Left: Parade over the Corlears Hook Park Bridge. Right: East River Park amphitheater, a work in progress. ( Photos: Friends of Corlears Hook Park; Brian Berger) That New Corlears Hook Bridge to East River Park? Wow! It might not be the yellow brick road, but the paths to and from the new Corlears Hook Park Bridge to the East River Park... News 05 Oct 2025 | 04:35
Dashing Whippets track meet, Aug. 16, 2025; runners line up for “A” heat mile. New York Lions youth football practice in background (right rear). Inset: A sign announces the closing of this section of East River Park. ( Photos: Brian Berger) East River Park Track Closes, Corlears Hook Bridge Reopens If you want to talk about the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project—involving flood control and other things—you’d best be... News 15 Sep 2025 | 08:52
One of two “Resonating Bodies” by British sculptor Tony Cragg. ( Photo: Brian Berger) Newly Raised Wagner Park Reopens, Lower Manhattanites Rejoice! More than two years after it was closed, in March 2023, as part of the Southern Battery Resiliency Project, a redesigned... News 04 Aug 2025 | 10:22
Left: Our Lady of Sorrows’ Mets Little League coach. Right: Woman shooting baskets next to the highway. ( Photos: Brian Berger) East River Park Reopens to High Praise & Some Concerns It’s real, it’s beautiful, mostly, and it’s LOUD, in parts, most definitely, if not deafeningly. Say what?! Hold on, let’s... News 02 Jun 2025 | 12:30
Left: BP Mark Levine, CB1 Chair Tammy Meltzer, Council Members Keith Powers and Christopher Marte; Right: ticket vendors “guarding” the entrance to Battery Park and Castle Clinton at the Bowling Green subway stop. ( Photo: Brian Berger) City Council Members Marte & Powers Propose to Stop Tourist Ferry Ticket Scams Call it “the crackdown in Battery Park.” That’s the hope anyway, in the wake of legislation announced by Council Members... News 25 May 2025 | 08:45
Left: Council Member Marte with Tricia Shimamura, Manhattan Borough Commissioner NYC Parks, and Alice Blank. Right: with PS 124 principal, Yi Law Chan. ( Photos: Friends of Barnett Newman Park; Office of Christopher Marte) School Playgrounds & Barnett Newman Triangle Score Participitory Budget Triumphs And the votes have counted! This is the exclamation downtown residents have been waiting to hear about the 2025 Council District... 22 May 2025 | 05:21
“Ticket agent” offers two women “assistance” near Bowling Green. March 2025. ( Photo: Brian Berger) Beware! Battery Park Tourist Scammers Persist Despite Years of Complaints & Warnings Let’s call it Anarchy in Battery Park. That’s the impression a visitor gets as they traverse this historic jewel of lower... News 28 Mar 2025 | 05:06
NYC Council Member and parks committee chair Shekar Krishnan, Michael Schweinsburg, Assembly Member Alex Bores, Kevin O’Keefe of St. Vartan Park Conservancy, Stacey Soloviev of Soloviev Foundation, Assembly Member Harvey Epstein, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura, Susan Burke of St. Vartan Park Conservancy, and Edward Funches of Inclusion joined the official ribbon cutting. ( Photo: St. Vartan Park Conservancy) New Pathway Added to Make St. Vartan Park in Mid-town Wheelchair Accessible An ADA-compatible pathway has been added to St. Vartan Park. The park near the Queens Midtown Tunnel—one of the larger public... News 27 Nov 2024 | 11:21
The youngest Little Leaguers, seen here in the pre-renovation days on Tim McGinn Field inside Murphy’s Brother’s Park, will be able to enjoy two new artificial turf baseball fields inside the newly renovated park. ( Photo: Mapquest) Murphy Brothers Park, A Fav of Youngest Baseball Players, Finally Reopens Play ball! Murphy Brothers Park–long a favorite of the youngest Little Leaguers–is finally back in business nearly a year... News 27 Nov 2024 | 11:27
The state of the East River Esplanade Address at John John Park, E. 78th Street and Cherokee Place. ( Photo: Brian Berger) East River Greenway of the Mind: The City Dreamed It, But Dead Ends Riddle Waterfront Trail Talk about arterial blockage! That’s been the news from the East River waterfront for years now and, following a recent traversal... News 28 Oct 2024 | 11:18
A DOT equipment depo next to Honey Locust Park, which sits under the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge. Locals want to replace the depot with expanded park space. ( Photo: Google Maps ) Locals, With Help From Pols, Seek to Expand Honey Locust Park Under Queensboro Bridge A group of local residents, with some help from a neighborhood nonprofit called Sutton Area Community, are pushing to expand... Home 12 Oct 2024 | 12:25
Brand new pickle-ball courts at the UES’s Carl Schurz Park, contrasted with some aging basketball infrastructure a stone’s throw away. ( Photos: Jack Ahern ) Basketball Players Wait on Remodel at Carl Schurz Park, Picklers Get New Paint Job Pickleball players on the Upper East Side’s Carl Schurz Park are now enjoying freshly repainted courts, after they alerted... News 15 Jul 2024 | 03:39
Asphalt Green spearheaded a new “Wave Makers” program, teaching 2,000 second-graders throughout NYC how to swim at various facilities across the city. It’s been up and running since June. But a city wide program championed by UES Council Member Julie Menin to give free swimming lessons to all 70,000 second graders in public schools during the school year, remains unfunded. ( Photo: Asphalt Green) No Funding for Second Grade Swim Program for Second Year in Row Public youth swimming lessons across the city have been in shambles since before the pandemic. In September 2023, it seemed... News 03 Jul 2024 | 01:53
The reconstruction plans for the St. Catherine’s Park, presented at May 9’s Community Board 8 Parks and Waterfront Committee meeting. ( Image: NYC Parks) St. Catherine’s Park $9M Overhaul Will Include New Pickleball Courts and New Elephant Sprinklers 104-year-old St. Catherine’s Park is getting a $9 million makeover with an updated play area, refurbished furniture, new... News 13 May 2024 | 04:02
Clockwise: Ruppert Park’s redesign project is in its procurement phase; two new security cameras may be installed near Andrew Haswell Green Park this summer; John Jay’s new pool deck is expected to be completed by Memorial Day; St. Catherine’s Park’s design plans will be presented in May. ( Image credit (clockwise): NYC Parks, Google Street View, NYC Parks, Jim Henderson via Wikimedia Commons) UES Park Check in: New Pool Deck at John Jay, New Lights on Esplanade, Slow Going for Ruppert Park It’s spring: the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, and there is pollen everywhere. Ahead of long, sunny days at... Home 15 Apr 2024 | 09:30
