July 9, 2017
It’s been a busy few months for NY4P! Check out some of the highlights from our late spring and early summer.
On May 4 NY4P’s Executive Director Lynn Kelly spoke on a panel at the New York League of Conservation Voters’ Environmental Candidate School. The Candidate School educates candidates for elected office on important environmental issues facing New York City. The panel topic was “Healthy New York,” and also featured Cheryl Huber from GrowNYC, Justin Wood from NYLPI, and Eric Goldstein from NRDC.
Lynn Kelly participated in Professional Women in Construction’s first annual Parks Panel on Mary 23. “Perspectives from the Public Realm” was moderated by Jason Roberts of AECOM Tishman, and also featured Noreen Doyle of the Hudson River Park Trust, Pat Kirshner of Brooklyn Bridge Park, and Michael Samuelian of the Trust for Governors Island. Lynn brought an advocacy perspective to the panel, and talked about what the city can do to help smaller and underfunded parks.
NY4P’s Director of Outreach and Programs Emily Walker, and Laura Montross, Outreach Coordinator, tabled at Car-Free NYC: Earth Day on April 22. The event was hosted by the Department of Transportation and Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez.
On June 1, the first day of hurricane season, Lucy Robson, Director of Research and Planning, spoke at the Waterfront Alliance’s “Rally for Our Waterfronts” on the steps of City Hall. We came out to support the Alliance’s recently released Harbor Scorecard, and to reiterate the rights of all New Yorkers to have access to healthy open spaces as laid out in our Public Realm Bill of Rights. The rally was hosted by Council Member Donovan Richards.
On June 14 NY4P staff took a tour of Freshkills Park and Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, both on Staten Island. Laura Truettner, Manager for Park Development, gave us a tour of Freshkills Park and showed us the innovative ways they’re transforming what used to be the largest landfill in the world into what will eventually be the largest park in New York City. At Snug Harbor we explored the Heritage Farm, the various botanical gardens, and learned how the cultural center nurtures and promotes arts and programming inspired by the borough’s nature and history.
Emily Walker and Laura Montross, of NY4P’s Outreach and Programs team, tabled at the Hunt’s Point Fish Parade, hosted by The Point, on June 17. They handed out our latest publication, Clean & Green: Who Takes Care of Our Parks? along with our other tools and resources.
Lucy Robson, Director of Research and Planning, presented a preview of findings from our forthcoming Brownsville Open Space Index to Brooklyn Community Board 16 on June 27. Over the past year NY4P helped shepherd the creation of the Friends of Brownsville Parks.