Friday, February 13, 2015

Flatiron Plaza The New Times Sq? Roc Nation Closes Down Flatiron Neighborhood And Beyond

"Will the New Year's Eve ball drop here next?" -  Neighborhood resident































The de Blasio administration allowed the event to proceed despite strong opposition from the community and elected officials.  Emil Lissauer, the Deputy Executive Director of Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO) tried to down play the expected crowd for the 10,000 ticketed event to closer to 6,000- 7000,   telling the Community Board,  "Its February, it'll be cold."   (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) click on images to enlarge.

 
Fans are penned in where Fifth Avenue and Broadway intersect.  The event drew thousands of concert goers to the Flatiron Pedestrian Plaza across from Madison Square Park.  The Roc Nation event created havoc for the Flatiron neighborhood and beyond. 

Manhattan

By Geoffrey Croft

In the end it was all about Roc Nation. 

Shawn Carter's corporate event invaded Flatiron neighborhood Thursday night,  and apparently Jay Z has more power than the community and local elected officials.  

The poorly sited concert snarled traffic for miles during the evening rush, and infuriated neighborhood residents.

The controversial event featuring Roc Nation client Kanye West and drew thousands of fans who braved the freezing temperatures to the Flatiron Pedestrian Plaza across from Madison Square Park.   





























The commute home last night was a nightmare along Fifth Avenue as traffic was ground to a halt. Police prevented vehicles from traveling south on beginning at 34th & 5 Avenue.  



The stage show began with a five minute promo video featuring Roc Nation clients and its business portfolio.

Power 105.1 FM radio's Angie Martinez, a sponsor,  kicked off the show and thanked the Mayor for making it happen. 

"Can you believe we're in the streets," she said.

Billed as the 1st annual Roc city classic Kanye West performed 12 songs with an assortment of colleagues during the 45 minute set.

The show was streamed live exclusively on JAY Z's Life+Times.  Police stood guard outside his 40/40 club around the corner. 

The vile lyrics of Sean Anderson's - aka Big Sean -  "song"  I Don't Fuck With  reverberated off residential buildings and could be heard five or six blocks away. 

"The apartments were vibrating," said Debra Kletter, a dining consultant  with eatquestnyc who has lived who has lived in the neighborhood for decades.  

"It seems that NYC has become just one big corporate staging ground, there's no regard for people who actually live here. Why come to a tiny corner of a residential neighborhood and strangle it with 10, 000 people for a pop concert? No regard for neighborhood concerns. Will the New Year's Eve ball drop here next?"


Fans rushed past police and barricades and climbed atop Madison Square Park's Eternal Light Flagstaff veterans statue.  Fans also trampled planting beds, and perched themselves in a tree, and on top of fences to get a better views. 


Concert goers were separated into multiple pens between 23rd street and 25th street between Fifth Avenue and Broadway.  

Spectators lined the pathways inside Madison Square Park. 

Organizers directed the long line of prescreened concert goers on the side walk along the park's northern end. 

Large sections of the park were shut down and police closed all entrances and exits except for one on Madison Ave.    


Concert goers were separated into multiple pens between 23rd street and 25th street between Fifth Avenue and Broadway.  


Despite the limited access thousands of fans gathered in Madison Square Park. A 7-foot high green mesh lined fence erected supposedly to prevent the public from watching show from the green space proved ineffective as predicted.

A police officer stood at the entrance of the dog run which was open but lightly used. 

Towards the end of the concert fans rushed past police and barricades.  They climbed the park's Eternal Light Flagstaff veterans statue, trampled planting beds, and perched themselves in a tree, and on top of fences to get a better views.

Moments laster police had to close ranks as fans began to bring down a temporary fence that separated them from the event. 

Police outside Shawn Carter's 40/40 club.



As fans lingered after the show police ordered those perched on top of the park's perimeter fence to disperse.

 "Get off the fence, get off the fence, get down off the fence," police ordered.

No word yet if any damage was done to the park. 

