CIVITAS in Action

Recycling Program Launches at P.S. 007 

October 29th marked launch day for a major CIVITAS schools recycling initiative at P.S. 007 and Global Tech in East Harlem. As part of its three-pronged recycling initiative, CIVITAS committed to a pilot program in East Harlem through collaboration with another non-profit, Cafeteria Culture (CafCu). This collaboration immersed board members in the CafCu methodology and helped CIVITAS learn the how and why of cafeteria recycling. Board members were directly involved in both the classroom, helping to teach a recycling curriculum, and in the cafeteria, implementing the sorting for recycling methodology alongside students. CIVITAS is using this experience to determine how to push forward in its mission to increase recycling rates in schools in East Harlem. In the process, CIVITAS accumulated the necessary information to write its own guidebook for future school recycling initiatives, and hopes to use this knowledge to move forward in a role that motivates student and administrator involvement in the service of increasing recycling and becoming better wardens of the environment. 

Park Avenue Historic District Extension 

CIVITAS supports the nomination of Park Avenue between 79th and 96th Street to be designated a New York City historic district. Except for a few blocks of Park Avenue located in the Carnegie Hill Historic District, most of this corridor between 79th and 96th Street does not fall within a historic district. CIVITAS supports the work of numerous community groups who have worked for years to achieve landmark protection for the historic Park Avenue corridor. The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) has calendared a hearing for February 11, 2014. 

Park Avenue Christian Church 

The LPC calendaring of a hearing for the Park Avenue Historic District suspends any changes to buildings in the proposed district that includes the Park Avenue Christian Church at 1010 Park Avenue, which had been under threat of demolition. The Extell Corporation has filed plans for a 210-foot tower to occupy the portion of the lot where the parish house is currently located and to cantilever over the church building. CIVITAS has written a letter in support of the individual landmark designation of the Park Avenue Christian Church complex, which includes the church and parish house because of its cultural and historical significance. 

Update: East River Esplanade Initiative 

CIVITAS is moving forward to hire a planning and outreach consultant for the East River Esplanade project. The study area for the project is the East River Esplanade between 60th and 125th Streets and the objective is to help CIVITAS bring Upper East Side and East Harlem residents together to plan for improvements of the Esplanade park. We are grateful to the New York Community Trust and other funders for supporting this project. 

This fall, CIVITAS’s Reimagining the Waterfront exhibition was on display at the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House. Workshops were held with children from the afterschool program and adults from the Senior Center. The workshops taught participants about community based planning and CIVITAS’s Esplanade improvement initiative. 

Students at the Allen-Stevenson School learn about the importance of city planning with CIVITAS’s Environmental Associate Maura Smotrich. 

Additionally, CIVITAS’s Environmental Associate, Maura Smotrich, gave a presentation to second graders at The Allen-Stevenson School on the process of urban planning and led a discussion about the importance of understanding what is needed when building a city. The students are working on a unit in their art class that teaches them to build their own city. CIVITAS’s Reimagining the Waterfront exhibit is on display for public viewing at City Swiggers located at 320 East 86th Street. 

The Dalton School Expansion 

In January, the Board of Standards and Appeal (BSA) approved The Dalton School’s variance request to build a two-story addition atop its main building at 108-114 East 89th Street. CIVITAS had written a letter in opposition to the request for variance to the BSA. The current proposal, the third variance requested by The Dalton School, seeks to further amend the variance by increasing the height from 144 feet to 170 feet. This application proposes a floor area expansion of about 12,200 gross square feet, representing a floor area ratio (FAR) of 9.67, though the area’s R8B zoning allows only a 5.1 FAR for community facilities. 

City Council Votes to Ban Styrofoam 

The New York City Council unanimously voted to ban toxic and polluting styrene foam! This landmark decision is a victory for our environment, health and future. CIVITAS weighed in on the debate with other non-profits pushing for the ban by testifying at the City Council hearing about the environmental dangers of polystyrene products. The collaborative effort yielded a far-reaching environmental win. 

CIVITAS President Felipe Ventegeat and Vice President Gorman Reilly stand with Public Advocate Letitia James in support of the City Council’s vote to ban styrofoam. 

In The Community: NYCHA Land Lease 

In August, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) issued a request for expression of interest (R.F.E.I) for 99-year land leases to build new housing within existing housing sites to potential developers interested in the sites. NYCHA infill plans are for eight of its housing sites including two in Community District 11, Washington and Carver Houses. The Housing Authority believes this controversial plan is the best way to provide necessary funding for tens of millions of dollars’ worth of building repairs across the city. Proposals were due in November and developers have yet to be selected. It is still unclear whether Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has been highly critical of the initiative, but has not voiced total opposition to a land use program, will take action to stop or modify the plan. 

To read the complete Winter 2014 issue of CIVITAS News, visit http://civitasnyc.org/civitas-newsletters/

Designing Healthy Neighborhoods from the Sidewalk Up

Tali Cantor

Pedestrian plaza at Madison Square, part of the Broadway Boulevard Project. 

Photo by NYC Department of Transportation.

