SPURA Matters: Ongoing – from Saturday, Oct

Events Back to the Future in the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area Interactive Tour of Seward Park SPURA Matters: Ongoing – from Saturday, Oct. 11. A self-guided, interactive tour of SPURA by Field Play, Inc. Discover an info-tag outside a historic site. Send Lower East Siders rarely wait for others to plan their future for them. When A 40-year Commemorative a secret code to an unknown number and receive a text message about community members grew concerned about gang violence in the 1950s, they formed Map of the Seward Park the neighborhood's history. Send in your own story to bring the SPURA the Lower East Side Neighborhoods Association (LENA) to organize their neighbors. chronicles up to date. For info, go to www.kickingoverthetraces.com. e first thing LENA did was create a 10-foot, hand-drawn map to help community Urban Renewal Area members identify problems and solutions. Locals responded with unexpected Four Public Discussion & Visioning Sessions enthusiasm. e map helped them envision the challenge. ey supplied the Wednesday, Oct. 22, University Settlement (6:30-9pm); Saturday, Nov. 1, imagination and a willingness to get the job done. St. Mary's Church (2-4:30pm); Wednesday, Nov. 12, Grand St. Settlement (6:30-9pm); Saturday, Nov. 22, 227 E. 3rd St. (2-4:30pm). Join your SPURA Matters is also about planning for the future — especially for a piece of the neighbors and Pratt Center for Community Development to re-envision LES called the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA). In the 1950s, all around the future of SPURA. Tour the past with planning historian Hilary Botein, the country, and especially in New York, cities were using federal “urban renewal” Baruch College. Sessions are free and open to the public. Translation dollars to solve their problems. Tax-paying individuals and businesses were leaving provided. Wheelchair accessible except St. Mary's. urban areas, and cities had less money to work with to care for citizens, meet rising RSVP to [email protected] or 212-533-2541. expectations, and update infrastructure. A popular solution was to reclaim valuable land by bulldozing old buildings in poor neighborhoods (the “slums”) to replace Visualizing SPURA them with new, publicly-subsidized apartments and educational and cultural facilities Wednesday, Dec. 17, 6:30pm, New School for Social Research. for higher income residents. In NYC, residents and businesses were displaced by the Roundtable discussion at the opening of a new exhibition about SPURA by hundreds of thousands. Some of the displacees were re-housed in publicly subsidized students of the Eugene Lang/New School City Studio and Prof. Gabrielle low-income projects; others were simply removed. Concerns about displacement and Bendiner-Viani. relocation grew so severe that the city was obliged to find remedies. But remedies were often ad-hoc, varying among agencies and mayoral administrations. Get Interviewed! e Seward Park Oral History Project Ongoing – August 2008 to January 2009. Are you a long-term resident One of the city’s most effective private partners was the United Housing Foundation of the LES? Get your voice heard. We’ll ask about your memories of the (UHF). In the late 1950s, the UHF developed the Seward Park Houses on the south neighborhood, about neighborhood change, and about the place where you side of Grand St. and started work on Seward Park Extension — a 20-acre project for live. Contact Kara Becker, [email protected], 908-883-0556 the north side of Grand, bounded by Essex, Delancey, and Willett. e UHF withdrew SPURA Matters is brought to you by Good Old Lower East Side in 1961, but the city went forward in 1967 to take control of the site, clear it, and (www.goles.org), Pratt Center for Community Development build new housing.* (www.prattcenter.net), City Lore (www.citylore.org), and Place Matters, a project of City Lore and the Municipal Art Society Most of the new units would be priced for middle-income pocketbooks, and judging (www.placematters.net). Series funded by the New York Council for from previous projects, would largely house New Yorkers of European descent. Most of the Humanities to support public programs about SPURA, and by the the 7,000 site residents were poor and of Puerto Rican, African American, and Chinese

