that were conducted in 1998 at intersections similar, but not the intersections that were described. In response, the DDC insists that the contractor will be responsible for all damages and an outcome of child safety as well as a high percent decrease of pedestrian casualties. However, they are aware of the inconveniences and appreciate those being effected by them according to the DDC's official website.

The DDC already has the money to begin the project and the board must accept or reject the referendum. Vice chairwoman, Ms. Martha Brown, meditated on what the outcome of the project may be and the public’s influence.

“They are already funded.” She said, “they will probably go along with it, however,” she added, “if the community feels strong enough they can make a difference.” The decision will be made Tuesday September 27th in the same location.

*http://www.maps.luventicus.org/newyork.html

The Idle and The Active Green Spaces in Northern Brooklyn and Queens

An island between Broadway and Lafayette Ave. 'Green Streets' sign.

                                    

Flushing Ave. at Morgan St.. There are many vacant lots throughout Brooklyn and Queens.  Many have been changed into community gardens.  Mary Arnold co-owner of Steward program, CURES, states that it's a "tough town" in terms of environmental change "people turn away from civic space." She added. 

Since 2009 CURES has been fighting against rail pollution by funding and executing community gardens.  Pictured here is a project executed in 2010 on Shaler Avenue in Glendale Queens.  "The problem" Local, John Urbanski said, "is that there are no fire hydrants...to water the plants." He is afraid he rarely sees people working on the garden.  CURES are planning on revitalizing a plot between 71st Pl. and 73 St., also in Glendale according to their project website.  According to Mary Arnold, views the project as a small step in a huge problem.  "There is very little you can do in New York City unless you did a Robert Moses type project.

 Cryril F. Joseph, 67, 10-year is the owner of the "Secret Garden" in Bushwick along Broadway at the Gates Ave. stop on the J train.  Mr. Cyril overlooks his plot marking the mid point of the garden.  He doubled the size of the garden when he took over the community garden he claimed: "I come here 7 days a week he says," and insists that this is the biggest community garden in Bushwick.

Collection of scallops, cabbage and onion at The Secret Garden in front of buckets of rainwater for watering the plants. Mr. Joseph is beginning to make a pen for chickens and guinea pigs "I want to get the kids interested," he said.

           Jefferson St. at Irving St., A rose blooms behind the fence in a community garden, closed for the evening, while a young child walks by.

September 11th FDNY Lieutenant Remembers Ten Year Later

Christopher Piazza, 55 of Ridgfield Connecticut

Ex-FDNY Lieutenant

Interviewed: September 10, 2011

Irene Lee: This was actually an assignment.  We had to find somebody who witnessed September 11^th and interview them.

Chris Piazza: I didn’t witness the planes.  I got down there after the second building collapsed, but we saw number 7 collapse.  But I wasn’t there when the planes hit and I wasn’t there when they fell either.

IL: Okay

CP: We lost a lot of guys from our firehouse and I spent about a month down there.  I was actually supposed to work that day.  The guy who was my mutual partner wanted to switch it and I couldn’t do it because I was going to visit my mom that weekend.  Then my mom called afterwards and said, ‘it’s not a good weekend.’  So I called this guy up and said, ‘you can switch if you want to switch, I can work Sunday night and Monday and you can work Monday night and Tuesday’ and he said, ‘great!’  So I actually went in Sunday and worked Sunday night Monday day, and then Monday night I went home and all these guys came in to relieve us- those were the guys that went the next morning.  We had 16 guys in the house because we had an extra engine at the time and like 14 of those guys died.

IL: Out of 16!

CP: Not the guy that was working for me, he was one of the guys that got out, which is amazing.

IL: That is amazing. 

CP: So I think my mom saved my life, actually. (laughs)  I’m a pretty big guardian angel advocate.  She was mine that day.

IL: I think you’re a great person to interview because you were so involved in it.  You were working right there, so close to the people.

CP: How could I not be involved?  Not even a week before, I think it was five days before, I worked in the firehouse in the shadows of the Trade Center.  I was a lieutenant.  My area was Times Square down to like the Trade Center, or, Battery Park.  That’s the first division and that was where I was assigned.  I worked in Ladder 10, which is right across from the Trade Center.  So I knew a lot of the guys that died.

IL: So, you were there that day?  You came down after you heard about it and then you went down to help out?

CP: There wasn’t very much to do.  There were just a lot of fires, a lot of silence and chaos.  There really wasn’t much in the way of survivors; it was all very quiet. They assigned me to St. Vincent’s Hospital for a little while, to see if I could locate some guys that were missing.  Because some guys, if they got hurt, they’d just jump onto a bus or whatever, and guys weren’t really accounted for.  So I went there and there weren’t many survivors coming in.  They were all geared up for all these survivors to come in and there weren’t really any.  There was so much dust and there weren’t many full bodies, a lot of body parts and a lot of pieces of bodies.  There was just so much debris too, there was like 4 stories of debris. It wasn’t like it was wide open, there were two towers lying on the ground.  It was just this big mountain. I couldn’t believe that those were actually the buildings.  I didn’t know where they all went, compared to the size of those towers when they were standing up, there wasn’t that much to look at when they were lying on the ground.  For such tall buildings, it was just very surreal.

IL: I bet.  How long had you been working as a lieutenant before?

