Summary: Commissioner's Meeting 7/13/06
William Mullin
Nicholas Park July 13th monthly operations meeting with the Manhattan
Park Commissioner William T. Castro.
This meeting is held monthly and attended by the President and Vice
President of the Friends of St. Nicholas Park Organization. Our regular
Friends meetings (next one in early September) will be used to discuss
topics and decide issues that we need to bring to the Commissioner's
attention.
Thanks,
William Mullin
Friends of St. Nicholas Park
When: July 13th, 2006
Where: Arsenal West, 16 West 61st St.
Attendees:
William Castro, Commissioner
Steve Simon, Chief of Staff
Rebecca Scott, Partnership for Parks Representative
Paul Evans, St. Nicholas Park Manager
Officer McCants, Parks Patrol Officer
Shawn Milligan, President, Friends of St. Nicholas Park
William Mullin, Vice-President, Friends of St. Nicholas Park
INTRODUCTIONS:
Commissioner introduced everyone at the meeting
COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON'S NEW FUNDING: William Castro
City Council member Robert Jackson earmarked $750,000 for St. Nicholas
Park in the city's budget for 2007. The Commissioner outlined several
capital projects that will benefit from this including improvements to
the upper paths extending from the new south staircase at 133rd street
as well as the lower paths of the park.
The commissioner called for a scope meeting to take place to estimate
costs of improving the paths. The scope must be approved by the
community board in October/November, blueprints would be created during
winter 2007, and construction could commence in the spring.
Among the capital projects planned, the commissioner stressed his
priority to improve the interior paths of park. Sidewalks bordering the
park, although in disrepair may be able to be repaired by the
Department of Transportation depending on scheduled work in the
neighborhood.
HAMILTON GRANGE RELOCATION: Attendees
The Hamilton Grange, the historical farmhouse of Alexander Hamilton,
has been approved to start the process of relocation from its current
address on Convent Avenue to its new home inside St. Nicholas Park. The
commissioner encouraged (and has task the chief of staff) with sending
an invitation to the National Parks Department to this monthly meeting
as an opportunity to review their plans for the relocation and discuss
any issues.
Some of the issues that need to be discussed in relation to the
Grange's relocation:
Security
Additional Parking- confirm that none to be provided
Square feet of park planned to be used- Nat'l Parks will take over
and maintain the large grassy area that is between the staircase and
141st Street
Request and confirm if Nat'l Parks will foot the bill for a new
staircase at 141st street
MANAGER'S REPORT: Paul Evans
Park Manager Paul Evans reviewed all the events and activities
happening in the park in the last few weeks as well as the coming
weeks. One of these events was a successful "Healthy Park Day" for
7th graders.
Activities included:
Yoga in the Park
Ranger Tours
Rugby Clinic
Basketball clinics
Arts in the park
An art in the parks is planning on placing a sculpture in the park near
the stairs on 135th Street. It is an aluminum sculpture and is
currently in transit.
Update: South Basketball courts lights electrical set-up.
Manager Evans found out that the lights on the courts seemed to be
professionally installed (perhaps years ago) and are running out of
light post sockets. They may have been installed for the St. James
Basketball tournaments during the summer. Original concern is that park
signs indicate that park closes at 10pm, and lighted courts beyond that
would not be allowed. Evans to check on when the lights go out.
DOG RUN UPDATE: Shawn Milligan and Paul Evans
Paul Evans talked to ConEd about the gas lines that run through the
designated area of the run and they said that the lines are buried
5-6ft from the surface. No digging or excavation would be suggested
without moving the lines beforehand. It was suggested that if need be
we do not include the area where the gas lines are present, but that
would shrink the proposed area and make it less ideal for a run.
Commissioner asked us if we marked the area for Park Manager Paul
Evans. Shawn and William had marked off the ideal area with strings and
stakes, but after a couple of days these were torn down. It was
suggested by the Commissioner that Brad Romaker, the Parks landscape
architect be contacted in order to help the Friends create the space
and get estimates. Evans to get contact info and set up meeting with
Shawn, William and Romaker.
Next steps for the dog run include getting proper estimates and
determining how much the Commissioner and Parks will give Friends for
the creation of the new Dog Run. Commissioner commented that they will
give "some" money. Friends organization does understand that they
would have to raise most of the money for the run.
Commissioner stated that he would love to have the dog run up and
"running" by the fall. Friends will do everything they can to make
this happen. The first phase of the run (up by the fall) will probably
not include water access to the run, although more info from Brad
Romaker would be helpful to determine this.
PARTNERSHIP FOR PARKS REPORT: Rebecca Scott
Rebecca reviewed upcoming events sponsored by the Partnership for Parks
as well as some of the events held so far in the last month or so.
It was suggested that the St. James Basketball tournament sponsors and
organizers be invited to the monthly meeting. Also suggested by Shawn
that the basketball courts be resurfaced since they are being used on a
regular basis for tournaments
Sabina is spearheading the fundraising coalition and has so far been
successful.
Suggestions for further fundraising for events in the parks include:
Reaching out to the local Business Community and the Harlem Chamber of
Commerce
Inviting Chamber of Commerce to meeting.
It was suggested that Lloyd Williams, head of the Chamber of Commerce
be placed on the Partnership for Parks email list.
FRIEND'S REPORT: Shawn Milligan
Signage: Designated BBQing area signage seems successful, but some
people have disregarded the signs and have had to be told to move their
grilling to designated areas. More signs were suggested as were "No
Littering" signs.
Lighting: nothing to report, as light luminers have been changed
CPC Update: Pleased with how the park has been looking as far as grass
being cut on a regular basis...kudos to the CPC venture for allowing
the extra man power in assisting Scott
PEP (Parks Patrol) Report and open issues
Friends expressed concern over continued early morning sexual/drug
dealings in the park near the proposed dog run. Officers from the
precinct took down information (between 6:30-7:30am, usually on Sunday
or Saturday mornings) and said they would try their best to patrol area
them.
Garbage pick-up after the July 4th holiday was delayed and garbage
stayed around for almost a week. Manager Evans stated that garbage
pick-up is dependent on community service coming into the park and
cleaning up. If community service doesn't show or only a few show,
then there is a delay in cleaning up - it is especially noticeable
after a busy weekend like July 4th.
Manager Evans said for next year's July 4th holiday there will be a
plan in place to secure community service workers to get to the park
early on the fifth to clean up.
It was suggested by Friends that more "No Littering" signs be
placed in the park with the possibility of fines listed on them.
Manager Evans looking into that.
Manager Evans stated a need to resurface basketball courts in the north
end of the park, commissioner promised looking into resurfacing a few,
since they may have been resurfaced not too long ago.
A volunteer for one of the basketball groups requested from Manager
Evans chain linked basketball nets. This was rejected by the
Commissioner, due to Park rules that prohibit chain nets due to
injuries (cuts, etc.) from playing with them.
NEXT MEETING
Next meeting was agreed on and scheduled for August 10th
Julia Granacki
pawn your intelligence to buy a drink”-E.E. Cummings
DIVA GOODFRIEND-KOVEN
Julia Granacki
Beppe Lovoi
Julia Granacki
William Mullin
Beppe Lovoi <beppe...@gmail.com> wrote:
--
William Mullin
wmu...@gmail.com
www.williamullin.com
Julia Granacki
“Humanity I love you because when you're hard up you pawn your intelligence to buy a drink”-E.E. Cummings