WRITE TO YOUR COUNCIL MEMBER/S and The Mayor today!

This letter pertains to the Lower Concourse Rezoning Public Review process now underway.

(viewed at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/lower_concourse/lower_concourse4.shtml)

Through the South Bronx Initiative, a Mayoral effort to identify community priorities and create a coordinated economic development strategy for the South Bronx, the Lower Concourse rezoning proposal Public Review will continue through the environmental review and ULURP process.

The City Planning Commission, as environmental lead agency, issued a Notice of Completion for a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposal, on January 30, 2009.

The proposal began formal public review on February 2, 2009 with the Department of City Planning’s certification of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) application (C 090303 ZMX) and referral of the related zoning text amendment (N 090302 ZRX).

While we are encouraged that the Harlem River and this area are getting much needed attention, we must highlight in particular one aspect that needs to be included before you should support this.

One, waterfront access.

The proposed inclusion of a vision for parkland and waterfront access is a small step to rectify historical inequities.  But, with the location of the CSX railway along the Western border of the Bronx, any park space that is blocked by the raised rail in the Harlem River is not really “waterfront” space.  The proposed space below 149th Street suffers from this rail barrier.  In addition, the proposed park space there is contingent on highway development and building development, which would likely not occur until some time in the unknown future.

RECOMMENDATION:

The proposed zoning footprint should be expanded south to include the Park Avenue location that the community has been advocating for use as a park space for over ten years.  As it stands the proposed map stops mere feet from including this obvious and natural site for a community park, waterfront with water access. 

This existing green-space is ready to use as a park already and would serve the Lower Grand Concourse area and beyond, without delaying a much needed resources until the distant future.  This is an ideal opportunity to map this location as parkland for the existing community and for residents and businesses to come.

Thank you for your time and attention.  We look forward to your response and to support your advocacy to leverage the Public Review process to gain substantial benefits for our community.

An update from a recent Parks Department public meeting on the New Yankee Stadium replacement park.

The new park to be built atop the gigantic 7.33-acre “Parking Garage A” will now be bisected by a vehicular ramp that emerges from “below ground”.  While the ramp does not separate this new park into two entirely separate pieces, it will segregate the western half of the park into two pieces, each on the opposite side of a ramp, which will essentially be an open cut.  Yes, kids could fall into the cut, or errant footbals or soccer balls could also conceivably fall into this cut, if not properly fenced.  Once again, the needs of cars trump the needs of pedestrians and park users in this neighborhood.  The principles of  PlaNYC do not apply in this case.

The Friends of Brook Park in the South Bronx are removing the asphalt so there will be even more space to grow things. Today was “tear up the pavement day” and a lot of people showed up to help out. City council woman Melissa Mark-Viverito stopped by to cheer us on. I think we got about a third of the asphalt up– so, there’s still more work to be done.

You have no idea how much fun it is to expose the soil a take back a little patch of the earth from all of the pavement. Today the South Bronx got a little more green space for once.

Here’s to the Friends of Brook Park for making this happen!

David Gonzalez, a proud South Bronx native, had two really terrific articles in the Times recently about our part of the borough.

The Bronx Transformed, Through One Artist’s Lens ­

This is about a new book of photographs by Lisa Kahane that document the Bronx in the 1970s and 1980s.

There are images that today seem like warnings from a parallel universe: bricked-up doorways and gouged-out windows, lots filled with smashed-up televisions, open-air apartments whose floors are studded with charcoal-black beams. The mosaic tiles of apartment lobbies peek though the dirt and garbage like volcanic ruins.

Then there’s Gonzalez’s essay on the last game at the soon-to-be old Yankee Stadium:

Melancholy in the Bronx, but Not Because of the Stadium

To love the Bronx is to love it when it is down, and yes, it was battered and staggering 20 years ago. But the beauty — yes, beauty — of that era was that people decided to stay and make it work. A generation of grass-roots leaders had stepped forward to spur the borough’s turnaround.

Friends of Brook Park gave away free garlic grown just a few blocks away in a community garden during their “Garlic Festival” on saturday. Locally grown food along with greenmarkets improve the quality of life for urban residents while reducing the impact we have on the environment.

Friends of Brook park also do a lot of work that helps residents connect with our local waterways. They are expanding the community garden and invite volunteers to come and help “tear up the pavement” (and thus expand the park.) on September 20, 2008. Check the events calendar at their website for more information.

( Parking lots are a drain on our neighborhood. Nothing goes on in here all year long– these big empty spaces are only used on game days. )

I love baseball, and I don’t even mind the crowds, but it seems like the residents of the South Bronx are getting overlooked again. The New York Yankees are building thousands of new parking spots for their stadium and taking away our park land. They are doing this in the Borough with the most kids and teenagers, kids who need lots of space to run play and stay healthy. A lot of people have worked hard to fight the new parking garages, but the Yankees have not budged one bit. When I called my community board they sounded resigned to the whole situation. But, I think that’s the wrong way to look at this issue. In fact I know it’s the wrong way to look at the issue because when I told them about a related issue– people parking on the sidewalks on game days— They sounded resigned and hopeless about that too they said that nothing could be done.

But, it turned out that was not true. I called NY1 news and they came up with a TV camera — ever since that TV camera was up here the garage owner has stopped blocking the fire hydrant! He knew it was illegal and, even though the police didn’t care, the threat of bad press caused him to get his act to together. That’s one little victory for sidewalks and public space over parking! ( NY1 VIDEO here.) My point here is something can be done– So, I don’t think it’s too late to address the issue with the parking garages at all. If little things can be fixed, then big things can be fixed.

The daily news has a pretty good story the other day about what’s been happening with our public parks due to the new Yankee Stadium. Everyone in the area knows how crowded the little “replacement” park is! I’ve seen 2 soccer games, a baseball game, 15-20 kids playing in the sand, 20 or more people on the track 8 guys at the “pull up bar” and half of an aerobic class all going on in this tiny park at once— And they want to make this in to a bunch of parking spots that will only be used on game days? And the “final replacement park” won’t be built until 2011? That is unacceptable! More people live in the Bronx now than 5 years ago but they have reduced the accessibility of our public spaces– at the same time, there will be fewer seats in the new stadium– but they are increasing the amount of parking. It makes no sense.

( 5,041 new parking spaces are being built, with tax payer assistance for a stadium with 5,000 fewer seats. These empty lots will have a huge impact on the neighborhood. )

The public spaces should be for the majority who are here 365 days a year, not for the few (soon to be fewer, since there will not be as many seats in the new stadium) who are only here on game days.

In order to support Sumer Streets the folks at Transalt set up “feeder rides” from every borough. Here are some of the riders from the Bronx, we were nearly 30 strong, including a roller skater!

We went in to the city via Randalls Island– and that got a few of us thinking about how it’d be great if there were more ways to get to that island from the Bronx. I did some searching to find out more about the island and found out about a group called “Friends of Brook Park.” They have worked hard to keep a power plant from being built on the island.

Here is a movie they made about Randalls Island.