Happy Passover and Easter, UESiders!!

May your holidays be full of joy and family!!

(On a lesser note, guess what?  This Sunday’s also the first day of the NYS 2018 trout and salmon fishing season!!)

As the second week of our so-called “spring” commences:

Saturday, March 31st:  82nd Street/St. Stephen’s Greenmarket

82nd Street between First and York, 9am–2pm

Compost & Clothes Collection, 9am–1pm

At their tables will be American Pride Seafood, Bread Alone, Ballard’s Honey, Consider Bardwell,  Samascott, Hudson Valley Duck, Rising Sun Beef, Old Mother Hubbert,  Gajeski, Hawthorne and Nolasco Farms!!

Market Manager G sez:  “It’s an eggcellent day to come to the market!!  We’re celebrating Easter a day early with some colorful and natural egg dyeing. And don’t forget to get your winter warrior cards stamped. This Saturday is the last day!!”

Also of primo importance:  Do not forget to sign the Greenmarket funding petition at Manager G’s table!!

Recycling totals:  3/17 – 40 lbs batteries;  20 lbs. cords, corks, cellphones and cartridges; 12 compost bins; 26 bags of clothes.  3/24 –  76 lbs. batteries;  30 lbs. cords, corks, cellphones and cartridges; 6 pairs eye glasses; 12 compost bins; 39 bags of clothes. 

WOW!!

And then it’s April:

Sunday, April 1st:  The Easter Parade & Bonnet Festival

Fifth Avenue from 49th to 57th Streets, 10am

A total, ultimate NYC classic!!  Bring on those bonnets!!

Every Wednesday:  Mindfulness Meditation at the Asia Society

Lila Acheson Wallace Auditorium, Asia Society of New York, 725 Park Avenue, 12:30-1pm

Sure, we have a certain affection for our New York stress…  But relief’s wonderful, too.  Sessions under the guidance of master Archimedes Bibiano.  Free for members.  Non-members, $10.  Seniors and students, $5.  For more…

Thursday, April 5th:  Special East River Fifties Alliance Meeting

Morso Restaurant, , 420 East 59th Street, 8am

The 95-story 58th Street Zombie Mega Tower’s trying to come back to life with the developer now turning to the NYC Board of Standards and Appeals with this gathering vital to dvising neighborhood strategy for the upcoming BSA meeting on Tuesday, April 10th!!  This is big, people!!

Thursday, April 5th:  Harlem Creek Walking Tour

Meet at 100th Street and Central Park West, 6:30-8:30pm

Trace the now hidden course of this once lively waterway with urban explorer Steve Duncan!!  Another great NYC H2O water-centric event!!  (We’ve done the also buried Spring Street tour and it was wonderful!!)   For more and tickets…

Saturday, April 7th to Sunday, April 15th:  Participatory Budgeting Vote

Sites TBA but they’ll be all over the UES, including the Greenmarket

Until then, here’s the list of most worthy nominees!!   And, of course, we’ll be keeping you in the loop!!

And then:

Tuesday, April 10th:  58th Street Mega Tower Appeal Hearing

NYC Board of Standard and Appeals, 22 Reade Street, 9:30am

A pivotal moment/meeting for the fabric of/life in the East 50’s!!  Be there if you possibly can, residents!!  Bus transport provided and departing at 8:15.  For full details and to reserve your seat downtown…  (And to whom to write to at the BSA if you can’t attend…)

Wednesday, April 11th:  World War I  Commemoration & Celebration of York Avenue

In front of the Webster Branch Library, 1465 York Avenue between 77th & 78th, 11am

Okay, so WWI didn’t end till November 11, 1918 and York Avenue wasn’t renamed (previously it was Avenue A) until 1928…  No UESider turns down an invitation to party by/with its electeds – in this case, AM Seawright!! 

Saturday, April 21st:  Shred-A-Thon – Earth Day Edition 

82nd Street/St. Stephen Greenmarket, 82nd Street between First & York, 10am-2pm

We’re in the countdown mode:

NO cardboard or plastic-handled shopping bags.

REMOVE paper clips and spiral bindings. 

NO HARDCOVER BOOKS.   (But paperbacks are fine.)

(Take those hardcovers to Goodwill or Housing Works.)

