Prospect Park will have some great programming each day the kids are off from school from February 20-24:
* The Audubon Center is showing the Discovery Channel series Life at the Boat House all week. Stop by from 12-3pm to learn about the natural history of life on earth, from the strange to the mundane (but all fascinating). Limited seating; groups of 10 or more must call 718-287-3400 x303 for a reservation.
The next Prospect Park Litter Mob meets from 9am to 12pm tomorrow, Tuesday, February 7. Volunteers are always welcome and encouraged to join the effort to clean up the Midwood section of the park. Of course that’s tough for most people on a weekday, but if you’re available, do consider helping.
Got the week off and want to improve your game, locally? The Prospect Park Tennis Center at the Parade Ground is hosting a Presidents’ Week Tennis Program from Monday, February 20 through Friday, February 24, 1-4pm. The cost is $350 per week or $80 per day, with proceeds going toward the ongoing maintenance of the Tennis Center.
Adult and junior players can sign up, but it must be done in advance. To register, return this PDF registration form to the Tennis Center, or call 718-436-2500.
After a few high-profile accidents on the Park Drives in Prospect Park last year, the Road Sharing Taskforce was created to examine how the full range of Park users (runners, walkers, competitive cyclists, recreational bikers, etc.), use the Park Drives, and how it can be done safely.
On Tuesday, February 28 at 6pm, the Road Sharing Taskforce will present the recommendations it made to Parks and DOT on how Park users can safely utilize the Park Drives. If you use the Park in any way, you are welcome to attend the meeting.
Taskforce Members include:
• Department of Parks and Recreation (Prospect Park Administration)
• Department of Transportation (DOT)
• Fellowship For The Interests of Dogs & Their Owners (FIDO)
• Jack Rabbit Sports
• Kissena Cycling Club
• New York Police Department (78th Precinct)
• Office of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz
• Office of NYC Council Member Brad Lander (39th District)
• Park Enforcement Patrol
• Prospect Park Alliance Playground Committee
• Prospect Park Community Committee
• Prospect Park Senior Residence
• Prospect Park Track Club
• Transportation Alternatives
Public Meeting: Sharing the Park Drives
Tuesday, February 28, 6pm
Picnic House in Prospect Park
For more information, contact Prospect Park at 718-965-8951 or info@prospectpark.org.
You can choose to have the park plant a new sapling as part of their forest restoration program for $75, or for $100 you can contribute to the communal Arbor Day tree, which is open for multiple donors to contribute to, and all Arbor Day Tree donors will be invited to the tree planting on Arbor Day 2012 (4/27). All contributions are tax deductible. With each contribution, they will send you, or the recipient of the gift, a special Valentine’s Day certificate.
Orders must be placed by 12 noon on Thursday, February 9 in order for the paper certificate to be received by Valentine’s Day.
February event cancelled due to heat! Winter Jam 2012 at Prospect Park, scheduled for February 4, has been cancelled due to the crazy “winter” weather we’ve been having.
“It is simply too warm to make snow, and the long-range weather forecasts and current ground temperatures make it extremely unlikely that snow could be made,” Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said in a written statement.
It’s been a weird year for winter weather around the country. Are you missing the snow?
It’s too soon to know if Winter Jam NYC 2012 will have any natural snow on the ground, but they’ll make sure there is plenty of the machine-made stuff so you can enjoy winter sports in Prospect Park. The free annual festival takes place the first Saturday of February (the one weekend the Q train work is taking a break).
You can try out winter sports like cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, skiing, and snowboarding for the first time, right in our backyard. Equipment is provided at no cost, or bring your own. More experienced skiers and snowboarders can register to compete in the Prospect Park Jam, hosted by Red Bull.
There will also be some vendors selling snacks at the Pride of New York Winter Market, a Zagat Warming Lounge, and information about NY state ski resorts.
Winter Jam NYC
Saturday, February 4, 11am to 4pm
Prospect Park Long Meadow (by the Picnic House)
Littering doesn’t stop during the winter months, so neither does the Prospect Park Litter Mob, who will be meeting tomorrow morning to clean up the Midwood section of the park.
The weather should be fairly mild, so if you are available, please consider joining their efforts. Surgical gloves are provided, so is hand sanitizer, but bring your own warm or work gloves.
