Immigrants & Parks Collaborative Blog

Local Artists and Advocates Celebrate the History of Immigration in the Lower East Side and Chinatown

2010-09-30T15:58:00.003-04:00

If you're free tomorrow at noon (Friday, October 1st), join us at the official opening of "Mall-terations", a project coordinated by one of our Immigrants and Parks Collaborative members- Hester Street Collaborative. This temporary art installation was created by local artists and celebrates the history of immigrants in the Lower East Side and Chinatown neighborhoods and the transformation of the Allen and Pike Street malls into a public space.

For more information, follow the link below to the Hester Street Collaborative's Facebook page (and 'like' the organization while you are at it)!

http://www.facebook.com/hesterstreet

A New Marketplace for Red Hook Park!

2010-09-30T15:35:00.003-04:00

We have been involved in an exciting project we wanted to share with all of you! The Red Hook Food Vendors many of us know and love have plans to create a marketplace with existing vendors and possibly new ones in Red Hook Park. We have been working with them to make these plans a reality. Potential designs for the new Red Hook Marketplace are now on display at the Queens Museum of Art through this Sunday, October 3rd, 2010. You are welcome to join us at the closing of this event on Sunday for a full day of fun-filled events for everyone. You can even learn how to make authentic pupusas from one of the Red Hook carts. This is an event you won't want to miss! For more details you can follow this link- http://www.queensmuseum.org/red-hook-closing-first-sunday-for-families

Hope to see you there!

Park Spotlight: Sara D. Roosevelt Park

2010-08-23T11:13:00.008-04:00

Sara D. Roosevelt park is a green respite amidst the forest of concrete and metal that most people envision when they think of Manhattan’s lower east side. The park itself – located in the heart of Chinatown at Broome and Chrystie – consists of more than five different playgrounds, a vendor’s market, a senior center, and – like Rufus King Park – a turf soccer field. On the weekends the 7.8 acre park fills to the brim with people and – as it is located in one of the most ethnically diverse areas of town – a large percentage of that park-using population are immigrants.

Despite the high population, ensuring that immigrants have equal access to the park is not an easy task, however, and two organizations work hard to ensure the park is as diverse and rich as the neighborhood that surrounds it. The first of these is Asian Americans for Equality: an advocacy organization focused on “mobilizing the Asian American community in NYC” and ensuring that immigrants are afforded an equal quality of life. To AAFE, access to public space – especially the park, as it is located in the heart of Chinatown – is an important issue, and in fact AAFE has been instrument in making the park one of the most multi-lingual signed parks in the city. Annually, AAFE sponsors the Chinatown Summer Festival in which members of the Asian American community fill the streets of Chinatown and Columbus Park to sell goods and partake in cultural activities and performances. This year, over 20,000 people attended their event.

AAFE has a very important lower east side partner in their park work in the Hester Street Collaborative. HSC works more directly towards the redesign of public spaces, specifically focusing on the incorporation of artistic design into the parks to help “add a layer of joy” to NYC’s public spaces. Like AAFE, they see immigrants as a crucial aspect of these improvements, and they incorporate immigrant issues into all three of their initiatives: education, neighborhood initiatives, and exhibitions and publications. Most recently, HSC published a guidebook for their Avenue of the Immigrants project that leads visitors down three historic streets in the lower east side with information about immigrant history and the immigrant impact in the community.

As a result of both AAFE and HSC the lower east side immigrant community is getting the attention is deserves, and the park is thriving as a result. Check it out this weekend!

Visit Sara D. Roosevelt Park! Take the J or the M to Bowery Street

To find events at this park and others, check out our Events Calendar
Putting on an event in a New York City park? Let us know! Email us at immigrantsparks@gmail.com

(photo: www.http://www.ecofriendlymag.com)

Park Spotlight: Travers Park and the 78th Street Play Street

2010-08-02T12:57:00.007-04:00

Travers Park in Prospect Heights, Queens is the quintessential New York City Park: its small grassy areas and large playground structures are packed with local families from morning until night. But, as a quintessential NYC park it faces the quintessential New York City problem: space. With a car dealership, a school, and two busy roads surrounding it, the problem of Travers Park's limited space seemed unsolvable, until the Queens Community House – in collaboration with the city council – stepped in and got creative. Through community advocacy this collaboration created the 78^th Street Play street: an officially closed- off street adjacent to the park, supervised all day , where families and children can relax and play.

