NYC Parks Media Advisory

Dry Harbor Playschool Presents Pennies For Puppies

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Preschoolers and their parents will deliver the pennies to Bobbi and the Strays in at Dry Harbor Playground. In a matter of weeks last year, the participants of the Dry Harbor Play School raised $130.68 in pennies for "Pennies for Puppies"-a project initiated by students in prior classes.

Bobbi and the Strays cares for abandoned and abused cats and dogs until they can be adopted. "Pennies for Puppies" helps to teach the children about compassion and concern for other living creatures as well as community awareness.

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Parks' Citywide Monument Conservation Program Preserves Harlem's Sculptures, Old And New

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:00:00 GMT

This week the Citywide Monuments Conservation Program's conservators and apprentices returns to Harlem to preserve to six sculptures the Program has conserved, and the most recently installed work, Harriet Tubman.

Several of the artworks are historical portraits, including Union Generals Daniel Butterfield (by Gutzon Borglum, who carved Mount Rushmore) and Winfield Scott Hancock, Civil War-era statesman and journalist Carl Schurz and Washington and Lafayette (the last by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, sculptor of the Statue of Liberty). The Alfred Lincoln Seligman Fountain in Morningside Park depicts a whimsical encounter between a curious bear and a Pan-like faun. Following up on conservation by the Monuments Program in 2008, staff and interns will assess and maintain Richard Hunt's modern assemblage of industrial bronze, Harlem Hybrid. And Swing Low: A Memorial to Harriet Tubman, a contemporary tribute to the famous Underground Railroad leader and abolitionist by renowned artist Allison Saar, will receive a treatment to ensure its vitality and the protection of its striking surface patina. All pieces are monitored for corrosion, cleaned, and have their protective finishes renewed. The Monuments Program will fix specific conditions, such as mortar joints, as necessary.

The award-winning Citywide Monuments Conservation Program is a public/private partnership that preserves New York City's cultural legacy and provides hands-on training to graduate-level apprentices. This summer major program donors include the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and Donna Karan.

Parks To Cut Ribbon On Improvements To Canarsie Park

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:00:00 GMT

The ceremony celebrates the completion of the first phase of renovations to Canarsie Park funded by generous allocations from Council Member Fidler ($2.9 million), Borough President Markowitz ($650,000), and Mayor Bloomberg ($2.65 million).

The project included construction of the cricket field, new paths, bleachers, steel fencing perimeters, drinking fountains, a picnic grove, benches, and new lighting. The environmentally sensitive plan contoured the landscape for on-site water management including the construction of two lakes. New landscaping of the natural areas includes special grass mixes for the lawns and native herbaceous perennials including wildflowers, shrubs, and trees.

Celebrate Dutch History At West Harlem Piers Fishing Festival

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:00:00 GMT

In celebration of the Henry Hudson Quadricentennial, spend the afternoon in West Harlem fishing with the Urban Park Rangers, singing sea shanties with Astrograss, and enjoying the cool river breezes. Check out Dutch Colonial and Native American arts & crafts and educational hands-on activities for kids about life on and in the river. Entertainment will be provided all day by numerous groups including the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers and New Amsterdam Musical Association. Register for fishing by 4:00 p.m. Rods and reels provided!

The event is presented by the Parks Department and produced in collaboration with the New York State Hudson-Champlain-Fulton Quadricentennial Commission and the Riverside Park Fund. The event is sponsored by Disney.

West Harlem Piers Park connects West Harlem to the Hudson River Greenway and supports various activities including fishing, water tours, boating and ecological exploration.

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Parks Cuts Ribbon On Half-Nelson Playground

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:00:00 GMT

The playground was reconstructed with a new play area, spray shower, basketball court, fencing, and sitting area with benches. The drainage system was reconstructed and new accessible drinking fountains were installed. Landscaping and shrubs complete the renovation.

The project was funded by $1.4 million allocated by Council Member Helen Diane Foster and $286,000 of Mayoral Funds.

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Elected Officials Cut Ribbon On $3 Million Renovated "Field Of Dreams" At Asphalt Green

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:00:00 GMT

After 23 years of use, the field has now been renovated with new turf for soccer, football, baseball, softball, lacrosse and field hockey.

Asphalt Green's Field of Dreams and Sports Carnival will kick off with the New Balance Girls on the Run 5k race at the field. Families are invited to FREE activities such as face painting, hula hoop contest, balloon animals and more. Tickets will be sold for food, tournaments and other activities including the Nets Basketball 3-Point Shooting and Soccer Shootout that benefit the field renovations.

Founded in 1975, Asphalt Green is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to assisting individuals of all ages and backgrounds achieve health through a lifetime of sports and fitness. Situated on a beautiful 5-acre Upper East Side campus, it is New York City's premier athletic complex - acknowledged for its unparalleled sports and fitness programs for all ages and athletic levels - and a valuable resource to the surrounding communities. For more information on Asphalt Green and its programs, visit www.asphaltgreen.org or call 212.369.8890.