The Litter Mob meets tomorrow, Tuesday, January 24 at 9am on Center Drive (directions here). Please contact Inge De Taeye at ingedetaeye [at] gmail [dot] com if you’ll be going.
If you’ve got the day off from work on Monday and you’re looking for a fun way to spend it locally, the Prospect Park Tennis Center may be the answer. They’re holding a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event where adult and junior players can spend three hours in a clinic that will help improve your moves.
The day features a fast-paced station drill that focuses on specific skills, including serve and volley, ground strokes, approach shots, and offense/defense strategies.
The clinic runs from 1 to 4pm, and costs $80. You must register in advance by filling out and faxing back the registration form to 718-972-2690. For more information, call 718-436-2500.
Households and small businesses are encouraged to bring unwanted or broken electronics like computers, mobile phones, and televisions to Prospect Park this Sunday, January 15 between 10am and 4pm for the Lower East Side Ecology Center’s 9th Annual “After the Holidays” e-waste event.
They do not accept home appliances such as microwaves, refrigerators, or air conditioners. A list of what is and isn’t accepted can be found here.
The drop-off point is on the other side of the park at Prospect Park West and 3rd Street.
A head’s up for those with kids looking for wintertime activities and those looking for a Prospect Park pit stop: The Prospect Park Audubon Center and the Lefferts Historic House will be closed to the public for a month, from January 3 through February 3. Both will reopen February 4.
Be a part of the Audubon’s 112th Christmas Bird Count this Saturday, December 17 at 12 and 3pm at Prospect Park.
For three weeks starting today, volunteers around the country brave the cold to do a bird count, and engage in a little friendly competition. The data is used by the Audubon and other organizations to assess the health of bird populations, and to help guide conservation action.
Additionally, Marie, who has been leading this group of volunteers to clean up litter in the Midwood section of the park, will not be able to organize the group again until February. If you can commit to a few Tuesday morning trips, and maybe send out a recruitment email, take a few photos, and update the Litter Mob blog, please let her know.
Grab your Santa hats and running shoes! There’s still time to register for the annual Jingle Bell Jog, a four-mile race around Prospect Park organized by the New York Road Runners.
Proceeds benefit NYRR’s Youth Programs, and the entry fee includes a long-sleeve tech shirt, bells for your shoes, and post-run seasonal snacks and beverages. They’ve even put together a list of holiday songs that you might want to turn into the soundtrack for your run.
Jingle Bell Jog
Saturday, December 10, 9am
Prospect Park, starts on Center Drive
To try to get cyclists to slow down, hopefully preventing any more accidents with pedestrians, police say they will start handing out tickets to speeding bikers in Prospect Park. According to Park Slope Patch, the 78th Precinct will start by distributing flyers that outline the rules of the main drive this weekend…and then come the tickets, which will be issued for reckless riding.
• Pedestrians always have the right of way.
• Cycling is permitted only on the main Park roadway, Center Drive, and Well House Drive. Cycling is not permitted on Park paths.
• The speed limit on the Drive is 25 mph.
• Cyclists must travel in a counter-clockwise direction and obey all traffic signals.
• When the Park Drive is closed to motor vehicles, use traffic lanes – the recreation lane is for runners and walkers.
• When the Park Drive is open to motor vehicles, use the right half of the recreation lane.
• By law, bicycles must be equipped with bells or similar warning device. Helmets are required for children under 14, and are suggested for everyone.
• By law, bicycles must be equipped with front and rear lights when operating before dawn and after dusk.
• Do not wear headphones.
• Signal for turns and lane changes. Be cautious when passing others and warn them of your presence.
• Only one rider per bicycle.
• Do not bike with dogs on a leash.
• Carry ID at all times.
If you’ve got a holiday shopping list, I’ll bet there’s somebody on there that is impossible to shop for. You ask what they might like for a gift, and they say “world peace.” Well, if they enjoy Prospect Park, consider giving them the gift of a tree this year.
After a tough year that included a damaging hurricane, the Park could use your help, and who wouldn’t appreciate knowing there’s a tree out there planted on their behalf?
$75 Woodlands Restoration Sapling: You can dedicate a small sapling planting, which will be acknowledged with a special certificate, sent to you or the gift recipient. The sapling and its location will be selected by the Prospect Park Natural Resources Crew according to the needs of the forest restoration program. Note that due to the large scale of the planting projects, donors will not know the sapling’s location or species.