The creation of the 78^th Street Play Street was by no means a quick and easy process, however, and in fact it is the result of years of hard work and persistence on the part of Queens Community House and their partners. The efforts to create the street began in 2008 in response to the lack of the space in the park. Although the community board was supportive they were unable to immediately grant the full conversion of the street into a “play street” for traffic reasons and so – as a trial – they agreed to close the street on Sundays in July. The Play Street was a HUGE success. As a result, in May 2010 they city council officially voted to close the Play Street daily during the summer months of July and August and on all Sundays through October 31st.

Today, the play street is supervised by staff from Queens Community House and teens in their summer employment program from the street's opening until evening. The street offers activities and toys free and open to the public, and sometimes events – such a free yoga classes and seminars on bike riding.

For more information visit the Jackson Heights Green Alliance Play Street Website

Visit Travers Park and the 78^th Street Play Street! Take the F train to Roosevelt Av. – Jackson Heights

Check out the events happening in this park – and others - at our Events Calendar

Park Spotlight: Rufus King Park

2010-07-26T10:18:00.006-04:00

A quick ride on the E train brings you out to Rufus King Park in Jamaica, Queens: one of the city’s smallest but most utilized parks. “It really is a great little park” says Reuel Daniels, Project Manager at the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation - one of two organizations who work hard to maintain the park’s upkeep - “and its seriously being used by the community all the time.” Natividad Hernandez at the Centro Hispano Cuzcatlan agrees with Daniels and confirms the importance of the park within the community, explaining that a lot of immigrants who move to Jamaica miss having backyards and turn to the park to fill that void. According to Hernandez, “the park is a demand [of the community] always.”

The strong emphasis that Daniels and Hernandez put on parks might seem shocking considering the wide-ranging problems within the immigrant community in Jamaica that each of their organizations seeks to address. The Greater Jamaica Development Corporation strives to “revitalize Jamaica and strengthen the region” by buying and selling real estate and donating the proceeds to the area, enhancing the lives of those living there by running cultural activities and encouraging people to move into the community. Centro Hispano Cuzcatlan similarly aims to improve the quality of life for Jamaica residents – specifically the Hispanic community – by running trainings about and advocating for better immigrant housing, easier access to legal documentation, and more complete legal services. The question becomes, therefore, why, in organizations that strive to make such huge changes to immigrant communities, is there such a strong focus on the upkeep of the park?

The answer to this question, it seems, lies in the history of Rufus King Park, the tensions that have arisen within the community on its lawns, and how the efforts of these organizations have helped. “If you have a park in a community that’s not taken care of” says Daniels, “it sends a bad message to the community.” This, apparently, was the case in the park in the early 1990’s when the new Hispanic community living in Jamaica started to play soccer in the park. Daniels explains that “the soccer took over the park, it wasn’t managed” and that in the end it “really destroyed much of the park.” This, she adds, led to some tension between the new immigrant population and the black community already living in Jamaica. The Parks Department tried to calm this unease by placing large rocks on the main lawns to prevent the soccer playing, but this did little to deter the players and did not repair any of the already destroyed grass. In the end, the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation and Centro Hispano Cuzcatlan worked together to advocate on behalf of the community, and as a result of their efforts the Parks Department removed the rocks and replaced a torn up lawn with an Astroturf field which is more closely regulated.

Although the installation of the Astroturf field did not eliminate the tensions within the community altogether, it certainly represents a start, and, for now at least, has brought conflict out of the park. It is for this reason that Daniels and Hernandez continue to focus their work on the park. The park, it seems, can represent a great public space for cultural sharing and integration but – if not closely monitored – also a point of contention within communities. As Hernandez says, “Its not easy, everyday is different, but doing something small like this every day can make a difference.”