Although New York City is considered an active city compared to places with greater car use, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) estimates that 80% of adults living in the city are still not maintaining the recommended 30 minutes of exercise at least 5 days a week. In fact, in NYC alone over half of adults are either obese or overweight. However you feel about the new blue additions to the city’s streets and sidewalks, CitiBike bicycle share is only one example of city efforts to improve New Yorkers’ health through physical activity.

Solutions to get New Yorkers moving, like the bicycle infrastructure, can be found through active design for the built environment. The DOHMH, and the Departments of Design and Construction, Transportation, and City Planning have promoted and implemented active design by encouraging physical activity indoors and in public spaces. 

In 2010, these agencies released a report called Active Design Guidelines. This report provides an extensive resource for designers, property developers and owners, public officials, and community members to understand design strategies focused on increasing physical activity, as well as access to transportation, open space, and fresh food.

At the building level, active design recommends architecture that integrates physical activity into daily routines, particularly through stairwell design and pedestrian circulation. Improving the stairway experience may be as basic as adding color, light, or signage. Since 2008 the NYC “Burn Calories not Electricity” campaign has provided signs with this slogan on stairwell doorways to encourage stair rather than elevator use, and Mayor Bloomberg further promoted this message by announcing a series of legislative policies to require buildings to increase stairway visibility and 

accessibility. 

In the public realm, New York City has seen design interventions and programs to increase opportunities for active recreation outdoors. Street improvements providing protected bicycle lanes, such as those on First, Second and Columbus Avenues, and the CitiBike bicycle share program encourage a healthy and efficient alternative transit. In addition, parks and open spaces with recreational facilities such as basketball courts, walking tracks, or even fitness stations offer outdoor amenities to get in shape without a gym pass. In 2011, the Make NYC Your Gym campaign included free public fitness classes and activities in city parks and public spaces to further increase opportunities for physical activity, and this summer’s “ G o P a r k ” c a m p a i g n advertised passive and active r e c r e a t i o n opportunities in these spaces as well. 

Providing access to the recommended “apple-a-day” has also been a priority for active designers. In the long term, active design sets out to fill “food deserts” with full-service grocery stores, or to use open spaces for greenmarkets and farm stands.  

The active design tools that will have the greatest impact on New Yorkers, however, are those that foster a safe and pleasant environment at the streetscape level. In summer 2013, the agencies behind the Active Design Guidelines released a follow-up report called Active Design: Shaping the Sidewalk Experience, a resource for understanding policies and programs that enhance an active, lively, and pedestrian-friendly sidewalk. 

The report is written for designers, policy makers, students, and community members who want to impact urban design for the public realm. It looks at the sidewalk as a physical space that not only protects pedestrians from vehicular traffic, but also stimulates economic development and social interactions between neighbors and friends. It identifies the “sidewalk room” as the space containing the ground plane, building wall, roadside plane, and the canopy, each of which is governed by zoning regulations that determine building scale, street furniture, lighting, trees, and curbside parking, to name just a few design elements, and create an environment that is visually interesting, connected within the street network, and safe. 

The sidewalk environments on the Upper East Side and East Harlem can be evaluated on the interactive website www.walkscore.com, which quantifies neighborhood “walkability” based on factors such as population, public transportation, and proximity to local retail and amenities. Of the 256 neighborhoods identified in NYC, the Upper East Side is ranked 20th with a high walk score of 98 out of 100 and East Harlem is ranked 43rd with a score of 93. Within these neighborhoods, however, there exist significant physical obstacles that impede pedestrian accessibility, such as the FDR Drive that acts as a barrier between the residential neighborhoods to its west and the waterfront parks along the East River Esplanade. North of 97th Street, the MetroNorth train tracks along Park Avenue physically divide East Harlem and either prevent or limit access from one side of the avenue to the other. Where the tracks rise to allow pedestrian connections below, the amount of underutilized and vacant space detracts from a lively sidewalk. 

The report includes a companion guide, which provides tools and resources to measure sidewalk success through qualitative and quantitative survey analysis, and an appendix of policies that are applicable to sidewalk design and function. For those non-designers, the city provides resources for community members to take ownership of the “sidewalk room.” This could be as easy as calling 311 to report hazardous sidewalk conditions or poorly maintained street furniture, to request street trees or benches, or else becoming more involved with the local Community Board or community-based organizations to raise concerns with like-minded neighbors. 

Creating an optimal pedestrian environment is just one way to realize active design, and it facilitates the most basic and inexpensive type of exercise - using your own two feet. So this fall, get off the train a subway stop early or aim for that extra flight of stairs, and take advantage of all the opportunities to stay healthy that are built right into the city surrounding you. 