$100 Communal Arbor Day Tree: Each Arbor Day, a communal Tree is planted in Prospect Park. This tree is open for multiple donors to contribute to, and all Arbor Day Tree donors will be invited to the tree planting on Arbor Day 2012 (4/27/2012). Your gift will be acknowledged with a special certificate, sent to you or the gift recipient.
Last week’s Prospect Park Road Sharing Taskforce meeting drew around 100 people, and the discussion was heated–the road, which has been the site of several accidents recently, was compared to the Wild West and a bare-knuckle cage fight, reports the New York Times.
They also note that the cones, which were put in place as part of a new safety plan, seem to be confusing for some (the reporter saw an inline skater crash into a cone), but that they’re also helping to raise awareness of the safety problems.
Meanwhile, one recent victim of an accident in the park is suing the city for $3 million, the Post reports. Windsor Terrace resident Dana Jacks was walking on West Drive in June when she was struck by a cyclist, putting her in critical condition with brain trauma and face and skull fractures, from which she is now recovering. Her suit claims the park has become dangerous and hazardous. She also sued the cyclist, David Sonenberg, who has counter-sued her for walking outside of the crosswalk and causing him injuries.
One hopeful idea raised at the meeting that a neighbor noted on the KWT Yahoo Group was for the possibility of a traffic study–not for cars, which was actually done a few years ago, but to measure cyclists, runners, and walkers who use the main drive. If nobody knows how many people use it, and how, then it’s difficult to determine the best way to serve them all, while keeping it safe.
Following a high-profile accident between a pedestrian and cyclist, Prospect Park Administration reports that they are working with the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) to ensure the safe enjoyment of the Park Drives by everyone. In an effort to slow cyclists at crosswalks and remind them to yield to pedestrians, the DOT has introduced a pilot program on Prospect Park’s West Drive between Center Drive and Wellhouse Drive:
* Orange traffic barrels have been placed along the drive, narrowing the right lane of vehicle/cycling traffic into one lane.
* The narrower travel lane is expected to both slow traffic and alert drivers and riders to the upcoming pedestrian crossing.
* In addition, signs have been posted to alert cyclists that the intersection of West Drive and Wellhouse Drive (near Vanderbilt Playground) is a pedestrian crossing, as well as to remind pedestrians to use the crosswalk.
* This week, DOT will be placing a high visibility crosswalk at the intersection.
* NYPD is planning roving enforcement of yield-to-pedestrian laws as well.
Additionally, a reminder that tonight there is a meeting of the Prospect Park Road Sharing Taskforce at the Prospect Park Picnic House at 6pm. The public is welcome, so if you can, please attend and speak up about any concerns you may have.
Following the recent accident in Prospect Park in which a pedestrian was struck by a bicycle, the Prospect Park Road Sharing Taskforce will meet this Wednesday to discuss safety along the Park Drives.
The Taskforce was created earlier this year in response to a number of accidents between pedestrians and cyclists. One such incident over the summer led to a petition for better safety measures, like better yielding devices and more enforcement.
The meeting is open to the public, so if you’ve got concerns, please show up and voice them.
For more information, contact Eric Landau, Vice President of Government and Community Affairs, Prospect Park Alliance, at 718-965-8953 or elandau@prospectpark.org.
Prospect Park Road Sharing Taskforce Meeting
Prospect Park Picnic House
Wednesday, November 16, 6pm
Linda Cohen, a 55-year old Brooklyn resident and frequent volunteer in Prospect Park, is in a medically-induced coma after being hit by a cyclist in the park on November 3. A Walk in the Park reports that the accident happened at about 3pm near Vanderbilt Playground as Cohen was attempting to cross the West Drive.
The cyclist, who remained on the scene, was apparently a bike racer.
More opportunities to be asocial in a public park are now available courtesy of AT&T. Beginning today, you can access free AT&T WiFi at the Prospect Park Picnic House. Now freelancers can hunker down in the shade of trees, and families don’t have to interact at an outing if they don’t want to.
The free WiFi is also available now at Pier 1 at Brooklyn Bridge Park and Marcus Garvey Park in Manhattan. The launch is part of a five-year digital initiative to provide free WiFi at 26 locations in 20 New York City parks across the five boroughs. It’s currently available at about half of them.