Visit Rufus King Park! Take the E, J, or Z to Jamaica Center - Parsons/Archer

Check out our events calendar to see what's happening in this park (and others)

July 2010 Blog Update

2010-07-12T11:58:00.006-04:00

Welcome to the new Immigrants and Parks Collaborative blog! Our recently redesigned blog is all about spreading the word about the Collaborative and encouraging YOU to be actively involved in New York City’s many multicultural parks. Each week we’ll post the “Immigrants and Parks Collaborative Calendar of Events” which will give you a sense of some of the activities going on in the parks. The following week we’ll update the calendar and provide a review of and photos from the events of the week before. In addition, we will be spotlighting each of the organizations that make up the Collaborative individually so you can get a better sense of what each one does.

Check out the events for next week HERE!

We try to update the blog every week so visit us often. We hope to see you outside this summer!

Putting on a multicultural event in a New York City park? Questions about the Collaborative or what we do? Let us know! Send an email to immigrants.parks@gmail.com.

2009-09-11T09:31:00.006-04:00

A year ago, Hester Street Collaborative and Asian Americans for Equality, two of our Immigrants and Parks Collaborative members, released a community visioning report to inform renovations at Allen and Pike Street malls, a set of linear parks along Allen Street, also known as "Avenue of the Immigrants". Hester Street and AAFE held a series of events aimed at engaging the largely immigrant populations of Chinatown and the Lower East Side in providing input for the redesign of their park. The City's Department of Transportation and the Parks Department have started working on the upgrades. I encourage everyone to visit and see the transformations for themselves!

For more information and to download a copy of their report, check out Hester Street's website http://www.hesterstreet.org/ or the article in streetsblogs.

The Immigrants and Parks Collaborative Mini Video

2009-09-04T10:59:00.005-04:00

Check out our new introductory video which talks about the issues around engagement of immigrants in parks and the significance of this work! It also highlights some of the work being done on the ground by members of the NYC Immigrants and Parks Collaborative.

Enjoy and feel free to post any comments:
View Out Introductory Video On YouTube

HSC Unveils Second Annual Lunar New Year Lantern Installation

2009-02-12T13:09:00.004-05:00

On Thursday, January 29th, Hester Street Collaborative, in partnership with Middle School 131, the Chinatown YMCA, and Asian Americans for Equality, unveiled its second annual Lunar New Year Lantern Installation in Sara D. Roosevelt Park to celebrate the Year of the Ox.

Last year, students at M.S. 131 and the Chinatown YMCA constructed lanterns out of colorful sheets of vinyl and battery-operated LED lights to celebrate the Year of the Rat. This year, the students constructed lanterns out of recycled plastic bags supported by adjustable wire templates and stamped with symbols of the Ox. The lanterns, hung alongside last year’s Year of the Rat lanterns in SDR Park, create a public installation that celebrates the New Year and promotes sustainability in the neighborhood.

After the lanterns were installed in the park, Hester Street Collaborative hosted an hour of design activities for local kids in its workshop at 113 Hester Street. Participants made their own paper lanterns, Chinese zodiac masks, and buttons for the New Year, and ended the evening watching a traditional performance of a dragon dance by Asian Americans For Equality’s Unicorn Dancing Team.

The Year of the Ox lanterns will hang in SDR Park throughout the month of February to be enjoyed by local residents and visitors alike. This student-created and culturally inspired installation is one more step toward sustainable, long-term community involvement and cultural expression in one of our neighborhood’s most important open space resources.

Celebrating Holidays and Partnerships

2008-12-17T16:04:00.007-05:00

On December 6th, 2008 the Immigrants and Parks Collaborative - Jamaica Branch, held the 5th annual Jamaica Community Tree Lighting at Rufus King Park to celebrate the holidays and community unity.

Led by Immigrants and Parks collaborative members Centro Hispano Cuzcatlán (CHC) and Greater Jamaica Development Corporation (GJDC) the celebratory holiday tree lighting and present give away was attended by over 300. The event has become an important neighborhood holiday tradition for Jamaica, and additional organizations have been brought into the fold as a consequence of the Immigrants and Parks initiative. This year, in addition to CHC's traditional leadership role in the tree lighting, fellow community groups like Cultural Collaborative Jamaica, Friends of Rufus King Park, GJDC, and King Manor Museum participated.