Thank you, AM Seawright and CMs Kallos and Powers for funding Shred-A-Thons!!

Saturday, April 21st:  NYC H2O Cleanup at Conference House Park

Conference House Park, Staten Island, 10am-2pm

Up to date with your shredding?  Well, here’s another Earth-friendly activity to celebrate the day…  Tending to the health of precious NYC wetlands!!  Transportation and lunch provided…   A hands-on seining adventure with naturalist Seth Wolney adds to fun!!  In partnership with CM Borelli and – who else? – Partnership for Parks!!  For full details and to sign up…

Tuesday, April 24th:  East River Crew’s Community Rowing Season Begins!

East River Esplanade at 96th Street, 4:30 pm

We’re more than ready to be out on our East River in one of the Crew’s wonderful boats savoring the most wonderful perspective on the UES and the Esplanade!!  A true and great UES experience!!  Row or just enjoy!!  Free!! 

Friday, April 27th:  Electronics Recycling Collection

Schurz Park, East End Avenue between 84th & 85th, 10am-4pm

If it’s tech, bring it on!!  But no appliances, fridges or microwaves!!  Free…  For the full list of what’ll be acccepted and not… 

Looking forward to May:

Monday, May 7th:  5th Annual Friends of the Esplanade Spring Benefit

Bar Felice, 1591 First Avenue, 6:30-8:30pm

Such a great community endeavor!!  Such great food!!  Such good company!!   The best raffle ever!!   Be a part of our Esplanade’s rebirth!!  For details…

Then July:

Mondays – Thursday, July 9th –  August 9th:  Green Girls Summer Institute

IS 204/Oliver Holmes, Long Island City, 9am-3pm

And we quote, “Based in Long Island City, Green Girls – ages 10 to 13 – travel to all five boroughs to study New York’s dynamic urban forests, parks and waterways, encouraging them to realize their potential to create change within their natural environment and learn about future careers in the sciences.”  Free!!  For more and to apply…

Miscellany…  With a pause for a bit more activism:

Say what?  Seems that as things presently stand with proposed congestion pricing, surcharges would also apply to wheelchair accessible taxis…

Further on NYC landfill challenges… 

The MTA’s more than thinking about whittling away at our crosstown bus service!!

Should you oppose exploitation of our wilderness areas…

On the sunnier side of the street:

Our newest and way youngest Community Board 8 member!!

Phillips will be using recycled plastic in the fabrication of its Senseo Original Coffeemaker!!

Bring on urban farming (especially encasing great-looking futuristic apartment buildings)!! 

Nine really interesting books on botanical subjects…

Another 3-D printed house in the works… 

Who knew the UES was home to the Institute for Study of the Ancient World?  And here’s what they get up to…  (Think Babylonian astronomy for openers!!)

Or that we had a reigning mushroom expert in our midst…  (He’ll be missed.)

Or a New Yorker who turned discarded wood into violins…

Not a New Yorker, but another savior of our green heritage…

NYC in spring bloom as per The Times…

Why NYC water’s so fabulous…

Be great to see displays like this in the produce department in our hood…

Time for the furry, finned and even slimey:

The great American spring migration has commenced!!  And Hawk Mountain keeps a wonderful tally of the flow…  

The kindness and care given Bulgarian storks…

A feline odyssey…

Goat yoga lands in Brooklyn!!

One happy coyote heads double time back into the wild…

Robotic fish (we like ’em)…

Then there’s fish plastic surgery!!

Beautiful slugs…

And from the Hudson River Almanac:

3/12 – Yonkers: During a tour of the lower Hudson Valley, we made a stop at the Sarah Lawrence Center for the Urban River at Beczak. Elisa Caref gave us our first glance at this season’s glass eel migration, straight from their fyke net. Other treasures in the net included a juvenile mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) and small mud crabs.  Several oyster shells gave evidence to this important mollusk surviving, at least in small numbers, on the Yonkers waterfront.

Some of Those Oysters

The salinity was a very low 2.0 parts-per-thousand (ppt).  – Chris Bowser, Rebecca Houser, Steve Stanne, Susan Pepe, Martice Smith, Grace Ballou, Aidan Mabey, Ashawna Abbott, Lyndi Hall, Alex Curtze, Erin Lefkowitz, Ryan Palmer, Elisa Caref.