For people trying to get home after work beginning at 6:00pm on Fifth Avenue and 26th Street police asked residents to show ID and visitors had to call their hosts to come down and get them.  

A half a mile away the public's frustration was palpable.   The police closed down all south bound traffic on Fifth Avenue and 34th street at 6:00pm creating a nightmare for tens of thousands of people during the evening rush.

On the corner police and traffic agents fended off  the same question over and over again, what was happening.  

"What's going on, is there an accident or something,"  a passer by asked.

"No,  they're having a  concert,"   a traffic agent replied. 

"You have to be kidding me," a frustrated driver told police. 

"Talk to the Mayor," an officer replied.

Some residents simply opened up their windows. 

“It’s kind of unbearable, ” said Terry Niefield who was forced to endure the noise from his apartment three blocks away. 

"I had no choice. If they are planning another one I say absolutely not."

Mr. Niefeld a neighborhood resident for 30 years described what he sees as an endless succession of commercial events  and programing in Madison Square Park and the pedestrian plaza.

"They are making the area uglier, louder and busier.  No one is asking for these things.   No one is  saying they want them in there, it's the people running these spaces.  The power of the purse speaks.

It's a neighborhood and these spaces should be primarily for people in the community.

He and others also specifically raised concerns about how the city was allowing the Madison Square Park Conservancy to operate the park.

"The Park is in a constant state of construction.  It used to be so beautiful, they're ruining it. Niefeld said. 

"The park is supposed to be an oasis of peace and escape but that's violated by such crass commercialism, "   Debra Kletter added.


 Much of the park was closed. Fans would later rush the barricades and past police to get better views of the event.



Bird eye view of the concert from the tree.


Fans stand on top of the park fence. For some reason the city thought erecting a fence with a green mesh would prevent or deter concert goers from doing this. Instead it only encouraged it.



Thousands of people lined the park pathways.


Sign of the times. All of the park's entrances  were closed except for one.




 Times Square or Flatiron Pedestrian Plaza? 




Is this an appropriate place to hold an event of this scale right in middle of a residential community.

 Office workers checking out the scene.


Concert finally begins.



Attendees in the back could watch the event on video monitor.



View from Above. 































5th Avenue & 34th Street. Traffic at a standstill.   (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) click on images to enlarge.

Read More:


WCBS - February 12, 2015 - by Tracee Carrasco










Thursday, February 12, 2015

Central Park: NYPD Conducts Ice Rescue Training






























Officers at The Lake in Central Park carry ice rescue ladders as large snow flakes begin to fall.   (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on images to enlarge.  

Manhattan

By Geoffrey Croft

Members of the NYPD's elite Harbor and ESU Unit conducted a joint ice rescue training in Central Park this afternoon.

About 75 people including NYPD and Park Enforcement Patrol officers, and volunteers from the Central Park Medical Unit took part in the training held on The Lake near the Ladies Pavilion on near 76th Street off the West Drive. 


 Working together a PEP and NYPD officer are able to bring the person safely to shore. 


An officer stepped out onto the frozen lake to play the part of a person in distress under the watchful eye of a Harbor Unit personal who was tethered to the shore.  

Volunteers took turns tossing a bright orange ring out on to the ice while officers worked together to bring the person safety back to shore.

Participants also practiced using the ladders painted bright red that are found throughout city parks.  

"These exercises are very important," said an instructor at the scene.  "Even if you are familiar its always good to get a refresher."



 Trained personnel demonstrate how to aid a person in distress on the Ice.  



  Instructors demonstrate ice rescue equipment and technique near the Ladies Pavilion.



Giving instructions.


A four man crew works together to successfully bring the aided person to shore.

NYPD Sweat Box Scooters Could Be Replaced With Safer Smart Cars


The Central Park Precinct received the new $ 13,270 Smart Car a few weeks ago but it has been confined to the parking lot due to winter weather conditions and the agency's rule which prevents officers from going out on patrol alone.  The order was put in place after the two officers were murdered in Brooklyn in December.    (Photos: Geoffry Croft/NYC Park Adovcates) Click on images to enlarge.