“The tree lighting at Rufus King Park is an important tradition for the community of Jamaica,” said Eduardo Barahona of CHC. “The event continues to bring unity to our diverse community and grow every year because of the collaboration between so many community groups.”

The event is a great example of a unique partnership between the community organizing-based nonprofit CHC and the local development corporation GJDC that could serve as a model for park-centered community development in other areas. CHC’s considerable constituency within the community - built up by years of organizing around immigration, housing, and park issues – coupled with GJDC’s 40 years of economic development and considerable financial and administrative resources make them a potent pair in tackling issues revolving around Jamaica’s most important open space. The two organizations’ complimentary strengths have contributed to improved physical conditions in Rufus King Park, a big increase in the park programming, and a decrease in tensions between various segments of the surrounding neighborhood.

Neighborhood residents paired with the resources of local business is a very potent collaboration indeed.

Can You Read This Sign?

2008-12-11T15:49:00.002-05:00

Many New Yorkers cannot. Many New Yorkers do not have access to public spaces for the simple fact that signs in parks most often times cater to only groups who speak one language.

As a country whose greatness is based on diversity through immigration, it is important to outreach to all people in the community.

Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, or YMPJ, has been working Environmental Justice issues in the Soundview area of the South Bronx for approximately 14 years. One issue is the lack of open space in our neighborhood. YMPJ has been successful in creating open spaces within our community. Concrete Plant Park is scheduled to be opened for the public during the Spring of 2009. Concrete Plant Park is located near the Bronx River, which has a problem, as all open bodies of water in New York City do, with Combined Sewer Overflows, or CSOs. CSOs occur during rain events, dumping pollution into the river.

Immigrants who will use this park may not know what CSOs are and may use the Bronx River when it is polluted. Signage in the park in several different languages will help.

Or.....

How about a mural created by the community that doesn’t use words?
We’ve just finished a mural explaining some of YMPJ's work and why we are a part of the Immigrants and Parks Collaboration…. To improve the neighborhood by empowering the people who live here- all were at one time immigrants- of course!

RAIN RAIN go away?

2008-12-10T15:56:00.001-05:00

It’s raining today! And although most New Yorkers associate rain with inconvenience- as evidenced by broken umbrellas abandoned along the sidewalks, delayed commutes due to flooded subways and buses stuck in traffic, and wet people decked out in waterproof boots and jackets- RAIN actually provides as an essential resource for our city’s green, open spaces. Trees, plants, and grass that we all enjoy at city parks need water from RAIN to survive. So why do we still design infrastructure that keeps RAIN from the plants that need water?

The covering of our city’s land with hard surfaces- roofs, parking lots, streets and sidewalks- prevents RAIN from entering the soil and forces this resource into the sewers. Unfortunately, our sewers cannot handle the volume of stormwater runoff created by RAIN falling on hard surfaces thereby creating one of the largest pollution sources to NYC’s waterbodies, Combined Sewage Overflow. What is CSO? Runoff combines with sewage from our buildings- think toilets, sinks, showers- in a single pipe to be treated at one of NYC’s 14 wastewater treatment plants. When too much sewage and runoff enters the sewers during RAIN storms, the excess combined sewage dumps into our waterways. There are over 400 overflow points throughout NYC, contributing about 27,000,000,000 (BILLION) gallons of sewage per year!

So what does this mean for our parks? Parks along NYC waterbodies- Hudson River, East River, Bronx River, etc- are designed to keep people OUT of the water since they are currently too dirty to SWIM and FISH in. Water quality can be improved by simply viewing RAIN as a resource and sharing it with the trees, plants, and other green spaces that need them. From rain barrels and rain gardens to retrofitting tree pits and greenstreets to capture RAIN water rather then sending to sewers, small individual efforts contribute to a large benefit for all communities!

