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/

Recycling in NYC: We Need to Do More

T. Gorman Reilly

Illustration by NYC Department of Sanitation, Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling. 

The amount of solid waste that New York City generates is overwhelming: 7 million tons per year. On a daily basis, Manhattan alone accounts for 1,975 tons of residential waste—or just plain garbage. Commercial waste from office buildings, restaurants and retail sites accounts for another 2,200 tons. The comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP), enacted by the city and approved by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, has been crafted to take on this enormous challenge in the most efficient and environmentally sound manner. Thus, New York City’s SWMP is relying in a big way on a stepped up recycling effort. In fact, Mayor Bloomberg announced earlier this year a goal of doubling the existing recycling diversion rate by 2017. 

Let’s define our terms. “Diversion rate” refers to the amount of separated recyclables collected as a percentage of the total amount of waste put out on the sidewalk. “Capture rate” refers to the amount of recyclables actually collected as a percentage of the total amount of recyclables that could be separated out and collected. The city’s current capture rate of 41% means that 59% of recyclable materials is being thrown into black trash bags and will never be recycled to another use. 

The current diversion rate of the city’s residential waste is barely 15%. At one point in the 1990s it peaked at 19%. The Department of Sanitation’s goal is to approach an optimum diversion rate of 36%, which assumes a 100% capture rate. 

The only way to improve this anemic capture rate—and thereby directly increase the diversion rate—is to go to the source, i.e., each and every household in the city of New York. Thus, in each home or apartment residents need to have a clear understanding of what can be recycled and what cannot. In New York City, the answer is relatively simple, but “attention must be paid.” 

In short, there are two streams of recyclables—the Green and the Blue. The color Green has been assigned to paper & cardboard. It includes newspapers, magazines, flyers, phone books, paperbacks, corrugated and smooth cardboard, cardboard tubes, cardboard packaging, file folders, paper, envelopes, shredded paper, paper bags, pizza boxes (free of food residues), etc. In short, all things paper and cardboard go into the Green Bin. Of course, for every rule there are exceptions. These are some of the things that should not be placed in the Green Paper & Cardboard Bin: Chinese take-out cartons, soiled paper cups and plates, tissue, paper towels, napkins and packaging for most frozen or refrigerated products. 

The Blue Bin is reserved for beverage cartons, bottles, cans, metal and foil. There is real value in recycled metal, whether it be metal cans, aluminum food containers, metal caps, cleaned foil or discarded cooking pans. Glass, principally bottles and jars, is always welcome; but, glassware, panes of glass, mirrors and light bulbs are not. The rule for plastics is simple—only bottles and jugs. If it’s not a bottle or jug, toss it into the trash. Thus, do not put out for recycling: plastic caps, yogurt cups, any plastic food container or cup, plastic wrapping, plastic shopping bags, styrofoam and plastic rings for six-packs. 

The best way to determine what is recyclable and what is not is through visualization. Fortunately, the Department of Sanitation has prepared a graphic outline of Green and Blue recyclable items. It can be downloaded at http://on.nyc.gov/RGGljL.

To read the complete fall 2012 issue of CIVITAS News, visit http://civitasnyc.org/civitas-newsletters/

November 17 at La Marqueta, East Harlem: Textile Recycling and Thanksgiving Produce Sale

CIVITAS Reimagine The Waterfront: Design-Ideas Competition for the East River Esplanade and Upcoming Events in the Community

Reimagine the East River Waterfront: Design-Ideas Competition for the East River Esplanade

CIVITAS is pleased to announce the Reimagining the Waterfront Design-Ideas Competition for the East River Esplanade, East 60th to East 125th Street. We are launching the competition this month to create a vision for the future of this potentially world-class park. We are calling architects, landscape architects, urban planners and professional designers to develop dramatic and original concepts for the waterfront between 60th and 125th Streets. Our goal is to jump-start a process that aspires to the transformation of the entire East River Esplanade experience. Stay tuned to the CIVITAS website and watch your email for announcements of upcoming public events for Reimagining the Waterfront Design-Ideas Competition.

