Freshkills Park development moves forward

Proposed Plan for North Park. Image courtesy of New York City Department of Parks & Recreation

Parks needed Commission’s authorization to develop Phase 1 of Freshkills’ North Park. The City Planning Commission granted the Department of Parks and Recreation’s request for authorization to alter natural features in Staten Island to facilitate the development of Phase 1 of Freshkills Park’s North Park. Freshkills Park, described as a “natural wonder” by Chair Amanda M. Burden at a … <Read More>


Midtown’s East 54th Street bathhouse designated

342 East 54th Street in Midtown, Manhattan.

East 54th Street building provided public bathing facilities to tenement residents. On May 10, 2011, Landmarks designated the East 54th Street Bath and Gymnasium at 342-348 East 54th Street in Manhattan as an individual City landmark. Werner & Windolph completed the three-story, Classical Revival building for the City in 1911. The redbrick building features a large stone cornice, tripartite arched openings, and four Doric columns featuring capitals adorned … <Read More>


Cas Holloway Discusses Department of Environmental Protection Initiatives

Cas Holloway, as commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, is responsible for protecting the City’s environment. This includes ensuring that clean drinking water from upstate aqueducts reach the City’s 950,000 buildings and that the City’s 14,000 miles of water and sewer mains remain in good working order. The agency also plays a major role in implementing PlaNYC by promoting the use of modern, “green” infrastructure.

Holloway joined the Department of Parks and Recreation under … <Read More>


New community garden preservation rules released

Parks intends to preserve community gardens under its jurisdiction. There are more than 600 community gardens participating in the City’s GreenThumb Program. Since 2001, gardens on City-owned lots have been administered pursuant to practices memorialized in a 2002 agreement between the City and the State Attorney General’s Office, which expired on September 17, 2010. Prior to its expiration, the Department of Parks and Recreation published a new set of rules that codified and strengthened the … <Read More>


Mark Silberman Brings Legislative and Litigation Experience to Landmarks

Hobbled by a bad back and recently returned from vacation, the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s General Counsel Mark Silberman sat down with CityLand to talk about his role at the Commission and Landmarks’ role in the City. He brings a perspective on the broader role of historic preservation nationally and in our culture.

A young environmentalist. Raised in Illinois and a graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz, Silberman began his career in government … <Read More>


City moves closer to controlling all of the High Line

City can now negotiate to acquire northern section of High Line in order to complete 1.45-mile elevated park. On July 29, 2010, the City Council approved a proposal by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services and the Department of Parks and Recreation to acquire the remaining portion of the High Line elevated rail line and associated easements. This section, currently owned by CSX Corporation, begins at West 30th Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues and … <Read More>