Mertz Gilmore Foundation and Altman Foundation. descent. ey would never be able to move back. A contest thus emerged: Who would v get to live in SPURA? Over the fifties and sixties, NYC had grown more segregated Sponsors: Ana Luisa Garcia Community Center / e Center for Urban by race and income. Would that continue? Or would New Yorkers find a way to build Pedagogy / CAAAV / CHARAS - Tu Casa Sound Studio / City Lore / healthy communities that were inclusive rather than exclusive? photo by Kara Becker Cooper Square Committee / Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association / East Village Community Coalition / Good Old Lower East Side / Grand Street Settlement / Hester Street Collaborative / Indochina Sino-American ese questions have bedeviled SPURA for four decades. Some things were built, but Community Center / Jews for Racial and Economic Justice / Lower East Side protests, backroom deals, lawsuits, and political stand-offs have prevented development Discussions, Tours, and Exhibits to People’s Mutual Housing Association / Lower East Side Tenement Museum / on the whole site. e private market is re-shaping the LES, but SPURA is still in e New School / St. Mary’s Church / Pratt Center for Community public hands. Government and citizens can work together here for the public good if get New Yorkers talking about Development / Two Bridges Neighborhood Council / University Settlement / we can muster the imagination and political will. SPURA’s Past, Present and Future Urban Justice Center *Eight buildings were to remain: Henry St. Playhouse, Sages of Israel Home for the Aged, St. Mary’s Church & School, a Broome St. apartment building, Beth Jacob School, Beth Hamredash Hagadol Synagogue, Essex St. Market, and Downtown Talmud Torah. Brochure Design by Christine Renko e Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union built the Amalgamated Houses (1929-31) and Hillman Houses Back to the Future in the Elevated Highway Ramp Events Delancey Street Willett Street/Bialystoker Place Ridge Street Luther Gulik (1949-1951). To partner with the city on urban 20 SewardDelancey Park Street Urban Renewal Area Playground renewal, the union organized the United Housing Clinton Street 1. (Forner) Synagogue Beth Hamedrash Hagodol Interactive Tour of Seward Park 19 Foundation (UHF) in 1951 with other unions and Norfolk Street Ongoing – from Saturday, Oct. 11. A self-guided, interactive tour of 10 SPURA Matters: nonprofits. UHF built East River Houses (1956) and 21 SPURA by Field Play, Inc. Discover an info-tag outside a historic site. Send Lower East Siders rarely wait for others to plan their future for them. When 18 Seward Park Houses (1962). Ranged along Grand Pitt Street A 40-year Commemorative community members grew concerned about gang violence in the 1950s, they formed a secret code to an unknown numberStreet, fromand thereceive East Rivera text to Essexmessage St., theabout union 2 Broome Street the Lower East Side Neighborhoods Association (LENA) to organize their neighbors. Hillman the e neighborhood's Amalgamated Clothing history. Workers Sendco-ops in Union your aimed ownbuilt to improve storythe tothe bring lives of the members SPURA and 14 22 Houses Map of the Seward Park Amalgamated Houses (1929-31)engage and them the Hillmanin striving for a better world. Some e first thing LENA did was create a 10-foot, hand-drawn map to help community13 chronicles up to date. For info, go to www.kickingoverthetraces.com. 8 P 16 Left to right, Messrs. Dubinsky, Kazan, contemporaries thought their admirable goals 17 members identify problems and solutions. Locals respondedSu olk Street with unexpected Houses (1949-1951). To participate in urban renewal, Broome Street 6 1. Seward Park High School Urban Renewal Area Moses, Follin, Szold 23 24 the union organizedUnited Housing the Foundation United justifiedHousing the Foundation removal of tenements and site tenants; enthusiasm. e map helped them envision the challenge. ey supplied the 350 Grand St. Four Public Discussion & Visioning Sessions 12 others disagreed. Essex Street 3 2. Former Essex Street Market (UHF) in 1951 with other unions and nonprofits. UHF imaginationLudlow Street and a willingness to get the5 job done. 15 Wednesday,collaborated Oct. with 22, the University city to build Settlement East River (6:30-9pm); Houses Saturday, Nov. 1, 3. Seward Park Extension West (NYCHA) 11 65 Norfolk St. St.