The new vehicles will improve the heath and safety of police officers on several fronts. For years police have complained that the three-wheel scooters became sweat boxes in warmer months and that the city refused to purchase the inexpensive airconditioning upgrades.  Any plan that reduces the chance of equipment spontaneously bursting into flames is also a plus.  

City Wide

By Geoffrey Croft

The NYPD is testing smart cars in a pilot program.   If successful  the NYPD would replace the standard three-wheel scooter fleet with a more safer, comfortable and less costly vehicle.

The Central Park Precinct received a vehicle a few weeks ago under the new program but it  has been confined to the parking lot.   

The vehicles come with numerous safety feature upgrades over the scooters. The Smart Cars, built by Mercedes-Benz have good crash test safety ratings, whereas scooters have not been rated.  Improved safety features also include standard anti-lock braking system (ABS), a steel tridion safety cell which surrounds occupants inspired by racecar roll cages,   full-size driver and passenger side knee-bolsters, as well as window-curtain airbags, while scooters have none. 

The Smart Cars also bolster a 34 City/38 highway/36 average miles per gallon.

The Smart Cars cost $ 13,270 compared to $ 27,000 for the scooters. 

The NYPD has also had issues with the current scooters spontaneously bursting into flames over the years.   In 2013 several were destroyed including one in Central Park and one in Brooklyn Bridge Park. These were not the first incidents according to police.

The charred metal skeleton of an NYPD Interceptor is all that remains after suddenly bursting into flames in Central Park.   (Photos: Geoffry Croft/NYC Park Adovcates) Click on images to enlarge.


Besides the environmental, safety, and cost benefits the most immediate impact will be felt in the warmer months with the officer's comfort.  The new vehicles are equipped with air conditioning.

For years police have complained about the stifling hot sweat boxes and the fact that the city refused to purchase the inexpensive air upgrade for the scooters. 

The NYPD made the announced on their website on Tuesday.  

Read More:

A Walk In The Park -  April 24, 2013 - By Geoffrey Croft



Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Kanye West To Perform At Controversial NBA All-Star Flatiron Concert - City Refuses To Move Location



Flatiron Pedestrian Plaza (North) 23rd Street and Fifth Avenue. Crews erected a 60 foot wide stage overnight beginning at 12:oo am.  The NBA All-Star weekend promotional tie-in concert organized by Jay Z's Roc Nation is proceeding as planned despite the community's opposition to using the plaza for such a large and disruptive commercial event.    (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on images to enlarge

The special event will take over the Pedestrian Plaza for at least 4 days between February 10th-14th and wreak havoc on Fifth Avenue and Broadway traffic, requiring many street closures and vehicle diversions including the shutting down traffic for hours,  all for a 45 minute concert.  

Questions still remain whether or not Madison Square Park will be closed during the event. 

Manhattan

By Geoffrey Croft


It seems communities don't  actually have a say over how their public spaces are used under this administration either.  

The autotune-aided rapper Kanye West will perform at the NBA All Star weekend promotional concert at the Flatiron Pedestrian Plaza (North) 23rd and Fifth Avenue despite community opposition 

Residents and businesses are upset over the use of the pedestrian plaza for such a large scale promotional event.  Up to 10,000 attendees are expected. 

The de blasio administration has refused to move the concert to Fr. Duffy Square in Times Square as it was originally proposed, a location that the Community Board called, "a far more appropriate location for an extremely large,  entertainment-focused commercial event. "

The Plazas were created by the Department of Transportation and designed for passive use. It was CB 5's understanding that these types of events would not be returning to the Plaza after a smaller NBA event upset residents and business owners. 

Flatiron Pedestrian Plaza (North) a few weeks ago. 

Early this morning crews began setting up for the event.


Fresh off another embarrassing episode at the Grammy awards on Sunday,  Kanye will play a free a 45 minute set on Thursday night Feb. 12th beginning at 8:00pm. The location is around the corner from Jay Z’s 40/40 sports bar and lounge.  Jay Z's  Roc Nation is producing the event.  