More information on the Active Design Guidelines can be found at the website of the Department of City Planning nyc.gov/planning 

NYC Recreational and Fitness Parks 

One of the various forms of exercise 

on the East River Esplanade 

Asphalt Green 

From East 90 Street between York Avenue and FDR Drive 
FE, P 

John Jay Park 
From East 76 to East 78th Streets at Cherokee Place 
BC, FE, HB, OP, P 

St. Catherine’s Park 
From East 67th Street to East 68th Streets at 1st Avenue 
BC, FE, HB, P, RT 

Thomas Jefferson Park 
Between 1st Avenue and FDR Drive From East 111th to East 114th Streets 
BB, BF, FE, HB, OP, P, RC, RT, SF 




BC - Basketball Courts 
BF - Baseball Fields 
FE - Fitness Equipment 
HB - Handball Courts 
OP - Outdoor Pools 
P - Playgrounds 
RC - Recreation Center 
RT - Running Tracks 
SF - Soccer Fields v

To read the complete fall 2013 issue of CIVITAS News, visit http://civitasnyc.org/civitas-newsletters/

CIVITAS Community Announcements: October 14th

It's My Park Day at the East River Esplanade

Sunday, October 20th 10:00 am – 3:00 pm East River Esplanade 96th Street and FDR Drive (east of First Avenue) Volunteer to scrape and paint the railings along the East River Esplanade and plant bulbs that will bloom in the spring.  For more information, please visit: http://www.nycgovparks.org/events/2013/10/20/its-my-park-day-at-east-river-esplanade or call Upper Green Side at (212) 759-6895. Save the Date:  Urban Revitalization and East Harlem Rezoning Wednesday, December 4, 2013 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Admission is FREE for CIVITAS members. Find out how to join. CIVITAS's discussion series continues this December with an investigation of Urban revitalization through the lens of East Harlem rezoning and updated land use policies. This panel will look specifically at projects currently under way in East Harlem, including the renovation of the former P.S. 109 into affordable live-work space for artists, and the transformation of La Marqueta, a marketplace under the Metro North railway tracks between East 111th and East 116th Streets that was once the economic and social center of the neighborhood. Moderator: Karrie Jacobs - Contributing Editor, Metropolis; founding editor-in-chief, Dwell Panelists: -LaShawn Henry - Chairperson, Land Use, Landmarks & Planning Committee, Community Board 11 -Peggy Shepard - Co-founder and Executive Director, WE ACT for Environmental Justice -Gus Rosado - Executive Director, El Barrio's Operation Fightback All discussions in the series will take place at the National Academy 1083 Fifth Avenue at East 89th Street. map Admission: CIVITAS members: FREE General Admission: $15 Seniors and Students: $10 For tickets, visit the National Academy online or call (212) 369-4880 x 201. CIVITAS members can RSVP by calling the museum at the above number. NYC Clean Heat Webinar on No. 2 Heating Oil Conversion NYC Clean Heat, a city government initiative to encourage the use of cleaner fuels, is holding another webinar to raise awareness of incentives and programs for buildings switching to ultra-low sulfur No. 2 fuel oil and/or biodiesel. The NYC Clean Heat ULS 2 Conversion Specialists, their incentive providers, will be on hand to explain their services and connect with your building. When: Thursday, October 17th, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm How: All you’ll need is a phone and/or internet access to participate. Find out more at http://nyccleanheat.org/content/uls-2-conversion-specialists. Please RSVP by clicking “Attend Event” on the link above by 5pm on October 16th and NYC Clean Heat will send you the phone number and online log-in details.

Water and the East River Esplanade Panel Discussion: October 2

Join CIVITAS and the National Academy for the first of three panel discussions in our Art, Design, and the Urban Environment series.

Admission is FREE for CIVITAS members. Find out how to join.

The first panel titled Water and the East River Esplanade examines the revitalization of waterfront spaces within the context of the East River Esplanade from 63rd to 125th Streets. Through community visioning events and an international design competition, CIVITAS has been advocating for a better waterfront park along the East River that will serve the recreational and environmental needs of the East Side community. This discussion of the Esplanade is an opportunity to explore both the history of the waterfront along the Upper East Side and East Harlem, as well as the potential in urban waterfronts to add value to our neighborhoods. Read more about our Reimagining the Waterfront Campaign here.

Moderator:
Gregg Pasquarelli - Principal and Founding Partner, SHoP Architects
Panelists:
Cecilia Alemani - Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Curator & Director, High Line Art
Al Appleton - Former Commissioner, NYC Department of Environmental Protection and former Director, NYC Water and Sewer System
Michael Marrella - Director, Waterfront and Open Space, NYC Department of City Planning
Charles Birnbaum - Founder and President of the Cultural Landscape Foundation 

All discussions in the series will take place at the National Academy:
1083 Fifth Avenue at East 89th Street
New York, NY 10128

Admission: $15
Seniors and Students:$10
CIVITAS members: FREE

For tickets, visit www.nationalacademy.org or call 212.369.4880 x 201

---

Save the Date for Additional Discussions:

Urban Revitalization and East Harlem Rezoning
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
6:30 - 8:00 pm

Transportation and the Second Avenue Subway
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
6:30 - 8:00 pm

Upcoming Environmental Activities on the Upper East Side and in East Harlem

July 16: "Green" Meeting at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

Attend an information session with the NYC Department of Housing, Preservation & Development in partnership with Council Member Jessica Lappin. Topics include: green financing, water & energy conservation, recycling, weatherization, and utility incentives.