(1956) Mary's and Church Seward (2-4:30pm); Park Houses (1962).Wednesday, Ranged Nov. along 12, Grand St. Settlement 4 7 Grand St. & Essex St. t1 SPURA in 1963, in its heady first days, showing the SPURA Matters1 is also about planning for the future — especially9 for a piece of the 4. Day Care Center ?? (6:30-9pm);Grand Street, Saturday,from the East Nov. River 22, to227 Essexbuildings E. 3rdSt., totheSt. remain union(2-4:30pm). and the land Join to your be cleared for Grand Street co-ops aimed to improve the lives of members and LES called the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA). In the 1950s, all around 5. Hong Ning Senior Apartments neighbors and Pratt Center for Communitynew housing. Development It also shows a tocomplicated re-envision wrinkle. 384 Grand St. engage them in striving for a better world. e giant, Some multi-lane contem- Lower Manhattan (aka Broome the country, and especially in New York, cities were using federal “urban renewal” 25 6. Hong Ning Senior Apartments the futureporaries of SPURA. thought Tourtheir admirablethe past with goals planning justified the historian Hilary Botein, Grand Street Seward Park Area Map Legend Baruch College. Sessions are free andSt.) open Expressway to the would public. have Translation run alongside, linking the dollars to solve their problems. Tax-paying individuals and businesses were leaving 50 Suffolk St. removal of tenements and site tenants; others disagreed.v 7. (Forner) Firehouse / Film Supply Company ?? provided. Wheelchair accessible exceptEast RiverSt. Mary's. bridges and Holland Tunnel, and cutting urban areas, and cities had less money to work with to care for12 citizens, meet rising 1. Seward Park High School off SPURA’s northwest corner. One expected result? 12 350 Grand St. 166 Broome St. ?? expectations, and update infrastructure. A popular solution was to reclaim valuable 25 8. Old Tenament Housing that was not Demolished ?? RSVP to [email protected] or 212-533-2541.Massive displacement. Concerted protest helped kill 2. (Former) Essex Street Market land by bulldozing old buildings in poor neighborhoods (the “slums”) to replace Address ?? 3. Seward Park Extension West (NYCHA) the plan in 1970. 9. Seward Park Extension East (NYCHA) Visualizing SPURA them with new, publicly-subsidized apartments and25 educational and cultural facilities 64-66 Essex St. e New York Times 150 Broome St.10. St. Mary’s Guild House #1 is was SPURA in 1963,Wednesday, in its heady first Dec. days, 17, showing 6:30pm, New School for Social Research. for higher income residents. In NYC, residents and businesses were displaced by the East Broadway 4. Coalition for Human Housing Day Care the buildings meant to remain and the rest of the land 444 Grand St. Roundtable discussion at the opening oft2 a new exhibition about SPURA by hundreds of thousands. Some of the displacees were re-housed in publicly subsidized 60 Essex St. 11. Elevator Building ?? cleared for housing. eActivists map lobbiedalso shows for more one complicatedlow-income housing in 5. Hong Ning Senior Apartments low-income projects; othersEssex Street were simply removed. Concerns about displacement and Address ?? wrinkle. A giant, multi-laneSPURAstudents Lowerso some ofManhattan site the residents Eugene (aka could Lang/New move back. School e City Studio and Prof. Gabrielle 50 Norfolk St relocation grew so severe that the city was obliged to find remedies. But25 remedies were 12. Saint Mary’s Church Broome St.) Expresswaycity agreed Bendiner-Viani.would and have the run Housing alongside, Authority (NYCHA) built 6. (Former) Synagogue Beth Hamedrash Hagodol 440 Grand St. linking the East RiverSPURA bridges Extension and Holland East and Tunnel. West (1972). A NYCHA often ad-hoc, varying among agencies and mayoral administrations. 