City of New York Parks & Recreation Manhattan Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor Adrian Benepe, Commissioner Parks Post May / June 2007 Borough Beat Photo of the Month Welcome to the Parks Post, a bimonthly newsletter with information for you! I’m Adrian Benepe, New York City Commissioner for Parks & Recreation. Your Manhattan Borough Commissioner, Bill Castro, and I are working hard to make your parks cleaner, greener, and more fun! We’ll be keeping you up to date about our progress on the Parks Department’s three main priorities in the coming year: • Kids First • Greening New York • Bringing Community into Parks We want to keep you informed about the latest and greatest in your local parks–from Battery Park all the way up to Inwood Hill Park. See you in the parks! Adrian Benepe Young parkgoers show off their gardening handiwork while volunteering at Jackie Commissioner Robinson Park at last year’s It’s My Park! Day. (Photo by Tony Killeen). Bill Castro It’s My Park! Day happens again on May 19. Manhattan sites include Seward, DeWitt Manhattan Borough Clinton, Highbridge, and Marcus Garvey Parks. For more information, visit Commissioner www.itsmypark.org or call 311. Citywide Spotlight May is Bike Month, and the Parks Department is celebrating by encouraging you to check out your parks on two wheels. On May 16, Parks will officially open the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway, a 40-mile bike trail that runs from Coney Island to Little Bay Park in Queens, with destinations including the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Queens Botanical Garden. Get your copy of the new guidebook at the ribbon cutting. It’s also available online and at Parks facilities and bicycle shops along the Greenway. Greenways are for everyone: cyclists, joggers, strollers, skaters, people in wheelchairs or who are mobility impaired, dog walkers, bird watchers, kids and adults, families and friends, recreational users and commuters. Over the next four years, Parks will spend more than $200 million to add 40 more miles and enhance the Greenway with comfort stations, boat launches, and environmental restoration projects. Also, on three weekends in May, Parks staff and volunteers will “Teach Your Child to Ride a Bike.” Find dates, locations, registration, and general information about rolling around New York City at www.nyc.gov/parks. www.nyc.gov/parks Calendar Feature of the Month Manhattan’s Arts, Culture & Fun series is now underway around the borough. This exciting It’s My Park! Day program is designed to expand our recreation centers’ traditional mission of promoting Saturday, May 19, 2007 health and fitness. Now four centers are places to go not only for afterschool programs SEWARD PARK 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. or to play basketball but also for free lectures, book readings and signings. Tony Dapolito in Greenwich Village, East 54th Street, Pelham Fritz in Harlem, and J. Hood Wright in DEWITT CLINTON PARK 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Washington Heights will host these upcoming events: MARCUS GARVEY PARK 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. May 15 Pelham Fritz Recreation Center Schomburg Center curator Chris Moore discusses “The African Burial Ground and NYC: An Untold Story of America.” HIGHBRIDGE PARK 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. May 17 Archaeologist Joel W. Grossman discusses “Revealing Hidden Layers: The Opening Ceremonies for Archaeology of Manhattan Island.” Mountain Bike Trail HIGHBRIDGE PARK May 23 Saturday, May 19, 2007 Carolina Gonzalez and Seth Kugel discuss “Nueva York: The Complete Guide to 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Latino Life in the Five Boroughs.” Sunday, May 20, 2007 May 24 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Newsweek senior editor Jonathan Alter discusses “The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope.” Summer on the Hudson: Mamapalooza Outdoor Extravaganza RIVERSIDE PARK SOUTH Sunday, May 20, 2007 Did You Know? 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Tea in the Garden: Parks is moving forward on the $70 million reconstruction of the East River Park Where Pinkies Find their Purpose Promenade, the largest and most complex Parks project in recent history. With MERCHANT’S HOUSE MUSEUM construction of the piling structures nearly complete, we will begin laying the platforms Sunday, May 27, 2007 1:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. and start landscaping work this spring and complete the project over the next 18 months. Big Apple Barbecue Block Party MADISON SQUARE PARK Saturday & Sunday, June 9 - 10, 2007 Current Events 12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Adventures NYC MULTIPLE PARKS LOCATIONS Saturday, June 16, 2007 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Shakespeare in the Park: Romeo & Juliet CENTRAL PARK Saturday, June 30, 2007 8:00 p.m. What’s going on in my park this weekend? How do I request a tree for my street? How can I report a problem in a park? For answers to these questions and more, LEFT: Central Park’s Bethesda Arcade’s historic ceiling features almost 16,000 Minton tiles. Each tile was visit www.nyc.gov/parks or call painstakingly preserved and restored at a cost of over $7 million. (Photo by Malcolm Pinckney) 311. RIGHT: The first official mountain biking trail in New York City will open Saturday, May 19 in Highbridge Park–with a black diamond feature, a BMX track, a challenge trail, as well as trail markers and interpretive signage. (Photo by CLIMB/NYCMTB) www.nyc.gov/parks.