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House
331 East 70th Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues), 1st Floor Auditorium

July 20: City Of Water Day Festival  

Saturday, July 20

10 am - 4 pm 

Locations include:

Harlem River Park at East 135th Street. For the activity schedule, click here

Liberty State Park, New Jersey

Governor's Island

Sponsored by the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance

All details are available at: www.cityofwaterday.org

July 14: Paper SHRED-A-THON at the 92nd St Greenmarket

Sunday, July 14

10 am - 2 pm 

First Avenue (between 92 & 93rd Streets)

Shred documents for free at the 92nd St Greenmarket. Other items to recycle include: eyeglasses, corks, batteries, Britta filters, DVDs/CDs, jewel cases, cell phones and cords.

Updated Information on Neighborhood Greenmarkets

Summer is here and our community's greenmarkets are thriving. Go early for the best produce!  Read the recent CIVITAS newsletter piece and updated details provided by Upper Green Side on the CIVITAS blog. Visit one of the following greenmarket locations:

East 67th Street Market at P.S. 183
East 67th Street (between First & York Avenues)

East 82nd Street, St. Stephen’s
East 82nd Street (between First & York Avenues)

East 92nd Street Market
First Avenue (between 92nd & 93rd Streets)

Mt. Sinai Greenmarket
99th Street (between Madison & Park Avenues)

Harvest Home East Harlem Market
East 104th Street at Third Avenue

Harvest Home Metropolitan Market
99th Street at Third Avenue

• Many of the markets offer merchandise and services beyond farm-grown food.

Click here for more details about locations, hours and services.

CIVITAS In Action

Memorial Sloan-Kettering - CUNY Hunter College East 74th Street Project 

At numerous community meetings, CIVITAS has testified for open space improvements to be part of a proposed 450-foot-tall complex by the City University of New York Hunter College (CUNY) and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). The location is between East 73rd and East 74th Streets and York Avenue and the FDR Drive. The million square-foot project’s application has entered the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, which includes recommendations to the NYC Department of City Planning from the Community Board and the Manhattan Borough President. 

CIVITAS is strongly in favor of improvements to the nearby East River Esplanade and feels that additional open space needs to be created and improved on the development site or very close by to accommodate the thousands of daily visitors. 

The project consists of an ambulatory cancer care hospital and nursing school and is currently a city-owned site, zoned for manufacturing (M3-2). The applicant is seeking a zoning change to a commercial (C1-9) lot, which allows for a 10 Floor Area Ratio (FAR). The applicant is also requesting a zoning text amendment for additional development rights (2 FAR), which could exceed 130,000 square feet. 

CIVITAS has urged open space improvements that are immediately proximate to the development site to handle its negative impacts, high automobile and pedestrian traffic and building density. We insist on improvements that are commensurate with the extremely valuable development increases being considered. 

Expansion of City Recycling Program 

New York City recently announced the biggest expansion of its recycling program in 25 years which it states will lead to more than 50,000 tons of waste diverted from landfills. The biggest change is that New Yorkers can now recycle hard plastics, including: 

• plastic bottles, jugs & jars 

• plastic caps & lids 

• plastic food containers (yogurt, deli, hummus, dairy tubs, cookie tray inserts, “clamshell” containers, other plastic take-out containers) 

• plastic packaging (“blister-pak” and “clamshell” consumer packaging, acetate boxes) 

• plastic housewares (flower pots, mixing bowls, plastic appliances, etc.) 

• bulk plastic (crates, buckets, pails, furniture, large toys & appliances, etc.) 

You can find a full list of what you can and cannot recycle on the Department of Sanitation’s website: on.nyc.gov/16CqDQF 

Apartment Building Recycling Honor Roll 

Congratulations to the following building for their participation in the Apartment Building Recycling Initiative: 

• 1192 Park Avenue 

• 410 East 57th Street 

• 1070 Park Avenue 

Join the Honor Roll! Contact CIVITAS at 212.996.0745 or visit: bit.ly/V76M7G 

City & Suburban and First Avenue Estates Model Tenements 

CIVITAS wishes City & Suburban Houses a happy 100th anniversary. We joined many neighbors in May to commemorate this milestone and the long fight to make this historic East 79th Street complex a NYC landmark. Betty Cooper Wallerstein, Andrew Dolkart, Tony Wood and many veterans of the preservation battle gathered at Temple Sharaay Tefila to celebrate. 

At deadline, the fate of another model tenement, First Avenue Estates, remains in limbo and is up for public hearing in June at the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The owner, Stahl Development, has made a hardship claim against landmark status. CIVITAS has testified in support of keeping the historic designation and commends Friends of the UES Historic Districts for leading the charge to uphold the landmarks law. Both tenement complexes were granted landmark status for their role in the Progressive Era housing movement. 