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Parks And Sportime "Raise First Net" At New York City's Newest Tennis Center

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Kids from RISF's Summer Camp, who will learn to play tennis at the new center this summer, will participate in fun tennis activities lead by SPORTIME's top teaching professionals. The kids will all receive brand new tennis racquets to jump-start their games and will enjoy easy and fun tennis drills and games, chances to win prizes, and more.

With 20 new, state-of-the-art courts-10 indoor/outdoor Har-Tru clay tennis courts, 5 indoor Deco-Turf hard tennis courts and 5 indoor/outdoor Deco-Turf hard tennis courts, the new center is the largest and most sophisticated tennis complex to open in New York City in more than 30 years.

SPORTIME at Randall's Island features 20,000 square feet of support facilities and related amenities, including: a functional training and fitness center; comfortable lounge areas with excellent viewing; spacious and well-equipped locker rooms, including steam and treatment areas; a pro shop and 24-hour racket stringing; a cafbar serving healthy food, snacks and beverages; classrooms, and meeting facilities.

Citywide Monuments Conservation Program Preserves Union Square Monuments For Independence Day

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Located in the center of Union Square Park, the Independence Flagstaff commemorates the 150th signing of the Declaration of Independence (cast on the monument's south side), and was dedicated on July 4, 1930. The massive bronze base of the flagstaff is decorated with allegorical representations of democracy and tyranny, and is aligned with the Abraham Lincoln sculpture to the north and George Washington at the park's south plaza.

The equestrian George Washington is the City's oldest monument on City parkland, dedicated on July 4, 1856. The Lincoln statue (1870) represents the president in classical pose with naturalized features. Both sculptures were designed by the American sculptor Henry Kirke Brown.

This summer CMCP conservators and trainees will be carefully cleaning the three sculptures of environmental soiling and replacing their protective finishes in order to prevent corrosion and weathering. The structural integrity of the monuments will be assessed, and mortar will be used to stabilize the components where necessary.

These and many other outdoor works of art will receive annual care this summer from the Citywide Monuments Conservation Program. Founded in 1997, this public/private partnership preserves New York City's cultural legacy and provides hands-on training to graduate-level apprentices. This summer the program is sponsored in part by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and by Donna Karan.

Parks Cuts The Ribbon On Melrose Playground

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Today's ceremony celebrates the completion of the renovation of Melrose Playground, which was financed with money from the Croton Water Filtration Plant Mitigation Fund. The reconstructed site contains new play equipment - including a climbing unit, teeter-totter, and swings - chess and checker tables, a spray shower, plantings and trees, a new drainage system, curbs and pavement.

The neighborhood of Melrose was originally settled by the Morris family. By the 1850s, the Morrises began selling their land to families, forming suburban communities surrounding Manhattan. The development of rapid transit transformed the neighborhood from a suburb into a bustling urban area, especially after the completion of its first subway line in 1908, which connected the community to Manhattan.

In the early 1950s the city responded to the area's growing population by constructing the Melrose Houses. This playground was first built as a recreational facility for the residents of these apartments. The Board of Estimate approved its construction in 1953, and the park was opened as Melrose Playground on June 4, 1954.

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Hunts Point Riverside Park Recieves National Recognition As A Winner Of The Rudy Bruner Award For Urban Excellence

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:00:00 GMT

As a Silver Medal Winner, Hunts Point Riverside Park receives a $10,000 prize which the City's partner, Bronx River Alliance, will invest in the development of the Bronx River Greenway, a pedestrian and bike path linking a set of linear parks along the Bronx River.

Opened in the spring of 2007, the 1.4 acre Hunts Point Riverside Park sits on the site of a former vacant lot and illegal dumping ground. The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence selected the park out of a field of 87 applicants for many outstanding qualities including: providing open space to a densely populated and under-served community through a sustained and visionary grassroots effort; providing a natural retreat with recreational access to the Bronx River; and creating a showcase for ongoing river reclamation efforts.

The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence is a national award for urban places that seeks to promote fresh and innovative thinking about cities and the urban built environment. Established in 1987, the Rudy Bruner Award celebrates urban places that are distinguished by quality design and by their social, economic, and environmental contributions to our nation's cities. For information about the Bruner Foundation, visit www.brunerfoundation.org.

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John Starks To Join Community To Celebrate Improvements To Sedgwick Playground

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:00:00 GMT

This $1.9 million playground renovation was financed with money from the Croton Water Filtration Plant Mitigation Fund, and by a generous donation from the Courts of Dreams Foundation. The project includes refinished basketball and handball courts, new playground equipment, swings, a spray shower, plantings, fencing, and erosion control.

The Courts of Dreams Foundation is an organization whose mission is to restore and maintain outdoor basketball courts for children in NYC neighborhoods and around the world fostering healthy, safe, communities while promoting the values of basketball such as team work, mutual respect and leadership.