(Here’s NYS’s 2018 shellfish harvesting schedule!!)

Our inspiration is green,

UGS

 

Happy 4th 2018 Nor’Easter, UESiders!!

Take that, you deluge of big, gloppy snow flakes!!

Nothing deflates the UES great mood set in motion by Sanitation’s news that our recycling/composting is so substantial that prospective truck trips to the MTS have been summarily reduced…  This considerably before the thing even opens…  With area recycling headed only towards increase!!

And Sanitation better be hoping it does.

As little in touch with modernity as the Department is, up and down the East Coast, communities – mostly poor, of course – that allowed landfills into their orbit or had them imposed – are waking up to how ill-advised that decision was… 

Like Uniontown, Alabama…  

Shameful that NYC’s sewage sludge’s been sent to nearby Jefferson County with similar results…

Awareness’s rising in PA, too… 

And upstate NYS…  (Odors created there courtesy of Waste Management, a company so well entrenched in NYC…) 

Bottom line, one day soon there’ll be nowhere to send this awful stuff.

Meanwhile, let us recall Copenhagen’s city-central, squeeky-clean waste-to-energy plant wrapped in a ski run.

Oh!  And we’re not forgetting that today’s National Puppy Day (prime for adoption) and International Forest Day!!

With a mighty fine week beyond:

Saturday, March 24th:  82nd Street/St. Stephen’s Greenmarket

82nd Street between First and York, 9am–2pm

Compost & Clothes Collection, 9am–1pm

With us will be American Pride Seafood, Bread Alone, Ballard’s Honey, Consider Bardwell,  Samascott, Hudson Valley Duck, Rising Sun Beef, Old Mother Hubbert,  Gajeski, Hawthorne and Nolasco Farms!!

Market Manager G says  “We’re gearing up for the first week of spring and the final two weeks of Winter Warrior.   Come taste the early flavors of spring with a demo featuring micro greens and sprouts!”

Meanwhile:  We never considered ourselves real whole grain fans until we had the Bread Alone whole grain bread experience!!  So great as the foundation of grilled cheese (from any one of our great farmers)!!

Last week’s recycling totals:  TBA   (We’d come down with a wretched cold!)

 

Thursday, March 29th:  Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Forum

University Settlement / YMCA Houston Center, 273 Bowery Stteet, Seminar Room 1, 11am-1pm

At which NYC DEP will hopefully present improvements to our city’s water treatment system which, whenever there’s 1/4-inch of rain, permits polluted stormwater runoff containing raw sewage, an array of other toxins and debris to discharge directly into local waterways!!  Organized by the great people of SWIM.  For further details and to register…

Saturdays, April 7th – June 17th:  Jesse Owens Track & Field Program

Thomas Jefferson Park, First Avenue at 111th Street, 10am-12pm

Perfect for young ones – girls and boys – to make the acquaintance of track and field’s classic elements from long jump to hurdles to the javalin and more!  Ages 8-14.   Co-sponsored by the Randall’s Island Park Alliance.  Entirely free!!  For more:  sports@cityparksfoundation.org  

Saturday, March 31st:  “If Trash Could Talk” Poetry Reading

67th Street Branch Library, 328 East 67th Street, 2pm

The poetry, stories and musings of the UES’s most active advocate of recycling/reuse, Jacqueline Ottman!!  Come one, come all!!  Free!!

May it be solidly, uninterruptedly spring-like by the time April rolls around:

Saturday, April 14th:  Ridgewood Reservoir Tour

Meeting site accompanies registration, 10:30am

NYC H2O’s Jonathan Turer leads an exploration of the one-time NYC water source, now an unspoiled green treasure in our city’s heart!  A collaboration with the Historic District Council.  Friends of the Council, $15.  Non-members, $20.  For tickets and more…  

Saturday, April 21st:  Shred-A-Thon – Earth Day Edition 

82nd Street/St. Stephen Greenmarket, 82nd Street between First & York, 10am-2pm

Just another 4 weeks:

NO cardboard or plastic-handled shopping bags.

REMOVE paper clips and spiral bindings. 

NO HARDCOVER BOOKS.   (But paperbacks are fine.)

(Take those hardcovers to Goodwill or Housing Works.)

