Photo by Avi.
June 18, 2012 Weather: Partly Cloudy, High of 71 Degrees.
Notices:
We’ve listed local events through Tuesday. Tonight, Ziggy Marley appears at the Upper West Side Apple store and the brand-new Claire Tow Theater opens at Lincoln Center. The theater will feature up-and-coming talent; tickets to “Slowgirl” are $20.
News:
PS 87 wants to block off West 78th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus for a play street from 11 a.m. until 2:15 p.m. on school days while its playground is renovated. Residents are concerned about restricting vehicle access. A similar battle has been brewing near the Ascension School on 107th Street. (I’ve never fully understood why schools don’t have kids walk 1.5 blocks to play in the greatest park in the world, instead of blocking off streets). (DNAinfo)
Thousands of people marched silently from Harlem to the mayor’s house to protest stop-and-frisk. (NY Times)
The city has eased its stance against Occupy Wall Street protestors who use a boat docked at the 79th Street boat basin. (DNAinfo)
Bin 70, a new wine store that has been in the works for awhile (first mentioned by us last September), opened at 70th Street and West End Avenue on Saturday. One local fell in love at first sip. In an email to us she wrote: “Everyone who works there is my kind of wine lover….open, welcoming and has taken the ‘snobbery’ out with the cork. Awesome. Wine stores for me are like Barnes and Noble and they accommodated with no problem. Prices are fair….selection is boutique in style but hits all the “highway” wines. I want to see this store succeed.”
In public school upwards of one hundreds kids have recess together at one time, for maybe 30 mins, with a small number of aides watching them. Walking to a park, even a few blocks away, isn’t feasible.
I hope both play street proposals are approved. I would imagine that the main reason schools and summer programs want streets closed rather than using the parks is that it’s a huge hassle to move dozens of children from a school to a park and back again, across streets and with limited time. I’m neither a parent or a teacher, but I certainly recall the challenge of even moving one or two nieces and nephews from place to place in recent years, much less many children.
Making a street a playground should not be an option. It’s an absurd idea. Why not negotiate with JCC to use their roof or one of their gyms?
Although our streets have been taken over by motor vehicles, they are PUBLIC spaces and as such, should benefit all of the public. Back in the day, kids played on our streets all the time. The street was part of everyday life and community. People met there and felt it was part of their backyard. Now, people are stuck inside because we value the movement of motor vehicles over all other uses…personally, I’d take a bunch of joyful, screaming kids over fumes and noise and unsafe streets any day of the week. Bring on more play streets!