Submissions from professional designers will be judged by the competition jury, including:

Al Butzel, Principal, Albert K. Butzel Law Offices

Warren James, Principal, Warren A. James Architects + Planners

Hon. William Castro, Manhattan Borough Commissioner, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation

Signe Nielsen, FASLA Principal, Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects

Rob Rogers, FAIA, Partner, Rogers Marvel Architects

Jack Travis, FAIA, Principal, Jack Travis Architects

Billie Tsien, AIA, Principal, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects

Adam Yarinsky, FAIA LEED AP, Principal & Co-Founder, Architecture Research Office (ARO)

Visit the competition website www.reimaginethewaterfront-civitas.com for information about the competition including guidelines, prizes, and helpful resources. Registration will begin on September 15. Competition winners will be announced winter 2012.

PROUDLY ORGANIZED BY CIVITAS

WITH:

U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney

NYC Council Member Jessica Lappin

NYC Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito

CO-SPONSORED BY:

U.S. Congressman Charles B. Rangel

Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer

NYS Senator Liz Krueger

NYS Senator Jose M. Serrano

NYS Assemblyman Micah Z. Kellner

NYS Assemblyman Robert J. Rodriguez

NYC Council Member Daniel R. Garodnick

The competition is made possible through a grant from NYC Council Member Jessica Lappin and the generous support of the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation.

In the News

East River Esplanade

Check out the August 11 issue of Our Town which profiles work that is underway to improve the crumbling infrastructure along many sections of the East River Esplanade in the article "Esplanade Emergency".

You can also read about the Esplanade in CIVITAS' Spring 2011 newsletter, "East River Esplanade: A Gaping Hole in NYC's Waterfront".

Upcoming CIVITAS Events

Discussion and Drinks Meetup at The Lexington Social

Join CIVITAS members for a casual get-together at The Lexington Social.

Come introduce yourself and tell us what urban planning and quality of life issues interest you.

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

6:30 – 8:00 pm

Lexington Avenue between 103rd and 104th Streets

RSVP by email: info@civitasnyc.org or phone: 212.996.0745 or through our Meetup Group: http://www.meetup.com/CIVITAS/.

Join the Meetup to find out about upcoming events.

2011 openhousenewyork Walking Tour

For the second year, CIVITAS will participate in openhousenewyork weekend with a walking tour Shaping Urban Design & Policy: The East 96th Street Corridor. The tour will focus on the way zoning and land use policy shape the physical landscape of New York, and how city policies and neighborhood advocacy have affected the built environment of the Upper East Side and East Harlem.

The event will take place on October 15, 2011. Stay tuned for more details and registration instructions.

Upcoming Community Events

Department of Transportation Community Presentation on First and Second Avenue Bike Lanes

Presentation to Community Board 8

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

6:30 pm

NY Blood Center, 310 East 67th St (between 1st and 2nd Avenues)

Visit the CB8 website for the most up to date details.

Community Forum On Parks & Waterfront Access On The East Side

Hosted By:

NYS Senator Liz Krueger

NYS Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh

NYC Council Member Daniel R. Garodnick

And Community Boards 6 and 8

Thursday, September 8

4:00-7:00 pm

Sutton Place Synagogue

225 East 51st Street (between Second and Third Aves.)

Please visit www.eastsideopenspace.com for more information.

Recycling Events

Third Avenue Street Fair/Recycle- O-Rama

Saturday, September 10

Visit the first "Green Block" - Third Avenue between 83rd-84th Streets - to recycle electronics,

paper items for shredding, textiles, and more. For a full list, visit: http://thisweekatthemarket.wordpress.com/

Electronics Recycling

Tuesday, September 20

11 am to 7 pm

Church of the Heavenly Rest

Rally To Save Ruppert Playground

Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011 at 2:00p.m.

Between 92nd & 93rd Sts and Second & Third Avenues

CIVITAS News & Events: May 13, 2011

CIVITAS Presents...