East Harlem Rezoning Update and Park Avenue Vision Session 

In spring 2013, Community Board 11 submitted zoning recommendations to the NYC Department of City Planning (DCP) for the Madison, Park and Lexington Avenue corridors. Developed in partnership with CIVITAS and described in detail in the winter 2013 newsletter, the study included suggestions for rezoning this area between 115th and 132nd Street. The full text of the zoning study is available on civitasnyc.org. We look forward to swift action by the DCP to bring much-demanded, up-to-date zoning to East Harlem. 

As part of a focus on revitalizing and improving the Park Avenue corridor, CIVITAS joined many stakeholders at a May visioning workshop sponsored by the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC). Much of the discussion focused on the Harlem-125th Street Metro North Rail Station, the nearby abandoned comfort station and the open space below the viaduct. Many East Harlem neighbors who were part of CIVITAS’s rezoning meetings in 2012 consider new uses (not parking lots) and better design under the viaduct to be key changes to revitalizing this corridor. Do you have suggestions to improve the rail station, comfort station or viaduct near 125th Street? If so, pass along your ideas to CIVITAS and we will share them with EDC. The agency is working with WXY Architecture + Urban Design and Philip Habib & Associates and expects to share their plans later in 2013. 

CIVITAS Events 

In winter 2013, Syracuse University’s Lubin House exhibited Reimagining the Waterfront’s first place designs by Joseph Wood, an architecture graduate student. Syracuse Dean Randall Korman spoke at the February opening reception. Pictured: Sarah Henry (Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the Museum of the City of New York), Hunter Armstrong, CIVITAS Director Lucienne Bloch & Claude Bloch, a Syracuse alumnus.

In February, Joan K. Davidson, honorary chair of the 2013 Annual Benefit, played host to a cocktail party celebrating the August Heckscher awardees. Pictured: Honorary Chair Dan Brodsky, CIVITAS Chairman Genie Rice, Honorary Chair Joan K. Davidson, Honoree Edie Kean and CIVITAS President Felipe Ventegeat. 

In May, Hunter Armstrong and architectural historian John Kriskiewicz presented “East of Eden” at House of the Redeemer. The lecture was a detailed, illustrated history of East 96th Street and how policy, preservation and advocacy have influenced its diverse development. More than 80 guests attended the jointly-sponsored lecture and reception in the House’s historic library. Pictured: Janet Robertson, a House trustee, and John Kriskiewicz.

In April, CIVITAS was honored with the Visionary Award by Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts. The award was for the Reimagining the Waterfront Esplanade project and presented by Kent Barwick (pictured right) at the Park Avenue Armory. Also pictured are Bill Bateson, Neville Epstein, Hunter Armstrong and Felipe Ventegeat. Photo courtesy of Friends. 

In May, CIVITAS and Trees New York co-sponsored a tree stewardship workshop at East 120th Street and Paladino Avenue. Volunteers cleaned and planted in tree beds recently installed by Trees New York to absorb stormwater runoff. The service project also coincided with the Great Saunter, a 32 mile walk along Manhattan’s shore, and volunteers cheered on participants as they walked the Esplanade. 

 

In May, CIVITAS joined Upper Green Side, East River C.R.E.W. and Friends of the Esplanade for It’s My Park Day, a citywide park cleanup event. Volunteers planted rose and butterfly bushes in the planter at East 96th Street and the FDR Drive. The daffodils and tulips that we planted along the Esplanade during last fall’s park clean up event survived the brackish floodwaters of Superstorm Sandy and bloomed this spring.

Air Quality and Recycling Workshop 

To celebrate Earth Day, CIVITAS sponsored an Air Quality and Recycling Workshop at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House on April 22. Topics included the NYC Clean Heat Program and alternatives to the polluting No. 6 oil, as well as the NYC Department of Sanitation Apartment Building Recycling Initiative. 

Harlem Earth Day Panel Discussion 

As part of the Harlem Earth Day 2013, Executive Director Hunter Armstrong participated in a panel discussion on environmental justice at My Image Studios. The event was sponsored by Harlem Park to Park and fellow panelists included environmental activist Peggy Shepard with West Harlem Environmental Action (WE ACT), Donnel Baird with Echo Green, and Tony Hillery from Harlem Grown. 

To read the complete spring 2013 issue of CIVITAS News, visit http://civitasnyc.org/civitas-newsletters/

NYC Recycling Program Now Includes "Hard" Plastics

NYC Recycling Program Now Includes "Hard" Plastics

Just days after Earth Day, on Wednesday, April 24, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced that rigid plastics can now be recycled under the newly expanded recycling program. What does this mean for you? You can now recycle hard plastics, such as: 

• plastic bottles, jugs & jars
• rigid plastic caps & lids 
• rigid plastic food containers (yogurt, deli, hummus, dairy tubs, cookie tray inserts, "clamshell" containers, other plastic take-out containers) 
• rigid plastic non-food containers 
• rigid plastic packaging ("blister-pak" and "clamshell" consumer packaging, acetate boxes) 
• rigid plastic housewares (flower pots, mixing bowls, plastic appliances, etc.) 
• bulk plastic (crates, buckets, pails, furniture, large toys, large appliances, etc.)