It’s My Park! Day at Sara D Roosevelt Park hosted launch of People Make Parks Initiative

2008-11-19T16:46:00.001-05:00

On Saturday, October 25th, 2008, the Immigrants & Parks Collaborative and the Sara D Roosevelt Park (SDR) Coalition hosted It’s My Park! Day in SDR Park. The event was a successful culmination of recent efforts to revitalize the park by involving community in park maintenance, programming, and physical improvements. It’s My Park! Day, a citywide effort to care for and celebrate New York City’s parks, is coordinated bi-annually by Partnerships for Parks. Over 200 community members of all background and volunteers from the Coalition and other community groups gathered at several locations in the park to paint playground equipment, care for street trees, plant bulbs, do general cleanup, and offer their thoughts and suggestions for the park through interactive community mapping activities.

“SDR needs big community activities like this so that people know this is one big park, not seven small parks” said a local resident who stopped to write suggestions for the future of the park on an interactive “community visioning map.” “The park is very activity oriented: it would be nice to have more space to just chill out,” said one local resident. “More trees and flowers, please! Less concrete!” offered another.

Community members at the event were not only improving and critiquing SDR Park last Saturday: they also had the opportunity to view a large-scale exhibition on the new People Make Parks Initiative, which was launched at SDR on It’s My Park! Day. This groundbreaking new initiative is a joint program of Hester Street Collaborative and Partnerships for Parks, and will expand the role of communities in park design by giving them the tools and resources they need to develop a vision for their local parks and share them with the Department of Parks & Recreation. The exhibition included People Make Parks’ major components, future plans, proposed test sites, and anticipated outcomes for under-resourced neighborhoods across the city. The exhibition also reported back to the community on plans that they have played a role in shaping for local parks, including the visioning processes for SDR Park and the Allen & Pike Street Malls.

SDR Park’s Hester Street Playground has served as a test site for participatory park design strategies and will close in January 2009 to be rebuilt according to a plan responsive to community input. SDR and the successful platform of It’s My Park! Day was therefore an ideal setting for the launch of People Make Parks. As Anne Frederick, executive director of Hester Street Collaborative and co-chair of the SDR Coalition, comments, “It’s My Park! Day provides a platform for residents, youth, and all kinds of stakeholders to have a hand and a voice in transforming their park spaces; our People Make Parks initiative will take the tools and resources that we have developed for community involvement in park improvements in the Lower East Side and Chinatown and make them accessible to neighborhoods throughout NYC.” The launch of the People Make Parks Initiative is just the beginning of an exciting series of city-wide events and participatory design processes that the Collaborative plans on being extremely active in.

Cyburbia Thread

2008-09-29T14:19:00.002-04:00

I recently posted a reply to a thread in a Cyburbia web forum about immigrants and civic participation/engagement in planning processes. It talks a little bit about the work the Collaborative is doing. Feel free to check it out: http://www.cyburbia.org/forums/showthread.php?p=456405#post456405

-Silvett

Language Access

2008-09-22T10:14:00.001-04:00

Our collaborative is very excited to begin working towards creating an action plan to improve language access to parks for our communities! This is a goal we identified early on in our work and has become a growing priority as more of our community members are denied opportunities to become involved in their local parks due to limited English proficiency.

To the benefit of our communities and all New Yorkers, the mayor recently signed an executive order that requires that all city agencies that directly interact with New York city residents translate their public documents into at least the top six languages spoken in the city and that they offer translation services for those with limited English speaking abilities. We are proud of the mayor's leadership in making this great city more accessible to all New Yorkers and are excited about the opportunity this presents for us to work along with the city to ensure that our communities have meaningful access to our open spaces.

Any Upcoming Events? Let us all know!

2008-08-13T14:48:00.000-04:00

Gabe told me this Saturday, Aug 16 at the QMA there is: an archery contest, live music from 1-4, landscape painting lessons in the park, and the QMA mobile museum will be wandering Flushing Meadows...

Welcome

2008-08-06T15:57:00.000-04:00

As suggested by several of you: we need a way to collaborate on line and share ideas outside of our meetings!

This blog will help us explore new ideas, thoughts, and possibilities for us--but it belongs to all of us. So please use it--start a discussion, collaborate with others, announce your events, etc.

We're all here to help each other and move forward together!