It's our waterfront, let's celebrate and make it beautiful!
Join the Astoria Park Alliance, Green Shores NYC and Partnerships for Parks as we celebrate It's My Park Day and spruce up Astoria Park after a busy summer season!
VOLUNTEER this Saturday, October 20th
from 10am to 1pm
19th Street & Hoyt Avenue North
(Meet at the Field House)
Astoria Park, Queens
All supplies and refreshments will be provided for volunteers.
Individuals and groups are welcome to participate.
Groups are requested to register in advance by emailing: greenshoresnyc@yahoo.com
HALLOWEEN HARVEST FESTIVAL
11 AM - 3PM (rain or shine)
Socrates Sculpture Park
Broadway & Vernon Blvd
Long Island City, Queens
Come to Socrates Sculpture Park's Annual Halloween Harvest Festival with your friends and family to make a costume with Socrates Sculpture Park artists; listen to live music; enjoy a special art-making workshop with Freestyle Arts Association; get your face painted by Agostino Arts; enter your dog in their annual Canine Costume Contest; and try harvest foods from local restaurants.
The photos taken by U-2 spy planes flying over Cuba were a bombshell: dozens of intercontinental ballistic missiles were aimed at the United States. After examining options ranging from diplomacy to invasion, the Americans opted for a blockade, or “quarantine.” Soviet ships en route to Cuba were forbidden to cross an imaginary line around the island. What would the Soviet Union do?
Lecturer and GAHS Trustee Al Ronzoni takes a look back 50 years ago at the incident that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Topics examined include the relations between US, USSR and Cuba prior to the crisis, the participants’ response to the challenges, and the impact the event had on President Kennedy‘s subsequent world view. Program will include viewing of the 2000 film Thirteen Days. Free
Meet at Broadway & Northern Boulevard
Woodside, Queens
To help get in the mood for Halloween, TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES QUEENS COMMITTEE will be touring cemeteries in Queens on Sunday, October 21 featuring guest leader Steve Scofield.
The tour will visit the graves of Harry Houdini, Scott Joplin and other notables, while passing through an ancient colonial cemetery and more!
WATER QUALITY ALERTS AND THE FUTURE OF PROGRAMMING AT HALLETS COVE!
There are high levels of bacteria in Hallets Cove that may hamper future public programming there-including the much loved COASTAL CLASSROOM and PUBLIC PADDLING DAYS with the Long Island City Community Boathouse.
Click HERE to learn how more and how you can help.
THANK YOU TO NEW YORKERS FOR PARKS and VOLUNTEERS FROM ERNST & YOUNG!
On Friday, October 5th, New Yorkers for Parks and Ernst & Young volunteers did some early fall cleaning in Queensbridge Park.
They painted, raked and weeded garden areas of the park. We and the Friends of Queensbridge Park Committee are extremely grateful for their time and efforts!
FRIENDS OF GANTRY NEIGHBORHOOD PARKS WANT YOUR INPUT!
The small playground on Southeast corner of 48th Avenue and 5th Street in Hunters Point has been padlocked for a couple of years now for safety reasons.
The playground included a sandbox for toddlers and is right next to a handball court.
Friends of Gantry has secured the pro bono services of a landscape architect to develop a new design for that area.
What would you like to see there? It is a small area compared to other parts of the park and measures approximately 31' x 47' and is gated.
PROGRESS & Construction Continues on the Queens East River North Shore Greenway!
New bike lane and bike racks on the north side of Rainey Park.
A new paved waterfront esplanade in Rainey Park.
Phase 2 and 3 of the Queens East River North Shore Greenway is making its way north through Rainey Park, the Astoria Houses Esplanade, Shore Boulevard and Ralph DeMarco Park.
Rainey Park is still closed due to greenway construction and you will notice sections of Shore Blvd and DeMarco Park are in various stages of pre-construction and construction.
Click on image above to see the Queens East River Greenway Master Plan.
What is the Queens East River Greenway?
The Queens East River and North Shore Greenway is a proposed 10.6-mile urban shared-use trail, intended to provide access to the shoreline in Queens and improve non-motorized commuter options.
The proposed East River and North Shore Greenway follows the natural boundaries of the western and northern shorelines in Queens.
When completed, the Greenway will connect the neighborhoods of Long Island City, Hunters Point, Ravenswood, and Astoria in western Queens with Steinway, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst in northeastern Queens and connect four parks on the East River shoreline.