Rather than determining what container goes where, simply put your hard plastics in with your glass bottles, soda bottles, and metals. In addition, you’ll receive a mailer from the NYC Department of Sanitation that describes the recycling program expansion with infographics of what to recycle and how.

For more information, please visit the following links:

Mayor Bloomberg Announces Start of Expanded Recycling Program to Include All Rigid Plastics For The First Time

City Expands Recycling Program to Include Hard Plastics

What Goes Around: NYC Recycles Plastic, Metal & Glass

Why certain plastics are not accepted for recycling

Do you want to improve your recycling program in your apartment building? Call (212) 996-0745or email info@civitasnyc.org to find out how.

NYC Apartment Building Recycling Initiative

“How To” at 1192 Park Avenue 

Marcia Fowle 

The trash/recycling area on my floor at 1192 Park is just a hop, skip, and jump from my apartment. I don’t have to go outside to the sidewalk with my bundled up and separated trash. I don’t have to drive to a town dump and sort on the spot. Just a few feet from my back door are designated receptacles where I leave my family’s trash and recycling, and it is also the place where my neighbors leave theirs. 

My neighbors and I are confused. We pretty much agree on what mixed paper and cardboard is recycled, and place it into its own container. And we probably agree on non-recyclables that go into the trash-only or “everything else” container lined with a black plastic bag. But what goes into the blue recycling container lined with its distinct clear plastic bag? 

CIVITAS Directors Gorman Reilly and Marcia Fowle with William Waldren, Jr. (1192 Park Avenue Superintendent) and Eve Martinez (DSNY Outreach Specialist). 

All glass jars and jugs; that seems easy. All metals, including hangers, tin foil, and bulk metal; that’s straightforward. All beverage cartons and drink boxes, also fairly easy. But what about plastics? I see all sorts of plastics being tossed into this blue bin from yogurt and deli containers to plastic cups. 

What if my neighbors and I are putting in the wrong plastics? Is it up to our building staff to make sure that this recycling stream is in compliance with the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) rules by sorting through the bin’s contents? I think not; it’s up to each resident. It’s our waste; we should be responsible for disposing of it properly. 

The DSNY is giving us a helping hand through the Apartment Building Recycling Initiative (ABRI), and 1192 Park has signed on. In just one meeting with Outreach Specialist Eve Martinez, our building has made a giant step forward. We learned where we could make improvements in clarifying which items are recycled, especially which plastics, and have ordered new signage to be placed floor by floor in our trash/recycling areas. Each shareholder will receive DSNY’s informative static-cling decal for placement in his apartment, so when in doubt, he can refer to it easily. 

ABRI and Ms. Martinez are scheduling meetings with 1192’s staff and shareholders to discuss not only recycling but also disposal of electronic equipment and safe handling of harmful waste, such as fluorescent bulbs and batteries. In the spring, 1192 hopes to set up a clothing drop-off bin for pickup by the New York Housing Works. Visit www.nyc.gov/refashion for information about this program. 

Now, thanks to ABRI, my neighbors and I will be clear about which plastics to recycle. We used to look for the number. Was it #1 or #2, which the city used to recycle or was it #6, which the city did not? The DSNY has simplified the rules. Plastic jugs and bottles (without caps) with necks smaller than the body of the containers, no matter what the number, are to be put in the blue recycle bin – NO OTHER PLASTICS. New signage will help. 

Ask your apartment building manager and co-op president to follow 1192 Park’s lead by signing up with ARBI and learning how to waste less. 

To learn more about ABRI, contact CIVITAS at (212) 996-0745 or visit: http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/recycling/abri.shtml

To read the complete spring 2013 issue of CIVITAS News, visit http://civitasnyc.org/civitas-newsletters/

CIVITAS News 3/19/13

CIVITAS 2013 Visionary Award Recipient

CIVITAS is honored to receive the 2013 Visionary Award from FRIENDS of the Upper East Side Historic Districts for the Reimagining the Waterfront: Manhattan's East River Esplanade Design Competition and Exhibition.Each year FRIENDS recognizes fine restoration, renovation, and advocacy work on the Upper East Side, both in and out of the historic districts.     Join us for the awards ceremony and reception. Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at 6:30pm.  Park Avenue Armory, Veterans Room 643 Park Avenue (at 68 Street) 
This event is free and open to the public though space is limited. RSVP http://www.friends-ues.org/events or 212.535.2526.  

Save The Date

On May 14, CIVITAS Executive Director Hunter Armstrong will speak at House of the Redeemer on East 95 Street (Fifth and Park Avenue). A NYC landmark, the House of the Redeemer was designed by acclaimed architect Grosvenor Atterbury and constructed for the Fabbri family between 1914-1916. 

Upcoming Community Events 

Small + Shared = Green

Opportunity for discounted tickets for CIVITAS members.

Join Graham Hill, champion of “Living With Less” and Michael Cosgrove, Director of the NYC office of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), for a lively conversation about the latest approaches to green living and urban sustainability. 