STREET TREE STEWARDSHIP WORKSHOP
Thursday, May 26, 2011
6-8pm
On the rooftop terrace of The Arsenal, Central Park (Fifth Avenue at 64th Street)
RSVP Required: info@civitasnyc.org or 212-996-0745

Presentation by Trees New York

Learn how to report and care for sick trees, maintain healthy trees, and other resources for tree advocacy. Attend this event to tell us where you would like to see new trees planted, and sign up to “Adopt a Tree”.

Special Thanks to the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation


Community Events:

It’s My Park Day – East River Esplanade
Saturday, May 21
9am-4pm
Volunteers should enter at the East 60th Street Greenway entrance - gardens near dog run.
It’s My Park Day is an opportunity to improve parks throughout the city. Join Carl Schurz Park Conservancy, East River C.R.E.W., Inc., Upper Green Side, and Friends of the Esplanade in cleaning and painting the East River Esplanade. Volunteers are welcome to join for any length of time. For more information, visit: http://www.nycgovparks.org/events/2011/05/21/its-my-park-day-at-east-river-esplanade


CIVITAS discount admission for Museum of the City of New York program:
How Hugh Carey Saved the City (Who Will Save New York?)
Wednesday, June 1 at 5:30 pm
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue
Reservations required: 917-492-3395 or e-mail programs@mcny.org
$25 for priority seating, $20 for non-members. $15 when you mention CIVITAS.

In 1975 New York City stood on the brink of bankruptcy. But insolvency never came, thanks to the leadership of Governor Hugh Carey. What steps did Carey take to solve the fiscal crisis? Given the perennial budget problems in Albany, are there parallels at the state level today? Does New York State need saving?

Sam Roberts of The New York Times moderates a discussion with Stephen Berger, former executive director of the Emergency Financial Control Board under Governor Carey; Ester R. Fuchs, Professor of International and Public Affairs and Political Science, Columbia University; Peter Goldmark, former New York State Director of Budget under Carey; Richard Ravitch, former chairman of the New York State Urban Development Corporation; and Felix G. Rohatyn, former chairman of the Municipal Assistance Corporation of the State of New York, on the current budgetary woes of New York through the lens of the fiscal crisis of 1975.

Co-sponsored by the Citizens Budget Commission, the Fiscal Policy Institute, and the Drum Major Institute and presented as part of the ongoing Urban Forum series Power and Politics, New York Style.


Recycle-O-Rama
Sunday, June 26
9am–3pm
92nd Street Greenmarket (on First Avenue between 92nd-93rd)
Accepted recycling materials include:
Electronics (computer equipment and accessories, network devices, TV and audio-visual equipment, cell phones and telecommunication devices), paper and usual recycling. Appliances will not be accepted.
For more information, visit http://uppergreenside.org/blog/

CIVITAS News and Events: May 6, 2011

Street Tree Stewardship

On Thursday, May 26, CIVITAS presents a Street Tree Stewardship workshop. The event will take place at The Arsenal in Central Park (Fifth Avenue at 64th Street) at 6pm.
RSVP Required: info@civitasnyc.org <mailto:info@civitasnyc.org> or 212-996-0745.
Learn how to report and care for sick street trees, maintain healthy trees, and how to advocate for new trees on your block. Attend this event to tell us where you would like to see new trees planted, and sign up to “Adopt a Tree.”

CIVITAS has been responsible for planting street trees on East 86th Street, and other locations on the Upper East Side and in East Harlem. We have also reported more than one hundred dead or injured street trees and empty tree pits for urgent attention to the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation. Find more information and event updates at: http://civitasnyc.org/live/trees/ <http://civitasnyc.org/live/trees/>


Newsrack Box Enforcement
Please take a minute to sign the electronic petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/newsracks/ <http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/newsracks/> and spread the word by forwarding this link. CIVITAS has been working for several years to clean up the plastic and metal newsrack boxes cluttering the sidewalks in our neighborhood. We are pleased to report that as a result of CIVITAS and partnering efforts, the A1 News boxes, which were long neglected and did not contain newspapers for over two years, have been removed. More boxes that are broken, vandalized, or filled with garbage, still clutter NYC streets, and the current law does not require sufficient maintenance. You can learn more about the Newsrack Box Enforcement initiative and view recent press at http://civitasnyc.org/newsrack-enforcement/ <http://civitasnyc.org/newsrack-enforcement/>