Segment 2 of the Greenway includes the stretch of waterfront from Queensbridge Park to Hallets Cove.
We will be sure to keep you updated on construction in Rainey Park and let you know when the park will be open again.
If you have additional questions, concerns or thoughts about the greenway, please email us at: greenshoresnyc@yahoo.com
Waterfront Vision Plan for Astoria & Long Island City, Queens
On Thursday, June 16th, we celebrated the release of The Waterfront Vision Plan for Astoria & Long Island City, Queens at the Noguchi Museum!
The Waterfront Vision Plan was created for the community and by the community with Green Shores NYC & The Trust for Public Land.
In the summer and fall of 2010, hundreds of Western Queens residents came together to participate in seven neighborhood listening sessions, two area-wide brainstorming sessions and a waterfront bus tour generating more than a thousand comments, ideas and solutions for creating a more connected, useful and beautiful waterfront.
The Western Queens Compost Initiative (WQCI) works to increase capacity for, acceptance of, and participation in composting in western Queens. They provide composting infrastructure for Greenmarkets, CSA's, community gardens, an urban farm and public events. Their compost is used to grow food, feed trees, and beautify public spaces.
WQCI's compost is used at several community gardens, on an urban farm, and in street tree beds.
Instead of adding your food scraps to the landfill, you can drop them off at the Western Queens Compost Initiative's weekly drop off locations:
Sunday:
9am to Noon
Jackson Heights Greenmarket
34th Ave at 77th Street
Jackson Heights, Queens
Monday:
6pm to 7:30pm
Queens Library Steinway Branch
21-45 31st Street
Astoria, Queens
Saturday:
Socrates Sculpture Park Greenmarket
June 23 to November 17, 2012
9am-12pm
Vernon Blvd and Broadway
Long Island City, Queens
Sunnyside Greenmarket
June 2 to November 17, 2012
9am-12pm
Skillman Ave b/t 42 & 43 Streets
Sunnyside, Queens
To learn more about the Western Queens Compost Initiative and to get involved, email: louise@bignyc.org
Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant Visitor Center General Public Visiting Hours
Saturdays
9am to 3pm
Visitor Center at Newtown Creek
329 Greenpoint Avenue
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
The Visitor Center at Newtown Creek tells the story of New York City’s water and wastewater systems. Located at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (WTP), one of New York City's 14 treatment plants, the Visitor Center features DEP employees who narrate the cycle of water from water supply to distribution, wastewater treatment, and harbor water quality. This fascinating new facility will help you learn about the one billion gallons of water New Yorkers use every day, the thousands of miles of pipes, aqueducts, and water mains, and the responsibilities, through the eyes of our dedicated workforce, to serve New Yorkers.
Socrates Sculpture Park
Broadway & Vernon Blvd
Long Island City, Queens
Socrates Sculpture Park presents the opening of EAF12: 2012 Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition.
EAF12 features new works by the Park's current resident artists. Each year, Socrates Sculpture Park selects artists to produce outdoor artworks within the Park. Reflective of our time, these artists are making public sculptures that are subtly mysterious, visually compelling, and, at times, provocative. The economy, spirituality, Americana, language, and our built/natural world are subjects explored in this presentation of emerging artists to watch. Rather than being a zeitgeist or thematic exhibition, each artist has a distinct artwork (and in some cases performance) that embodies his or her individuality, passion, and exploration of art in the public sphere. Projects include a 1965 Ford Mustang painted white with corn rowed racing stripes, slabs of cast concrete snapped from compression, a transparent Buddha and a stunning 30 foot flag pole woven with security straps are among the sculptures in the exhibition.
8 AM - 4 PM Saturdays, June 23 - November 17, 2012
SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK
BROADWAY AT VERNON BLVD
LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS
This market will serve the Long Island City and Astoria communities with farm-fresh fruits and vegetables and family-friendly activities every week. For over 30 years GrowNYC has been working together to promote regional agriculture, preserve farmland and ensure a continuing supply of fresh, local produce for all New Yorkers.
To learn more about GrowNYC's Greenmarket program, visit: www.growNYC.org
Shore Boulevard and the Hellgate Bridge.
IT'S YOUR WATERFRONT!
Green Shores NYC works to enliven the Astoria-Long Island City waterfront by caring for and advocating for safe public parks, green spaces, street trees, waterways and a waterfront greenway. Visit us online at: www.greenshoresnyc.org
To include your event on our updates and calendar, please email: greenshoresnyc@yahoo.com and put "EVENTS" in the subject line.