Tuesday, March 19 at 6:30 pm

Museum of the City of New York

1220 Fifth Avenue (at 103 Street)

The program will be followed by a free wine reception.

 

Presented in conjunction with Making Room: New Models for Housing New Yorkers, on view through September 15 at the Museum of the City of New York.

Purchase tickets through the online box office at discounted rate of $6 by using the code Civitas319 upon checkout: http://boxoffice.mcny.org/public/loader.asp?target=show.asp?shcode=493)  

 

Soft Edges- Hard Lessons

Signe Nielsen 

Recent events have demonstrated that regardless of one’s point of view on the topic of global warming, we are experiencing more frequent and destructive storms. In 2011 Irene caused massive flooding as a result of rainfall and in 2012 Sandy demonstrated the vulnerability of our shorelines to storm surge and high tides. The future of sea level rise, though uncertain in terms of its rapidity, will further threaten our coastlines. New York City must begin to make some significant changes to become more resilient to these forces of nature.

Hunts Point Landing two days after Superstorm Sandy hit. Photo courtesy of Signe Nielsen.

Solutions to flood mitigation will take enormous political will and civic support. Indeed there is not a “one-size-fits-all” solution. Barrier islands created by natural sand deposits such as the Rockaways are very different from the bedrock of Manhattan. However, much of Manhattan’s shoreline once contained mud flats, tidal marshes and sandy beaches. Decades of landfill have now artificially elevated thousands of acres using seawalls to retain their new contours. Given the density of people, buildings and infrastructure that surround the edges of Manhattan, multiple strategies will be required to recalibrate our past and future relationship to our estuarine reality. 

Many people, including designers, have begun to explore both theoretical and built examples of ways to mitigate the damaging effects of water. Premised on the notion that resilient and ecologically productive natural edges are formed as a gradual gradient from river bottom to land surface, several new public waterfronts exemplify this “soft edge” approach. These newly contoured shorelines are intended to reduce the damaging impact of wave energy creating a gentle transition from land to water which is then planted in combination with boulders or similar wave attenuating materials. Soft edges, however, presume that water will flow in and out and that the plants and rocks can withstand the effects of salinity, tidal action and even forceful waves. They are not designed to stop flooding but rather buffer the damaging effects of storm surges. 

Reef balls at Hunts Point Landing. A reef ball is made from concrete and imitates the habitat conditions preferred by mussels when set within the intertidal zone. Photo courtesy of Signe Nielsen. 

Under current regulations promulgated by an alphabet soup of federal, state and local agencies, soft edges cannot project out into the rivers; rather, they need to be created by carving into the land. The extent to which a soft edge penetrates landward is a function of the bathymetry, or topography of the river bed. The steeper the shoreline drops off, the greater the soft edge must cut landward. At the present time, this approach is only viable where the real estate is otherwise unoccupied by residents, critical infrastructure, or water-dependent industry. 

As yet unbuilt ideas include creating artificial reefs, wave-attenuating bridges and filling in parts of the rivers to create new salt marshes. While there is hard scientific evidence to support these concepts, there is also concern that they may do permanent harm to existing habitat, jeopardize the shipping industry, and fail to provide adequate flood protection against future, more violent and frequent storms. 

Some of the soft edge public shorelines that have been built recently are Brooklyn Bridge Park, Hunts Point Landing and Riverside South Park. Others that have existed for a long time include the gently sloping stone-lined edge along Fort Washington Park and Manhattan’s only remaining natural wetland in Inwood Hill Park. I visited each of these sites within a week after Superstorm Sandy and was surprised to see how unscathed they were. In the case of Hunts Point Landing in the South Bronx, a park I designed and completed just two months before the storm, the only damage was to the fixed furnishings which were either knocked off their footings or dislodged by floatables carried by the rushing tide. The grasses in the intertidal wetland remained firmly rooted and the boulder wave attenuation edge did not move. Even more surprising was that the oyster “reef balls” which we placed at the base of the tidal wetland remained unharmed. We have also conducted soil tests within the planted areas that we had not expected to receive saline flood water and the results did not show elevated salt levels. I will only feel confident that our plant palette was successfully resilient until this spring when I can observe how well they reemerge from winter dormancy. While I was not the designer of the other parks mentioned, my observation is that they too withstood record high saline water inundation with minimal damage, most of which was as a result of water-borne debris. 

Signe Nielsen is a Principal with Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects, and has been practicing as a landscape architect and urban designer in New York since 1978. She is the president of the NYC Public Design Commission. 

To read the complete spring 2013 issue of CIVITAS News, visit http://civitasnyc.org/civitas-newsletters/

Preparing for Future Major Storms

James T.B. Tripp

The FDR Drive at 81st Street flooded during Superstorm Sandy. Photo by Gothamist. 