Community Events:

It’s My Park Day – East River Esplanade
Saturday, May 21
9am-4pm
Volunteers should enter at the East 60th Street Greenway entrance - gardens near dog run.
It’s My Park Day is an opportunity to improve parks throughout the city. Join Carl Schurz Park Conservancy, East River C.R.E.W., Inc., Upper Green Side, and Friends of the Esplanade in cleaning and painting the East River Esplanade. Volunteers are welcome to join for any length of time. For more information, visit: http://www.nycgovparks.org/events/2011/05/21/its-my-park-day-at-east-river-esplanade <http://www.nycgovparks.org/events/2011/05/21/its-my-park-day-at-east-river-esplanade>


Recycle-O-Rama
Sunday, June 26
9am–3pm
92nd Street Greenmarket (on First Avenue between 92nd-93rd)
Accepted recycling materials include:
Electronics (computer equipment and accessories, network devices, TV and audio-visual equipment, cell phones and telecommunication devices), paper and usual recycling. Appliances will not be accepted.
For more information, visit http://uppergreenside.org/blog/ <http://uppergreenside.org/blog/>

Upcoming Upper Green Side Events: Electronic Recycling and It's My Park Day

Saturday, April 30th: Recycle-O-Rama – Spring Edition
82nd Street Greenmarket (between First and York), 9 am – 3 pm. Electronics recycling. Paper shredding. All usual recyclables.

Saturday, May 21st: It’s My Park Day
From 10 am – 4 pm Join Upper Green Side in cleaning the segment of the East River Esplanade south of 96th Street: Scraping and painting railing, cleaning plantings, getting rid of graffiti. Come for an hour. Be there the whole day.

Sunday, June 26th: Recycle-O-Rama – Summer Edition
92nd Street Greenmarket (on First between 92nd-93rd), 9 am – 3 pm More electronics recycling. Paper shredding. All usual recyclables.

For more information on these events, visit www.uppergreenside.org

Recycle-O-Rama at the 92nd Street Greenmarket

Join Upper Green Side and GrowNYC for a Waste Reduction Celebration!

Sunday, December 5th, 9am-3pm, at the 92nd St. Greenmarket (at 1st Ave.)

RECYCLE: (no electronics)

• clothes (including hats, belts, & shoes)
• textiles (like linens and towels)
• batteries
• eye glasses
• #5 plastics
• wine corks
• ink cartridges

PLUS: Free paper shredding (10am-2pm)
AND: Learn how to compost!

For more information, visit: http://uppergreenside.org/blog/2010/11/27/dec-5th-recycle-o-rama-at-the-92nd-street-greenmarket/

Electronics Recycling Day

CIVITAS is proud to support an:

Electronics Recycling Day

Tuesday, November 10, 2009
11am-7pm
Church of the Heavenly Rest (90th Street and Fifth Avenue)

Items accepted include: cell phones, computers, laptops, copiers, fax machines, iPods and PDAs, modems, monitors, keyboards, computer mice, printers, stereo and radio equipment, telephones and telephone equipment, televisions, typewriters, speakers, digital cameras, VCRs, DVD players.

Special thanks to Carnegie Hill Neighbors for sponsoring this event.
Additional supporters include: The Brick Presbyterian Church, Church of the Heavenly Rest, Carnegie Hill/Yorkville CSA, Grass-roots


Other Electronics Recycling Opportunities:

Sunday, November 22, 2009
8am - 3pm
Isaacs/Holmes Parking Lot (93rd Street and First Avenue on the East side of First)
Sponsored by Gracie Point Community Council and Upper Green Side
For more information call 212-759-6895


Support/Volunteer/Get Involved

Support CIVITAS by visiting Network for Good or www.civitasnyc.org.
Let us know which zoning, transportation and quality-of-life issues concern you for the present and future of the Upper East Side and East Harlem. Get involved with finding the solution by joining one of CIVITAS’ active committees. Our current projects are listed at www.civitasnyc.org.