Thank you, CMs Kallos and Powers and AM Seawright for your support and generous grants!!

Tuesday, April 24th:  East River Crew’s Community Rowing Season Begins!

East River Esplanade at 96th Street, 4:30 pm

Can’t wait to be out on our East River in one of the Crew’s wonderful boats savoring the most wonderful perspective on the UES and our Esplanade!!  Nothing like it and you’ll be thanking yourself!!  Row or don’t row, experienced or not at all, you’re welcome any old way.  Free!! 

Get ready for May::

Monday, May 7th:  5th Annual Friends of the Esplanade Spring Benefit

Bar Felice, 1591 First Avenue, 6:30-8:30pm

Such a great community endeavor!!  Such great food!!  Such good company!!   The best raffle ever!!   Be a part of our Esplanade’s rebirth!!  For details…

Saturday, May 19th:  Fun With Fungi – Micro-Culture Using Compost Workshop

Queens Botanical Garden, 443-50 Main Street, Flushing, 10:30am-12:30pm

 

Discover the wonders of the fungal kingdom and learn how to grow those wonders utilizing endlessly useful compost!!  You’ll even be sent home with your own mushroom starter kit!!   Presented by the NYC Compost Project.  $6.  To reserve your place…

Our week in miscellany, activism first:

Yes, another petition but our beleagured pollinators need all the help they can get with the E.P.A…  

An accurate census funnels ga-zillions in rightful tax money to NYC/NYS…  So, should you think the Senate should fully fund the upcoming 2020 count… 

And just so you know:

Iconic Easter Island’s not-so slowly washing away… 

On the upswing:

A desert city aiming to be 100% sustainable with no waste…  

Mysteries of NYC rezoning partially revealed…

Astronaut Scott Kelly’s impressively well-written account of his readaptation to Mother Earth…

Send your name to the sun…  Really!!

NYC’s soon going to have its own leaning tower…  Times two!!

And its personal interior botanical gardens…

3-D printed housing for the Third World…  (Much bettter looking than human-crafted cinder block!) 

NYS now has Angler Achievement Awards for those who catch those really big fish!!

Yes, off-shore wind, but how about some NYC rooftop wind power…?  

NYS Conservation officers have been busy this week…

And the winner of Consumer Report’s Innerspring Mattress Face-Off is…

A classic UES gentleman’s haircut and shave…

In the animal file:

Not easy returning buffalo to land they once roamed…

Two slices of Russian feline life:   Kitty named European football championship oracle…    Kitty under arrest and nearly worse because of its human’s debt…

A collection of great critter info… Including facts about (adorable) shrews…

Why salamanders cross the road and how we can help them…

Eight facts about – ahem – platypuses…

A bat quiz…

Time for the weekly Hudson River Almanac installment:

3/6  – Manhattan: We went to check our research sampling gear in Hudson River Park at The River Project’s sampling station on the lighthouse tender Lilac at Pier 25 and were treated to a 220 millimeter-long (mm) white perch in one of our fish traps. White perch (Morone americana) are one of the signature fishes of the Hudson River not only because they are so common but they are one of the likeliest fishes to be caught on rod and reel by recreational anglers. – Nina Hitchings, Iftikar Ahmed, Omar Gabr

That White Perch

3/8 – Manhattan, HRM 1: As we were checking our research sampling gear in Hudson River Park at The River Project’s sampling station on the lighthouse tender Lilac at Pier 25, we were about to give up hope for a fish when our final trap housed an adorable 77.5 mm tautog, or blackfish. – Siddhartha Hayes

A Tautog

[Tautog (Tautoga onitis) are a rather common bottom-dwelling fish of New York Harbor. Their colloquial name, blackfish, refers to the adults as they attain a deep, coal black color. Among their favorite foods are shellfish that they find in abundance in near-shore rocky areas. In the spirit of “you are what you eat,” blackfish, perhaps owing to their shellfish diet, are one of the most sought after food fishes in the New York Bight.  – Tom Lake]

Believing in all things green,

UGS

 

A Most Happy St. Patrick’s Day, UESiders!!

And while we New Yorkers have years of experience on how best to celebrate, the Russians (of all people!!) seem to have us beat with their (8 day!!) Irish Week!! 