And for organizers it could be the first of many future events.   Billed as  Roc Nation's 1st Annual Roc City Classic,   the commercial production will feature entertainers and athletes including Roc Nation client  Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder.  Rihanna is also rumored to appear. 

The Roc City Classic Concert for NBA All-Star Weekend NYC is being streamed live exclusively on JAY Z's Life+Times website. 

For weeks however the NBA has tried to distance itself insisting the event was not theirs. They have refused to go on the record about the event or answer questions including if they played a role in picking the location and or whether the NBA worked with city officials and Roc Nation to move it to another, less controversial location.  

The city has said that the NBA is working directly with the third-party vendor for the promotional event,  and that it will feature NBA talent.

At a meeting last month Community Board  5 blasted the proposed commercial festivities calling it, "grossly inappropriate for the space."

The board fired off a letter to Mayor de Blasio and called on the city to "put an end to out-of-scale commercial events in spaces that are far too small or otherwise inappropriate."

They said they were "perplexed about why an event of the size and nature of this example is being shoehorned into a space where it so clearly does not belong. "  

The board called Fr. Duffy Square in Times Square as it was originally proposed,"a far more appropriate location for an extremely large,  entertainment-focused commercial event. "

Last week Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer joined the fray and fired off a letter to DOT Commissioner Polly Trattenberg and t Cristin Burtis, the head of the Office of Citywide Event Coordination and Management.

"I feel that a gathering of this magnitude is not suited for the confines of a pedestrian Plaza,"  the BP expressed in a January 26  letter.  

The community can also expect massive traffic issues. 

Starting at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 12th, Broadway and Fifth Avenues, between 23rd and 26th Streets will be closed to vehicular traffic by NYPD, for the assembly of the audience," according to a notice posted on Roc Nation's website.  

"Based on these closures, vehicular traffic will be impacted on West 24th and West 25th Streets, between 6th Avenue and Broadway. However, local traffic will be allowed on both of those blocks and access to parking garages, hotels, loading docks, and local deliveries will be maintained during the times of the concert. "

The massive production will require moving over 100 granite blocks and standing planters, a CitiBike docking station. Many of the items are expected to be relocated to the southern pedestrian plaza btw. 23 & 22nd Street rendering the southern plaza equally unusable for the four days required for the event.

Crews began setting up overnight and by early this morning a 60 foot wide stage had been erected on 23rd Street. The conclusion of load out is expected on Friday, February 13th at 7:00 p.m.   

Questions still remain whether or not Madison Square Park will be closed during the event. 

Several park employees have told park patrons that the park will be closed. Park Enforcement Patrol said today that they have been informed that the park will be closed but the dog run will remain open. 

"They don't want the public to be able to view the concert from the park, " a law enforcement source said.


Dogs welcome to the dog run during the event.


Last week city officials said plans were still being finalized but that there was "no plan to close the park at this time."

"The western sidewalks of Madison (Square Park)  will be closed to facilitate an emergency lane for authorized personnel – these areas are not being used for production or viewing purposes," a Parks Department spokesperson told A Walk In The Park last week.

The city could not provide how much money the Parks Department or the BID were receiving. 

The public can enter a chance to win tickets to the free event from Roc Nation or from select sponsors including a radio station.

Complaints: 

Production complaints for residential or business inquiries regarding the event can reach out via email to flatironevent@rocnation.com. You can also call Elliot Winick,  the site coordinator, with any logistic  questions. He can be reached at (212) 663-­‐5564 (office) or (917) 885‐0844 (day of concert only).