CP: Well, I was a fireman first in Queens and then I got promoted in June of 1999.  I was in Manhattan for 3 years before 9/11, working all over the area.

IL: What did you do after September 11^th, I know that a lot of the firefighters had health problems afterwards, was that, or is that a problem for you?

CP: Well, I continued to work, and they were doing all these screenings on the guys, this was after like 3 years.  I had noticed; everybody was having problems breathing.  So we all had to go down for these medical exams.  I had an issue with my lungs. I wasn’t breathing the way they wanted me to.  They give you this chemical that you have to breath in, that judges your lung capacity and how much it decreases.  Mine had a significant decrease after I breathed in the chemical.  They put me out on disability.  I wasn’t really ready for that.  I was going to be a captain.  I was on the list.  A lot of guys had retired with lung issues after that, and many of them continued to get sick.  We actually buried a guy that we worked with just last week, came down with a real funky cancer a few years ago, and he just passed away.  Guys are having a lot of trouble with this.  My condition seems to be stable; I seem to be doing alright.

IL: I hope that continues.  That’s a huge, life changing experience.  How did you cope after it?  It seems almost like a war zone experience, surreal, intense.  How did you master it?

CP: I spent a lot of time with the guys at the firehouse; everyone was working 24-hour shifts.  So we just leaned on each other.  I was in an area where there was a lot of outside support from all over the country and the world.  Every day there was different choir groups, people making crafts, cards and posters, benefits.  They were sending us on trips.  It came to a point that we couldn’t open our doors.  It was just like ‘leave us alone for a little while.’ It never stopped. I worked in a really touristy area.  Meanwhile, a lot of the areas and ghettos that had lost a lot of guys, they didn’t get the same attention.  It was very tough.  We were doing 3 to4 funerals a day.  Sometimes there were 8 to10, but you could just go to the ones that you could get to, because we were stretched so thin.  Usually if one of our guys dies today you get like 10,000 men in uniform.  We didn’t have enough guys to give a proper burial.  Honestly, it was like a big blur.  Everybody was walking around in a fog and disbelief thinking, ‘how could this happen?’ 

IL: How did you do you think American reacted to this, then and now?

CP: I think people are forgetting.  We’re being choked by political correctness, we can’t profile anybody and God forbid that we defend anybody in this country.  I’m not trying to point the finger but when you’re trying to find people that are trying to blow us up it’s usually the Muslims that are doing it.  I’m sure there are many good Muslims, but when you’re looking for someone who’s racketeering and doing organized crime you look towards the Italian guy.  If you’re looking for someone who’s driving drunk you look for the Irish guy.  There are these stereotypes and unfortunately they’re kind of accurate.  Everybody’s afraid of offending everybody.

IL: Especially after that.  Everything got so tense about the racial profiling.

CP: I think that now people forget and I don’t think we’ll be reminded any time soon, but we had a horrible attack on our country.  Unfortunately, much of our enemy is right here among us and they’re American citizens, living in our country.  It’s not like we’re wearing one uniform and they’re wearing the other one, and you can tell who the bad guy is.  The guy that tried to blow up the car in Times Square was an American citizen.  He was married and had had kids, it was unbelievable, it isn’t so much the Muslims, as the Muslim radicals.

IL: What do you think about the new building they’re putting up?  I heard there’s not enough money going into it.

CP: There’s been a lot of stalling, 10 years later and they don’t have something.  There’s so much red tape, and everyone’s so political and politically charged.  They changed the name of it too.  It’s not the freedom tower, people were thinking that you might as well put a big bulls eye on it.  So they changed it to the Trade Center, they can’t get people to move in and I don’t blame them for that.  We just passed a roadblock to check all the trucks, but they can’t check everybody.  It doesn’t even need to be a truck.  You can’t pull over every car and check every truck, and even if you open a truck and it’s full of lettuce so that you can’t see past it, it could be packed with explosives behind, you just can’t tell.  It’s a very tough war to fight.  We have to be right 100% of the time.  They only have to be right once.

IL: So you think this war on terror is still going on?

CP: Absolutely, I don’t think it will ever end.  It’s sad because I think if you took religion out of the equation, that’s what they’re fighting for.  They don’t like our lifestyle but it’s all based on religion.

IL: Which is so bizarre, religion is supposed to be peaceful.  What are you doing for September 11^th?

CP: Honestly, I have mixed emotions about what I should do.  They have a piece of steel that they got from 9/11 in my town and they’re dedicating the memorial tomorrow.  So I may be the FDNY representative for that ceremony, I’ve been invited.  Tomorrow morning all this stuff starts at 8am because they want to have it at the time the plane hit, and then what time the buildings fell.  So, I’m not going to be in the city tomorrow.  And I feel like- I’m not a coward, but I am a little wary of what could be down there.  I want to see the memorial, but I don’t want to be there for 9/11.  A couple of times I’ve come close to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I missed it by the grace of God and my mom.  I don’t keep in touch with a lot of the older guys.  The firehouses now are all younger guys.  Some of the older guys come around, but many of them haven’t been there since they retired.  I think I’m just going to keep them in mind, say my prayers, go to the memorial tomorrow.  It’s all very emotional.  Yesterday I was riding my bike and started to think of it and began to cry my eyes out, I was like ‘where did that come from?’ That used to happen a lot after 9/11, it hasn’t happened in a while.