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Greensward

By Kim Velsey 8/09/12 10:13am

Greensward

Lincoln Road: the winning block.

Verdant Victor Announced In Brooklyn’s Greenest Block Battle

Who is the greenest of them all? Why, Lincoln Road between Bedford and Rogers Avenues! The Prospect-Lefferts Gardens block has won the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s annual Greenest Block competition, claiming the title for the second time in the last four years and inspiring envy across the borough.

A total of 173 Brooklyn blocks tended street tree pits, stoop plants, window boxes and tiny front yards in a bid to wow the judges. Judges pared down the competition to eight finalists during several tours around the borough, studying blocks’ community participation, horticulture practice, care of street trees, plant variety, color and visual effect, sustainability, soil and mulching to make their determinations. Read More

By Kim Velsey 7/24/12 3:04pm

Greensward

12 Photos

Greenest Block in Brooklyn

Greener Than Thou: Brooklyn’s Blocks Battle For Coveted Title

When a silver minivan emblazoned with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden logo arrived at Lefferts Avenue last Thursday, block association president Danna Hebbard immediately got on the phone and started dialing her neighbors. Community participation is one of the key factors that judges take into consideration when conferring the title of the “Greenest Block in Brooklyn” and Ms. Hebbard wanted them to see her block—a semifinalist in the Botanic Garden’s annual battle—at its best.

Besides a plaque, the title of greenest block comes with $300 and most importantly, boasting rights in a borough where greenness and sustainability can be a blood sport.

“The point is the greening up, not the winning,” said Robin Simmen, the director of the GreenBridge, the Botanic Garden’s community horticulture program, which has been organizing the competition since 1995. “But there are always people who are really interested in the winning.” Read More

By Sarah Grothjan 7/06/12 1:04pm

Greensward

When a tree falls in Central Park, everybody hears about it.

Parks Department Budget Spared From Pruning, Now The Trees Will Get It

Looks like the leafy canopy in Central Park will finally receive a much-needed trim, thanks to the City Council’s decision to more than double the budget for tree pruning.

The council added $2 million to the existing $1.45 million budget to be used for snipping the park’s overgrown limbs, The New York Times reports. The additional money was part of $30 million in last-minute funding restored to the Parks Department’s budget after citizens and council members cried out against the proposed cuts. Read More

By Jess Schiewe 6/15/12 1:43pm

Greensward

It's not easy building green. (Facebook/Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park)

Sinking Williamsburg: Pols Plead for Seven-Year-Old Waterfront Park

Five-hundred years ago, Council Member Stephen Levin would have rode in on a horse, tooted his trumpet, and read from a really really long scroll. But instead, he held a hearing.

“The community wants to know why it has taken this long to move these open space projects forward,” he said in a press release decrying the city’s slow action on a slew of promised parks in his district. Read More

By Matt Chaban 6/14/12 5:58pm

Greensward

No more splendor. (Getty)

Tavern on the Green, Looking Kinda Blue

Does anybody want to run Tavern on the Green anymore?

Once the most profitable (if also mocked) restaurant on the planet, Tavern on the Green cannot seem to get any love anymore. Not even Donald Trump wants anything to do with it, nor do most of the two dozen restaurateurs who first checked in on the space. According to  Crain’s, there are six firms vying for control of the once-hallowed haunt, none of whom are especially distinguished. Read More

By Matt Chaban 6/13/12 11:03am

Greensward

Spiffy sports. (Adidas)

Adidas Serves Up McCarren Park Mural: Is Brent Rollins’ Brooklyn-Love Public Art, Slick Ad or Both?

Everyone is waiting to dive into the revamped McCarren Park Pool at the end of the month, restored to its Robert Moses-era glory after decades of neglect. But another corner every hipster’s favorite park has just been spiffed up thanks to Adidas.

On the other end of McCarren lies a run of seven popular tennis courts besides Automotive High School. Like much of the park, it is a little worse for the wear. Efforts have been afoot to install a bubble for the winter, but at least for the time being, a new windscreen will help keep conditions better during the blustery spring and fall months. And this being Brooklyn, the windscreen had to take on an artistic flair. Read More

By Jess Schiewe 6/12/12 4:17pm

Greensward

Yep, you won't be seeing this anytime soon.

Another Dry Summer? A Plea for Drinking in Public

There are two types of people in this world: those who think that alcohol creates problems and those who think that alcohol solves them. Most people believe in the latter, but some believe in the former. And for some reason that “some” always happens to be elected officials. Are we lucky, or what?

Because of this unfortunate coincidence, New Yorkers are looking at a mighty dry summer. Put away that flask, leave your portable wine carafe at home, and stuff a Smart Water into that drink holder on your beach chair because there will be no public drinking allowed. Read More

By Jess Schiewe 6/05/12 3:38pm

Greensward

This could be you...if the Park Department's budget is cut.

Pols and Patrons Plead: Don’t Cut The Parks Department

Early this morning, a handful of city park advocates, a trio of council members, and a smattering of curious onlookers gathered on the steps of City Hall to talk parks, budget cuts and leafy green things.

“Funding for our parks must be restored,” cried City Councilmember Brad Lander, who was joined at the rally by park-loving compatriots Melissa Mark-Viverito and James Oddo.

The last few years have not been kind to the Department of Parks and Recreation, which has been the victim of a number of heavy-handed budget cuts since 2008. This year, the Parks Department faces a proposed budget cut of $33.4 million that, if approved, would lead to a cumulative loss of $62 million in funding—or 17 percent—over the last five years. Read More

By Matt Chaban 4/19/12 6:03pm

Greensward

What price paradise? (Wired New York)

Problems Persist at Cash-Poor Hudson River Park, the Original Libertarian Park

Parks funding is something of an obsession around these parts, particularly those open spaces The Observer has deemed libertarian parks, spaces ranging from Brooklyn Bridge Park to the High Line, which are either built or maintained with outside funds. On the one hand, these parks might never have been created without private investment.

On the other, it shows a troubling lack of respect and appreciation for the public trust—where would the city be if the same we-just-can’t-afford-’em attitude of today persisted in the past? Central Park, Prospect Park, Pelham Bay Park, even the controversial work of Robert Moses, would any of it have happened if  it had been undertaken by private interests?

Hudson River Park, first proposed in the 1980s, launched a decade later and by all accounts the first libertarian park, has been facing funding shortfalls for years now, hindering the ability of parks officials to finish construction of many of the piers and maintaining the ones it has already redeveloped. Read More