With a giant green Erin Go Bragh…

Let’s hit the week ahead:

Friday, March 16th:  NYSkies Astronomy Seminar

McBurney House, 125 West 14th Street between Sixth & Seventh, 6:30-9:30pm 

Star master John Pasmino explains the perihelic opposition of Mars…  “Periehelic”  being when Mars is closest to earth and us!!  Free and so enlightening!!

Saturday, March 17th:  82nd Street/St. Stephen’s Greenmarket

82nd Street between First and York, 9am–2pm

Compost & Clothes Collection, 9am–1pm

At their even greener than usual tables will be American Pride Seafood, Bread Alone, Ballard’s Honey, Consider Bardwell,  Samascott, Hudson Valley Duck, Rising Sun Beef, Old Mother Hubbert,  Gajeski, Hawthorne and Nolasco Farms!!

Market Manager G. advises:  “Pick up ingredients for a traditional St. Paddy’s Day feast and/or grab Hawthorne Valley’s delicious soda bread!! Stop by the info tent for a very special green cooking demo!!”

Last week’s recycling totals:  77 lbs. batteries; 16 lbs. cords, corks, cellphones and cartridges; 5 pairs eye glasses; 12 compost bins; 35 bags of clothes.   

Back in the 12 bin groove!!

Saturday, March 17th:  The 2018 Ben Kallos Chess Challenge

Eleanor Roosevelt High School, 411 East 76th Street, 10am-3pm (Check in: 8:15-9:30am) 

Last year saw kids (K-12) from 94 schools testing their chess mettle!  This year…?  We’re prepared to be amazed!!  Organized by the great Chess In Schools.  Completely free, but players must register by Tuesday, March 13th  ChessInTheSchools.org!!  (So it’s too late to register, but this’s got to be really fun to watch!!)

Sunday, March 25th:  Terrific Turtles Program!

Albany Pine Bush Discovery Center, 195 New Karner Road, Albany, 1-3pm

So much to know about this wonderful creature as we  humans hike around on some of its prime turf!   Absolutely family friendly!!  Tickets, $3 per person, $5 for a family.  For more and reservation (you must)…

Thursday, March 29th:  Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Forum

University Settlement / YMCA Houston Center, 273 Bowery Stteet, Seminar Room 1, 11am-1pm

At which NYC DEP will hopefully present improvements to our city’s water treatment system which, whenever there’s 1/4-inch of rain, permits polluted stormwater runoff containing raw sewage, an array of other toxins and debris to discharge directly into local waterways!!  Organized by the great people of SWIM.  For further details and to register…

Saturday, March 31st:  If Trash Could Talk Poetry Reading

67th Street Branch Library, 328 East 67th Street, 2pm

The poetry, stories and musings of the UES’s most active advocates of recycling/reuse, Jacqueline Ottman!!  Come one, come all!!  Free!!

May it be solidly spring-like bu the time April rolls around:

Saturday, April 14th:  Ridgewood Reservoir Tour

Meeting site accompanies registration, 10:30am

NYC H2O’s Jonathan Turer leads an exploration of the one-time NYC water source, now an unspoiled green treasure in our city’s heart!  A collaboration with the Historic District Council.  Friends of the Council, $15.  Non-members, $20.  For tickets and more…  

Saturday, April 21st:  Shred-A-Thon – Earth Day Edition 

82nd Street/St. Stephen Greenmarket, 82nd Street between First & York, 10am-2pm

Just another 4 weeks:

NO cardboard or plastic-handled shopping bags.

REMOVE paper clips and spiral bindings. 

NO HARDCOVER BOOKS.   (But paperbacks are fine.)

(Take those hardcovers to Goodwill or Housing Works.)

We’re so grateful to AM Seawright and CMs Powers and Seawright for the generous grants that make Shred-A-Thons possible!!