7. Pre-SPURA Apartment Building 13. Beth Jacob Elementary School/ 7th Precinct Station ramp was placed to invitedcut offGet formerSPURA's Interviewed! site tenantsnorthwest to apply, corner. e since Seward a remedy forPark Oral History Project 384 Grand St. 142 Broome St. / 19 Pitt St. ??one building?? 8. Angel Aerial Movie Equipment (Former Firehouse) Fighting the expresswaythe painOngoing and of the displacement massive – August displacement was 2008 to offer to priorityJanuary it in 2009.NYCHA Are you a long-term resident One of the city’s most effective privateSeward partners was the United Housing Foundation 14. St. Mary’s Guild House #2 9. Pre-SPURA Apartment Buildings (partially occupied) 129 Broome St. would cause in the housing.LESof and the But areas LES? NYCHA now Get called also your tried Soho voice to andlimit heard. the number We’ll ask of about your memories of the Park 26 (UHF). In the late 1950s, the UHF developed the Seward Park Houses on the south 400-402 Grand St. 15. St.Mary’s Guild House #3 Tribeca united groupsreturnees, neighborhood,who didpersuaded not always by about the see “tipping eyeneighborhood to point” eye. theory change, that and about the place where you Housing Complex Slated For Seward Park in '73 side of Grand St. and started work on Seward Park Extension — a 20-acre project for 10. Seward Park Extension East (NYCHA) 460 Grand St. e plan finally diedtoo inmanyBy LAURIE1970. JOHNSTON people of color would cause white residents to New York Times (1857-Current file); Aug 31, 1971; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2005) 150 Broome St. 16. Sages of Israel Home for the Aged live.pg. 35 ContactActivists Kara lobbied Becker, for [email protected],more low-income housing 908-883-0556in SPURA the north side of Grand, bounded by Essex, Delancey, and Willett. e UHF withdrew flee. Site residents sosued, some setting site offresidents the Otero could v. NYCHA move back. e city agreed 11. Commercial Strip 25 Willett St. fair housing lawsuit. Eventually, in a mediated settlement, in 1961, but the city went forward in 1967 to take control of the site, clear it, and Willett St. & Grand St. SPURA Mattersand theis brought Housing Authorityto you by (NYCHA) Good Old Newbuilt YorkLower SPURA CIty Housing East Authority/La Side Guardia and 12. Grand Street Guild House #1 17. United Jewish Council of the East Side more(www.goles.org), site residentsExtension returned. PrattEast and Center West for(1972). Community NYCHA invitedWagner Development Archives, former La Guardia Community College/ build new housing.* 410 Grand St. 17 WIllett ST. site tenants to apply, since a remedy for the pain of City University of New York 13.Pre-SPURA Apartment Building 18. Bialystoker Synagogue (www.prattcenter.net), City Lore (www.citylore.org), and Place 157 Broome St. 7-11 Willett St. t3 displacement was to offer priority in NYCHA housing. Most of the new units would be priced for middle-income pocketbooks, and judging Matters, a projectBut NYCHA of City also Lore was quietlyand the making Municipal plans to Art keep Society site 14. Little Star of Broome Street Day Care 19. Former Henry Street Settlement (www.placematters.net). Series funded e by Grand the St. New Guild, York of the Council Catholic for from previous projects, would largely house New Yorkers of European descent. Most of 131-151 Broome St. 466 Grand St. residents to a minimum, persuaded by the "tipping point" the 7,000 site residents were poor and of Puerto Rican, African American, and Chinese 15. Saint Mary’s Church and Rectory 20. Abron’s Art Center