A reminder that this Sunday, September 18 is the Prospect Park Alliance’s second annual walk-a-thon, which helps raise money for the park–which really needs it, following budget cuts and a hurricane that damaged more than 150 trees.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
5K loop around Prospect Park
Rain or shine
9 a.m. – check-in begins • 10 a.m. – walk starts
Enter at 15th Street & Prospect Park West (Bartel Pritchard entrance) Sign up now!
Marie has been leading the Prospect Park Litter Mob for several trips into the park’s Midwood area, where the group cleans up trash left behind in the notorious rendezvous spot. This week’s scheduled Mob will be out of the Midwood, however, because of a little hurricane action the area saw over the weekend instead.
Since the area is safe for walking around yet (it hasn’t been vetted for loose or falling tree limbs), the group will help with general post-hurricane cleanup tomorrow. The park was hit pretty hard, so they can use all the help they can get!
They will meet at the same location (click here for directions), and you should RSVP to littermob [at] gmail [dot] com if you’ll be able to join them.
When neighbor Armando Gonzalez read about Prospect Park’s budget cuts, the owner of a professional cleaning company decided to volunteer his services to help keep the park looking good. He tells the Daily News he came to pick up trash because he doesn’t like the idea of how it makes New York look:
“That bothers me, because I love New York. New York is full of tourists…I’d hate people to go back home and start talking about how dirty New York was – ‘We went to the park and we saw a lot of garbage,’” he said. “I want them to have a good impression.”
He’ll be volunteering through September, and then hopes to do it again next summer.
Of course, he’s not the only one volunteering his time to keep the park clean. Marie and her team from the Litter Mob continue to pick up trash in the Midwood section of the park every other Tuesday at 9am. And volunteers are always welcome, and needed.
If you’ve walked through the park recently and thought about how dirty it seems, let Armando and Marie provide a little inspiration–all you have to do is show up, and you can make a difference.
After a recent collision of a biker and a pedestrian in Prospect Park, which put the pedestrian in the hospital with serious injuries, neighbors have voiced concern over the safe use of Park Drive. Neighbor Mark Simpson has put together a petition addressed to the Prospect Park Alliance to propose new rules and markings along the popular loop. Here’s an abbreviated run-down of what’s being asked for:
1. Paint road markings to show the intended use of each lane during the 90% of the time the drive is closed to cars.
2. Add many more and permanent signs to show the intended use of each lane. The current signs are temporary and there are only a few and most people don’t see them.
3. Change the lane use to match what works in practice: center lane for fast bikes (currently right lane), right lane for slow bikes and roller bladers (currently center), inside lanes for runners and walkers (same).
4. Place in-grade yellow flashing lights into the crosswalk lines at the traffic signal crosswalks. Make the lights flash whenever pedestrians have the right of way (light is red). Add a sign at every light that says “Yield to pedestrians when flashing” or “Yield to pedestrians at red signal”. Add signs for the crossers saying “Yield to Park Drive Users when Traffic Light is Green”.
5. Rule change: when the park drive is closed to traffic — walkers, runners, bladers, and cyclists doing laps on the Park Drive must yield to crossing pedestrians at red lights and then may continue. When the light is green, crossing pedestrians must yield to all users on the park drive and then may continue.
6. Double the number of crosswalks by adding additional crosswalks without stop lights at high traffic crossing areas between park destinations to encourage controlled crossing between lights. Add signs at every crosswalk that say “Yield to Park Drive Users” (the current law).
Read more and sign the petition here. Once several signatures are collected, it will be sent on to Council Member Brad Lander and the Prospect Park Alliance.
Starting this Saturday, head to Prospect Park with your junior anglers for an expanded fishing program, which runs on Saturdays in July and August at 1pm and 3pm:
The decades-old Macy’s Fishing Contest at Prospect Park has become the new and improved Macy’s Fishing Clinics! This exciting, free program offers kids quality fishing instruction and an introduction to aquatic ecology. Children 15 and under, accompanied by parent/guardian, will learn about recreational fishing, fishing safety, and fish-friendly techniques, all while casting their lines on a spectacular summer day in the Park!
Meet at the Audubon Center. Call (718) 287-3400, ext. 303 for details. The Audubon Center at the Boathouse is located just inside the Lincoln Road/Ocean Ave. entrance to the Park.