Sandy hit New York City, Long Island, New Jersey and parts of Connecticut with a Katrina-type ferocity for which this region was not well prepared. Its effects were felt over a 1000-mile wide area. Its storm surge was over 14 feet in many coastal areas, higher than most forecasts and 3-4 feet higher than any former surge. Coastal flooding in Staten Island, the Rockaways and lower Manhattan was profound, with destruction of and damage to coastal buildings and public infrastructure, prolonged power outages and scores of deaths. New York City is obviously vulnerable to storm surge since it alone has some 550 miles of waterfront. Two of its five boroughs are separate islands, and two others,  Brooklyn and Queens are part of Long Island. Coastal New Jersey and Long Island have extensively built-up barrier islands and lowlying coastal mainland communities. Large portions of Manhattan are built on low-lying fill. This includes areas around East 96th Street that were marshy up until the end of the 19th century; flooding due to Sandy reached almost to Second Avenue on East 96th Street.

The East 63rd Street pedestrian bridge on the East River Esplanade as Superstorm Sandy moved in on October 29. Photo by Ruth Fremson of The New York Times. 

Sea level is rising, and could go up at least one foot during the next 20-30 years even without the collapse of any major ice sheet. The International Panel on Climate Change that uses a range of climate models predicts intensification of storms surge that could exceed Sandy’s by 3 or more feet? Given global warming, it is important that New York City, New York State, New Jersey and Connecticut use available federal, state, local and private resources to make this region and its coastal areas as resilient as possible to future storms. In addition, these three states should accelerate actions, jointly preferably, to reduce their CO2 emissions and thus their contributions to global warming. The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and some New York City agencies, such as its Department of Environmental Protection, have done extensive planning for this new warmer world. The Mayor foresightedly ordered evacuations of low-lying areas in the City during both Irene in 2011 and Sandy.  

The pre-Sandy CIVITAS East River Esplanade ideas competition produced designs that incorporated ways to moderate storm surges. This concern was also seen in the leading competitive designs that the Museum of Modern Art showed in its “Rising Currents” exhibition. Wetlands and oyster reefs can moderate storm surge, but will have only a modest effect on a 14-17 foot surge. In some places flood walls might be considered, but they can be unsightly and serve to redirect rather than absorb flood waters. 

An underground transformer in front of Metropolitan Hospital at First Avenue and East 96th Street flooded with salt water, causing a lot of steam. The hospital was equipped with generators and continued to operate. Photo by Sune Engel Rasmussen, published by The Uptowner. 

While it is tempting to think that large-scale storm surge barriers located somewhere in Long Island Sound and New York City’s Lower Harbor can control nature’s future fury, the City and the three States would be ill-advised to plan and act on the assumption that such barriers would be built any time soon, although they may be wise to establish a process for thinking about the basic parameters of such barriers for the mid-century and not simply depend on the Army Corps of Engineers. They are complex and very expensive engineering works with major environmental consequences. They also redirect rather than eliminate storm surge so that coastal areas upstream of the barriers will experience higher flood elevations than would otherwise be the case. 

One solution to mitigating the effect of storm surges lies in designing, or retrofitting, public infrastructure and buildings to accommodate episodic major floods. New York City and other coastal areas will have to think about where they want storm surge waters to go in low-lying areas, as well as where they don’t want the waters to go. Public assets such as the subways, railroads, highways, hospitals, water and wastewater, communication and electric utility systems, and private high-rise commercial and residential buildings will have to be flood proofed. Investments to radically improve the energy efficiency of high-rise and individual buildings, coupled with back-up decentralized solar, wind or other power sources that can function independently of the central power grid, all part of the “smart grid” of the future, should be aggressively promoted. 

Individual structures outside of densely populated urban areas in New York City, Long Island, coastal New Jersey and Connecticut should be elevated to a new storm surge standard. In such areas, man-made sand dunes may play a useful role so long as they are properly sited where natural processes would place natural dunes, not right along the beachfront. Federal, state and local response programs should provide funds to buy out private properties in vulnerable areas as an option to the owners who otherwise would face high building-elevation and insurance costs or whose rebuilt structures would impede wise siting of any man-made dunes. Building codes will have to be revised to incorporate flood and energy resiliency measures. Insurance companies need to fine-tune their assessments of storm and flood risks associated with individual assets and structures, depending on what resiliency measures the owners adopt. As former Governor Pataki proposed, the electric utilities should gradually put power lines underground in areas with the density to justify such action. 

Taking these kinds of measures in the many different kinds of settings found in the tri-state region will cost tens of billions of dollars. Electric utility, MTA, water and wastewater, and communication system rates will inevitably rise to finance these measures. The federal government may come through with billions of dollars in emergency appropriation to help cover the cost of post-Sandy clean-up, damage compensation, and perhaps even future accommodation measures. New York City and the three states in our region should use these resources wisely to assure future resiliency to future storms powered by global warming. If we plan and prepare well now, we and other coastal areas of the country may not have to seek comparable federal assistance in the years ahead. 

James T.B. Tripp is Senior Counsel at the Environmental Defense Fund and Executive Vice President of CIVITAS. For more information on the CIVITAS Reimagining the Waterfront project visit: www.reimaginethewaterfront-civitas.com. 

To read the complete spring 2013 issue of CIVITAS News, visit http://civitasnyc.org/civitas-newsletters/