the Humanitiestheory to that support too many public people programs Archdioceseof color would about of New cause SPURA, York, white partnered and bywith the the city to build three apartment towers descent. ey would never be able to move back. A contest thus emerged: Who would 440 Grand St. v 466 Grand St. Mertz Gilmoreresidents Foundation to flee. Word and got Altman out, setting Foundation. off the complicated 21. Seward Park Houses saga of the Otero v. NYCHAsurrounding fair St.housing Mary’s lawsuit. Church (1973). 16.Grand Street Guild House #2 get to live in SPURA? Over the fifties and sixties, NYC had grown more segregated 131 Broome St. 22. Seward Park Library Eventually moreSubsidies site residents allowed were the admittedGuild to make the Sponsors: Ana Luisa Garcia Community Center / e Center for Urban by race and income. Would that continue? Or would New Yorkers find a way to build 17. Grand Street Guild House #3 Pedagogy / CAAAV / CHARAS - Tu Casarental Soundunits affordable Studio to / Citypeople Lore of moderate / 460 Grand St. and low incomes. is helped a few more healthy communities that were inclusive rather than exclusive? photo by Kara Becker Cooper Square Committee / Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association / 18. Beth Jacob School East Village Community Coalition / Goodformer Old site residents Lower toEast move Side back. / Grand 142 Broome St. 4 ese questions have bedeviled SPURA for four decades. Some things were built, but Essex St. & Delancey St. e Grand St. Guild,Street representing Settlement the / CatholicHester Street Archdio Collaborative- / Indochina Sino-American 19. 7th Precinct Police Station/“Fort Pitt” Firehouse (Ladder 18, protests, backroom deals, lawsuits, and political stand-offs have prevented development Engine 15, Battalion 4) cese of New York,Community entered into CenterpartnershipArtist / Jews Rendering, with for the 1971 Racial city and Economic Justice / Lower East Side on the whole site. e private market is re-shaping the LES, but SPURA is still in 19 Pitt St. Discussions, Tours, and Exhibits toto build three apartmentPeople’s towersMutual surrounding Housing St.Association Mary's / Lower East Side Tenement Museum / 20. New East Side Nursing Home (formerly Sages of Israel) public hands. Government and citizens can work together here for the public good if Church (1973). eCost New savings School provided / St. by Mary’s building Church on / Pratt Center for Community Grand St. & Pitt St. 25 Willett St. urban renewal land is and empty other land subsidies viewed inallowed the 1990s the from we can muster the imagination and political will. 21. LEJB & Golda Orenstein Building (UJC/Bialystoker) Development / Two Bridges Neighborhood Council / University Settlement / Willett St. & Delancey St. get New Yorkers talking about Map Color Coding Guild to make Urbanthethe rental northwest Justice units corner affordableCenter of SPURA, to people near of 17 Willett St. SPURA’s Past, Present and Futuremoderate and lowDelancey incomes. and is Essex helped Streets, a isfew now more largely 22. Bialystoker Synagogue 7-11 Willett St. former site tenantscovered move with back. parking. When It theshows United how much Jewish *Eight buildings were to remain: Henry St. Playhouse, Sages of Israel Home for the Aged, St. Mary’s Building Council sued the Guild, claiming the rentals favored St. 23. Henry Street Settlement Playhouse space was never fully developed. Parking is Church & School, a Broome St. apartment building, Beth Jacob School, Beth Hamredash Hagadol Mary's parishioners,only one the of city many settled things the that case might by agreeing 466 Grand St. Synagogue, Essex St. Market, and Downtown Talmud Torah. Parking/ 24. Henry Street Settlement Abrons Art Center to monitor thehappen process here to assureyet. integration. 5 Development 25. Seward Park Houses Brochure Design by is Christine empty land Renko viewed from the northwest corner of 26. Seward Park Library Village Voice/Michael Ackerman Neighborhood Photos: e New York Public Library Area SPURA, near Delancey and Essex Streets, is now largely covered with parking. It shows how much space was never fully developed. Parkingthat is only might one happen of many here things yet.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. e Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union built the Amalgamated Houses (1929-31) and Hillman Houses Elevated Highway Ramp Delancey Street Willett Street/Bialystoker Place Ridge Street Luther Gulik (1949-1951). To partner with the city on urban 20 Delancey Street Playground renewal, the union organized the United Housing Clinton Street 19 1. (Forner) Synagogue Beth Hamedrash Hagodol Foundation (UHF) in 1951 with other unions and Norfolk Street nonproﬁts. UHF built East River Houses (1956) and 10 18 21