Public Complaints to a city official should also be directed to:
Margaret Forgione, mforgione@dot.nyc.gov

Read More:


New York Daily News -  February 11, 2015 - By Jennifer Fermino    

NY Post - February 10, 2015  - By Rebecca Harshbarger  


NBA All-Star Promo Concert Featuring Mystery "A List" Performer 
Not Welcome At Flatiron Pedestrian Plaza
A Walk In The Park - January 20, 2015 - By Geoffrey Croft 



WCBS - February 10, 2015 

WABC - February 10, 2015 -  By Kemberly Richardson 






Monday, February 9, 2015

NY Times: "Unreasonable" To Move Transfer Station Away From Residential Neighborhood - Relocate Access Ramp Ok


E. 91st Street & York Avenue.  Current Marine Transfer Station entrance.  For decades the community complained about the putrid smells originating from the sanitation facility and its operation and pedestrian issues especially for children.   After vehement community opposition the station was finally closed in 1999 after nearly 60 years of operation.  The city is currently building a much larger facility at the same location.  (Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates)

In a recent editorial The New York Times praises former Mayor Bloomberg's plan to build the city's only Marine transfer station in the middle of a residential community -  one with the highest density as well - and de Blasio for not buckling. 

"The Bloomberg plan was a good one,  and still is. Mayor Bill de Blasio deserves credit for sticking with it under pressure," a Times January 26th Editorial states. 

Instead of not building a massive, 10 story facility between the Asphalt Green and DeKovats Playground the Times is backing a plan to move the access ramp.  Ignoring the irresponsible siting of the new facility and the fact that building it smack-dab in the district of then Council Speaker Gifford Miller was political payback for his Mayoral aspirations to unseat Bloomberg,  the Times opines that the  Solid Waste Management Plan "was built on the reasonable and fair idea that each borough needed to take adequate responsibility for its own trash."

The Times also fails to address why that exact spot is apparently the only possible location  suitable in Manhattan's 32 miles of shoreline.

The Bloomberg administration had desperately sought to portray the opposition to the siting of the transfer station on East 91st Street in Yorkville as an "environmental racism" issue. 


The battle to prevent another controversial waste transfer station, this one in Brooklyn near Coney Island,  has generated little in the main-stream media.   For a decade residents, environmental groups and elected officials have been fighting against the proposed SouthWest Brooklyn Waste-Transfer Station in Bensonhurst off of Shore Parkway near Bay 41st Street & 25th Street on a former incinerator site. 

The site is adjacent to the 73-acre Calvert Vaux Park and Gravesend Bay which are important bird and fish habitats. 

- Geoffrey Croft

Manhattan

Nearly a decade ago, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration declared “a new era of solid waste stewardship,” a veritable trash Enlightenment, when it adopted a plan that would handle New York City’s garbage for the next 20 years. The plan was built on the reasonable and fair idea that each borough needed to take adequate responsibility for its own trash, according to the New York Times. 

 That era hasn’t quite arrived — it awaits the completion of one key element, a marine transfer station on the East River in Manhattan, near 91st Street and York Avenue, where trash will be unloaded from trucks onto barges for shipment out of state. Nobody loves a floating dump, but this station has met ferocious opposition from Upper East Side residents alarmed by the prospect of noise, fumes, congestion and traffic accidents. The resistance continues, even though the station is well underway; hard hats and cranes are digging and lifting and are expected to be done by late 2016 or early 2017.  

A proposal for a new ramp location would relocate it one block north to E. 92nd street instead of the current plan between the Asphalt Green and Dakotas Playground.  (Rendering: Courtesy of Sam Schwartz Engineering) 


The Bloomberg plan was a good one, and still is. Mayor Bill de Blasio deserves credit for sticking with it under pressure. Fairness in this case trumps not-in-my-backyardism. And Yorkville and East Harlem are not doomed.

But this doesn’t mean that the worries are incomprehensible or that the plan can’t be improved. The road to the bridge to the station, over the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive, cuts right through the middle of an athletic center called Asphalt Green, which is used by many schoolchildren. It’s an unsettling juxtaposition — a continual stream of garbage trucks so close to little children’s swimming lessons and soccer games, and a toddlers’ playground.  The city says that it has the situation well in hand: that sidewalks and turn lanes will be carefully designed for maximal safety, and a person will actually be stationed at the corner to direct trucks and keep pedestrians safe.