Please note: All fishing at Prospect Park is “catch and release” only. Once a fish is caught, it must be removed from the hook and returned to the water. The use of barbed hooks is prohibited by New York State Law. For detailed fishing guidelines, please see our web site.
A tour of Prospect Park’s five arches should begin at Endale Arch, perhaps 200 feet inside the park coming from Grand Army Plaza. Many way signs are missing in the park, so it’s best to first bring up the interactive map at prospectpark.org and check “show map overlay.”
Most people walk without stopping through the cool darkness of the Endale Arch to one of the most magnificent vistas in New York, the half-mile Long Meadow, an undulating green carpet that, on misty days, disappears into time. Central Park has nothing like this.
But once upon a time, it was worth lingering inside the arch. Unlike Central Park, where the arches are brick-lined, in Prospect Park the designers thought to line the Endale Arch with zebralike alternating stripes of black walnut and yellow pine, “to avoid the drip which would occur from the condensation of moisture,” according to the 1870 Annual Report of the Brooklyn Park Commissioners.
Not everyone was happy with Tuesday’s Decemberist’s concert, according to neighbor Sharon:
they only had 1 gate open. And, they made one of my friends THROW OUT THEIR FOOD FOR NO REASON. And when that was revealed to be a mistake, offered zero apology… at last night’s decemberists show. they said “oh, that guard didn’t know.” but it wasn’t sufficient. Show was ok otherwise, but that kind of sh*t is just not okay. If my other friend hadn’t thrown a huge fit about her own food, that guy would have made even MORE people ditch the picnic items they’re allowed at CB.
Anyone else have a similar experience or thoughts? Do you think Celebrate Brooklyn can rectify their mistakes here?
Doing some research on rooftop farming and I came across this Times article about rooftop greenhouses. Given how capital-intensive growing on rooftops is, is it too hard to imagine a future where we are complaining about corporate rooftop farms? One venture capitalist involved projects a billion dollars of sales by 2020. Imagine feeding the entirety of NYC w […]
I was raised in Suffolk county, mostly, in the nowhere city of Centereach. As soon as I could drive I began heading out to the North Fork to photograph (my Minolta x-370 and black and white film) the old barns, decaying farmhouses, rusting implements, and the sea. There was, then, hardly a place to eat and no one on the roads. Sometimes I would go with a cou […]
I receive a number of hits for soil testing services and I think that's great. It's an important part of growing in urban areas. I would like to include more information on soil testing, and link to the Cornell's labs, but I find their website absolutely cryptic -I cannot figure it out! I would also use their services, but I cannot find my way […]
I shopped at a grocer on Long Island this weekend after going out to the North Fork. When I was a kid, this same store was oriented toward working class Italians, and today it is still that, but also reorienting toward Asian and Central and South American food products. It is where I saw my first sheep head in cellophane for sale, complete with eyeballs and […]
Recently I began using a mobile device and that has made me much more conscious of the look of my blog via mobile. Today's stats show that 48% of my page views have been on an iphone or ipad. That's high, it's usually closer to 5%, but even that has grown in the last few months from only 1%. I've been communicating with Marie of 66squaref […]
A few thought people having sex in the garden was unlikely, but, finally the evidence is in - condoms and napkins in proximity. I gotta get me one of those pickers we use in the park. On a good note, the crocus are blooming. […]
...Is the way to lose that and not gain this. :Yoshida Kenko, no. 188, Essays in Idleness Some of you may know that I've taken up garlic growing this past year. My plot upstate is a borrowed one, and as such requires less commitment than one for which I could be paying. In other words, in Kenko's words, I get to take this and keep that. This weeken […]
Dear KWT CSA members, It’s that time again – 2012 CSA sign-up is now open!The Kensington Windsor Terrace CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) offers two pick-up options:Wednesdays 4:00-6:00 p.m. at the East 4th Street Community Garden. Members are asked to commit to one volunteer shift during the season; Wednesday shifts are from 3:30 to 6:15 p.m. Pick-ups […]
Last autumn I was on a garlic seed production research tear. I came across a company in china called Pretty Garlic. Log onto their website to read the mythical origins of pretty garlic -something about a sick girl saved by garlic. In reading their how-to-grow garlic page, I was a little surprised by the frank use of the term "human wastes" as suppl […]