Seward Park Houses (1962). Ranged along Grand Pitt Street 2 Street, from the East River to Essex St., the union Broome Street Hillman e Amalgamated Clothing Workersco-ops Union aimed built to improve the the lives of members and 14 22 Houses Amalgamated Houses (1929-31)engage and them the Hillmanin striving for a better world. Some 13 8 P 16 Left to right, Messrs. Dubinsky, Kazan, contemporaries thought their admirable goals 17 Houses (1949-1951). To participate in urban renewal, Broome Street 6 Su olk Street 1. Seward Park High School Moses, Follin, Szold 23 24 the union organizedUnited Housing the Foundation United justifiedHousing the Foundation removal of tenements and site tenants; 350 Grand St. 12 others disagreed. Essex Street 3 2. Former Essex Street Market (UHF) in 1951 with other unions and nonprofits. UHF Ludlow Street 5 15 collaborated with the city to build East River Houses 3. Seward Park Extension West (NYCHA) 11 65 Norfolk St. (1956) and Seward Park Houses (1962). Ranged along 4 7 Grand St. & Essex St. t1 SPURA in 1963, in its heady first days, showing the 1 9 4. Day Care Center ?? Grand Street, from the East River to Essexbuildings St., tothe remain union and the land to be cleared for Grand Street co-ops aimed to improve the lives of members and 5. Hong Ning Senior Apartments new housing. It also shows a complicated wrinkle. 384 Grand St. engage them in striving for a better world. e giant, Some multi-lane contem- Lower Manhattan (aka Broome 25 6. Hong Ning Senior Apartments Grand Street Seward Park Area Map Legend poraries thought their admirableSt.) goals Expressway justified would the have run alongside, linking the 50 Suffolk St. 7. (Forner) Firehouse / Film Supply Company ?? removal of tenements and site tenants;East others River disagreed.vbridges and Holland Tunnel, and cutting 12 1. Seward Park High School off SPURA’s northwest corner. One expected result? 12 350 Grand St. 166 Broome St. ?? 25 8. Old Tenament Housing that was not Demolished ?? Massive displacement. Concerted protest helped kill 2. (Former) Essex Street Market Address ?? 3. Seward Park Extension West (NYCHA) the plan in 1970. 9. Seward Park Extension East (NYCHA) 25 64-66 Essex St. e New York Times 150 Broome St.10. St. Mary’s Guild House #1 is was SPURA in 1963, in its heady first days, showing East Broadway 4. Coalition for Human Housing Day Care the buildings meant to remain and the rest of the land 444 Grand St. t2 60 Essex St. 11. Elevator Building ?? cleared for housing. eActivists map lobbiedalso shows for more one complicatedlow-income housing in 5. Hong Ning Senior Apartments Essex Street Address ?? wrinkle. A giant, multi-laneSPURA Lowerso some Manhattan site residents (aka could move back. e 50 Norfolk St 25 12. Saint Mary’s Church Broome St.) Expresswaycity agreed would and have the run Housing alongside, Authority (NYCHA) built 6. (Former) Synagogue Beth Hamedrash Hagodol 440 Grand St. linking the East RiverSPURA bridges Extension and Holland East and Tunnel. West (1972). A NYCHA 7. Pre-SPURA Apartment Building 13. Beth Jacob Elementary School/ 7th Precinct Station ramp was placed to invitedcut off formerSPURA's site tenantsnorthwest to apply, corner. since a remedy for 384 Grand St. 142 Broome St. / 19 Pitt St. ??one building?? Fighting the expresswaythe pain and of the displacement massive displacement was to offer priority it in NYCHA 8. Angel Aerial Movie Equipment (Former Firehouse) 14. St. Mary’s Guild House #2 Seward 9. Pre-SPURA Apartment Buildings (partially occupied) would cause in the housing.LES and But areas NYCHA now called also tried Soho to andlimit the number of 129 Broome St. Park 26 400-402 Grand St. Tribeca united groupsreturnees, who didpersuaded not always by the see “tipping eye to point” eye. theory that 15. St.Mary’s Guild House #3 Housing