Opponents are not placated. Asphalt Green hired Samuel Schwartz, an engineer and a former city traffic commissioner, to come up with something better, which he did: a plan to shift the access to the station a block north, using a service road of the F.D.R. Drive, so that garbage trucks go around and behind — instead of through — Asphalt Green. It’s an intriguing idea that could go a long way toward making parents and children breathe easier. The city’s sanitation commissioner, Kathryn Garcia, says her agency is looking at Mr. Schwartz’s plan, with engineers calculating its costs and feasibility. A decision is expected in a few weeks.  

Later,  Speaker Gifford Miller, center, accepted the facility but as a compromise proposed an alternative waste management plan that would only take in recyclable paper.   "I don't think it's ideal to locate any kind of a transfer station in such a residential neighborhood in the middle of a park," he said.  The speaker was unable to muster the two-thirds majority votes necessary to override the Mayor's veto. (Photo: Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times) 


The city should seriously consider the benefits of Mr. Schwartz’s idea, for increased safety and for the station’s peaceful coexistence with its unnerved neighbors. Some of those neighbors, though, will probably continue fighting the long war: At a recent meeting on traffic safety at a church a few blocks from Asphalt Green, transfer station opponents heckled Mr. Schwartz, demanding that he abandon his compromise proposal and instead join their fight to sink the transfer station completely. 

 That’s an unreasonable demand. What’s reasonable is Mr. Schwartz’s compromise, which has the twin benefits of helping the neighborhood’s children and ensuring the success of Mr. Bloomberg’s and Mr. de Blasio’s well-considered plan for all the city’s waste.

The abandoned Department Of Sanitation Waste Transfer Station on East 91st St. (above-center) is nestled between the Asphalt Green, a 9 acre recreational facility and  DeKovats Playground located on the Upper East Side. The prior facility has been removed to make way for a massive 10-story one.  

(Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on images to enlarge.  


Read More:


New York Times Editorial Board  - January 26,  2015 

New York Times - June 16, 2005 - By Nicholas Confessore 

A Walk In The Park -  November 6, 2014 

A Walk In The Park - October 12, 2014 - By Tony Ard

Thompson Trashes Proposed UES Waste Transfer Station - Quinn Stands Firm
A Walk In The Park - May 31, 2013 
http://awalkintheparknyc.blogspot.com/2013/05/thompson-trashes-proposed-ues-waste.html



Thursday, February 5, 2015

Central Park: Kids Robbed of Sleds - Girl, 12, Struck




Three  kids were robbed of thier sleds on Monday at 5:35 p.m.  inside the park btw. W. 86th & Central Park West and the West Drive. A girl, 12, was punched in the head while trying to retrieve her property.   

Manhattan

By Geoffrey Croft


Two boys, 10 & 14,  and a 12-year-old girl were robbed of their sleds in Central Park NYC Park Advocates has learned.

The kids were sledding on Monday night at 5:35pm when they were approached by three black males who asked if they could use the sleds.

They said yes but when the assailants,  who are now believed to between the ages  of 10-16,  finished they began to walk towards the exit of the park with the sleds, according to police.

When they asked for the sleds back the thieves threatened them.

One thug pushed the girl down and punched her in the head.   

The assailants fled on West 86th Street. 

The incident occurred near West 86 Street and the West Drive near the same location in the park where a few hours later a 39 year-old man was viciously beaten and robbed.

Additional details of Monday night's robbery have emerged.      

The victim, a male Hispanic, was listening to music in the park at approximately at 8:35 p.m. when he was approached by two men from behind.  One man punched him on the right side of the face, knocking him to the ground. He was kicked numerous times knocking out several teeth. 

The victim was transported to Mt. Sinai Hospital.


Last month a 24-year-old pregnant woman was viciously attacked by a ski-mask wearing robber in Canarsie Park in Brooklyn. The man approached the woman,  who is a mother of a young daughter and is also almost seven months pregnant, and without warning punched her in the face and threw her on the ground and tried to rob her.

Read More:

A Walk In The Park - February 3, 2015