Complex Slated For Seward Park in '73 10. Seward Park Extension East (NYCHA) 460 Grand St. e plan finally died inBy LAURIE1970. JOHNSTON too manyNew York Times people (1857-Current file); Augof 31, color1971; ProQuest Historicalwould Newspapers cause The New York whiteTimes (1851 - 2005) residents to pg. 35 Activists lobbied for more low-income housing in SPURA 150 Broome St. 16. Sages of Israel Home for the Aged flee. Site residents sosued, some setting site offresidents the Otero could v. NYCHA move back. e city agreed 11. Commercial Strip 25 Willett St. Willett St. & Grand St. fair housing lawsuit. Eventually,and the Housing in a mediated Authority settlement, (NYCHA) Newbuilt York SPURA CIty Housing Authority/La Guardia and 12. Grand Street Guild House #1 17. United Jewish Council of the East Side more site residentsExtension returned. East and West (1972). NYCHA invitedWagner Archives, former La Guardia Community College/ 410 Grand St. 17 WIllett ST. site tenants to apply, since a remedy for the pain of City University of New York 13.Pre-SPURA Apartment Building 18. Bialystoker Synagogue 157 Broome St. 7-11 Willett St. t3 displacement was to offer priority in NYCHA housing. But NYCHA also was quietly making plans to keep site 14. Little Star of Broome Street Day Care 19. Former Henry Street Settlement e Grand St. Guild, of the Catholic 131-151 Broome St. 466 Grand St. residents to a minimum, persuaded by the "tipping point" 15. Saint Mary’s Church and Rectory 20. Abron’s Art Center theory that too many people Archdioceseof color would of New cause York, white partnered with the city to build three apartment towers 440 Grand St. 466 Grand St. residents to flee. Word got out, setting off the complicated 21. Seward Park Houses saga of the Otero v. NYCHAsurrounding fair St.housing Mary’s lawsuit. Church (1973). 16.Grand Street Guild House #2 131 Broome St. 22. Seward Park Library Eventually moreSubsidies site residents allowed were the admittedGuild to make the 17. Grand Street Guild House #3 rental units affordable to people of moderate 460 Grand St. and low incomes. is helped a few more 18. Beth Jacob School former site residents to move back. 142 Broome St. 4 Essex St. & Delancey St. e Grand St. Guild, representing the Catholic Archdio- 19. 7th Precinct Police Station/“Fort Pitt” Firehouse (Ladder 18, Engine 15, Battalion 4) cese of New York, entered into partnershipArtist Rendering, with the 1971 city 19 Pitt St. to build three apartment towers surrounding St. Mary's 20. New East Side Nursing Home (formerly Sages of Israel) Church (1973). Cost savings provided by building on Grand St. & Pitt St. 25 Willett St. urban renewal land is and empty other land subsidies viewed inallowed the 1990s the from 21. LEJB & Golda Orenstein Building (UJC/Bialystoker) Willett St. & Delancey St. Guild to make thethe rental northwest units corner affordable of SPURA, to people near of Map Color Coding 17 Willett St. moderate and lowDelancey incomes. and is Essex helped Streets, a isfew now more largely 22. Bialystoker Synagogue former site tenantscovered move with back. parking. When It theshows United how much Jewish Building 7-11 Willett St. Council sued thespace Guild, was neverclaiming fully the developed. rentals favoredParking isSt. 23. Henry Street Settlement Playhouse Mary's parishioners,only one the of city many settled things the that case might by agreeing 466 Grand St. Parking/ 24. Henry Street Settlement Abrons Art Center to monitor thehappen process here to assureyet. integration. 5 Development 25. Seward Park Houses is empty land viewed from the northwest corner of 26. Seward Park Library Village Voice/Michael Ackerman Neighborhood Photos: e New York Public Library Area SPURA, near Delancey and Essex Streets, is now largely covered with parking. It shows how much space was never fully developed. Parkingthat is only might one happen of many here things yet.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Events Back to the Future in the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area Interactive Tour of Seward Park SPURA Matters: Ongoing – from Saturday, Oct. 11. A self-guided, interactive tour of SPURA by Field Play, Inc. Discover an info-tag outside a historic site. Send Lower East Siders rarely wait for others to plan their future for them. When A 40-year Commemorative a secret code to an unknown number and receive a text message about community members grew concerned about gang violence in the 1950s, they formed Map of the Seward Park the neighborhood's history. Send in your own story to bring the SPURA the Lower East Side Neighborhoods Association (LENA) to organize their neighbors. chronicles up to date. For info, go to www.kickingoverthetraces.com. e first thing LENA did was create a 10-foot, hand-drawn map to help community Urban Renewal Area members identify problems and solutions. Locals responded with unexpected Four Public Discussion & Visioning Sessions enthusiasm. e map helped them envision the challenge. ey supplied the Wednesday, Oct. 22, University Settlement (6:30-9pm); Saturday, Nov. 1, imagination and a willingness to get the job done. St. Mary's Church (2-4:30pm); Wednesday, Nov. 12, Grand St. Settlement (6:30-9pm); Saturday, Nov. 22, 227 E. 3rd St. (2-4:30pm). Join your SPURA Matters is also about planning for the future — especially for a piece of the neighbors and Pratt Center for Community Development to re-envision LES called the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA). In the 1950s, all around the future of SPURA. Tour the past with planning historian Hilary Botein, the country, and especially in New York, cities were using federal “urban renewal” Baruch College. Sessions are free and open to the public. Translation dollars to solve their problems. Tax-paying individuals and businesses were leaving provided. Wheelchair accessible except St. Mary's. urban areas, and cities had less money to work with to care for citizens, meet rising RSVP to [email protected] or 212-533-2541. expectations, and update infrastructure. A popular solution was to reclaim valuable land by bulldozing old buildings in poor neighborhoods (the “slums”) to replace Visualizing SPURA them with new, publicly-subsidized apartments and educational and cultural facilities Wednesday, Dec. 17, 6:30pm, New School for Social Research. for higher income residents. In NYC, residents and businesses were displaced by the Roundtable discussion at the opening of a new exhibition about SPURA by hundreds of thousands. Some of the displacees were re-housed in publicly subsidized students of the Eugene Lang/New School City Studio and Prof. Gabrielle low-income projects; others were simply removed. Concerns about displacement and Bendiner-Viani. relocation grew so severe that the city was obliged to find remedies. But remedies were often ad-hoc, varying among agencies and mayoral administrations. Get Interviewed! e Seward Park Oral History Project Ongoing – August 2008 to January 2009. Are you a long-term resident One of the city’s most effective private partners was the United Housing Foundation of the LES? Get your voice heard. We’ll ask about your memories of the (UHF). In the late 1950s, the UHF developed the Seward Park Houses on the south neighborhood, about neighborhood change, and about the place where you side of Grand St. and started work on Seward Park Extension — a 20-acre project for live. Contact Kara Becker, [email protected], 908-883-0556 the north side of Grand, bounded by Essex, Delancey, and Willett. e UHF withdrew SPURA Matters is brought to you by Good Old Lower East Side in 1961, but the city went forward in 1967 to take control of the site, clear it, and (www.goles.org), Pratt Center for Community Development build new housing.* (www.prattcenter.net), City Lore (www.citylore.org), and Place Matters, a project of City Lore and the Municipal Art Society Most of the new units would be priced for middle-income pocketbooks, and judging (www.placematters.net). Series funded by the New York Council for from previous projects, would largely house New Yorkers of European descent. Most of the Humanities to support public programs about SPURA, and by the the 7,000 site residents were poor and of Puerto Rican, African American, and Chinese