Saturday, April 28th  Spring Migration Bird Walk

Meet at the Jamaica Bay Refuge Visitor Center, 10am

Get to know some of the wonderful 9,000 acres (as in 20 square miles) of open bay, saltmarsh, mudflats, upland fields, woods, and migrating birds that visit them!!  Your guide:  Emeritus NYC birder, Don Riepe!!  Free.  For more and directions:   718-474-0896 or donriepe@gmail.com…   

Saturday, May 19th to Sunday, October 28th:  Georgia O’Keefe – Visions of Hawai’i

New York Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern Boulevard, The Bronx

The lush, gorgeous work created by the genius O’Keefe during her nine week stay in Hawaii in 1939…Paintings unseen in NYC since 1940 and accompanied by a host of special events !!  Tickets from $12 to $25.  For more…

In the miscellany file:

Commencing with a wonderful local summer internship opportunities for high schoolers at the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum!!  (Scroll down further to check our the Museum’s summer camps for ages 6-8 and 9-12) 

Moving on to:

Times’ readers had such lovely things to say about last Sunday’s article covering the “remake” of “Annie Hall” starring UES seniors!!

As always, including a generous bunch of activism:

As in if you object to Albany loosening up NYC’s zoning code so things can go even taller...

Meanwhile, all around the world, rampant urban housing shortages are inspiring new approaches…

Or that so many green words have been removed from the New Oxford Junior Dictionary…

Or that the governor should weigh in on our city’s upward zoning/park alienation craze…

And that he acts to preserve our state’s forests…

Same for Congress protecting Americas streams, rivers and lakes…

And our city’s historic structures from a Landmarks Commission increasingly inclined to exclude public input from its decision-making… 

A great MTS headline, yes, but we can’t rest on our laurels when:

Quite astonishing – if not kind of embarassing –  the progress China’s made in reducing pollution in just 4 years…

They’re busy on the ecosystem front, too…

Interesting that a Chinese company’ll be building a recycling plant in the U.S.…  This when American scrap’s barred from import into China…  

And the number of impoverished communities willing to live side-by-side with big city waste in landfills is on a steep decline…  Case and point!!  

Still:

NYC’s compost collection really does continue to expand!!

And just so you know:

These things’re sprinkled all over the American landscape, but…  Well, just read…

You bet, there’s a Carton Council (as in milk and beverage-type cartons) of North America and its recent survey is full of more good news!!  (We NYCers recycle them in our glass/plastic/metals bins!)

From our NYS Conservation Officers’ diary (clue below)…

Rescue Eagle

The NH forest where acid rain and its effects were first observed…

Design evolution of the plastic coffee cup lid…

Further on the subject of design, L.A.’s just appointed it’s first architectural design and preservation czar!!  (We sure could use one…)

Going lighter: 

Interesting combination:  Ben Franklin and tofu…

Shakespeare and NYC history…

A 400-year old NYC street memoralized in a way downtown lobby…

An enduring UES DVD rental store...

Not that it applies to us, but we just love this announcement/order/advice from the NYS DEC:  “REMINDER: Ice anglers must remove all #icefishing shanties on the ice by tomorrow, March 15th. Shanties that fall partially through the ice become hard to remove and create hazards to snowmobiles and other motorized vehicles on the ice. “

An Ice Shanty!

It’s animal time:

Globe-trotting adoptee combat cats…

No problem if you missed Nat Geo’s really excellent Jane Goodall doc (“Jane”) earlier in the week…  It’s On Demand and free!!

The NYC Pigeon Stalker…

Fifteen things one needs to know before adopting a ferret…

How about a pet you can have for 50-plus years…?

The Hudson River Almanac provides the aquatic: 

3/1 – Manhattan:  It was overcast and warm as we went to check our research gear in Hudson River Park in The River Project’s sampling station on the lighthouse tender Lilac at Pier 25.  We caught an assortment of critters including isopods, grass shrimp (Palaemonetes sp.) and two small mud crabs.  It’s not often that our most exciting catching is an alien, in this case an Asian shore crab. – Siddhartha Hayes, Toland Kister, Siri Dolce-Bengtsson, Omar Gabr

An Asian Shore Crab

The Asian Shore Crab (Hemigrapsus sanguineus) is an invasive species that likely arrived in the United Staates in the ballast of cargo ships.  It is native to the inshore ocen areas around China and Japan.  The Asian shore crab favors rocky intertidal areas and occupies similar habitats and competes with our native mud crabs (Panopeidae).  Adults can grow to 42 millimeters carapace width. – Tom Lake)

(The likes of us could easily add to Hudson River fish knowledge by lending a hand with the DEC’s Cooperative Angler Program!!)

We’re green 365 days a year, not just on the 17th,

UGS

 

 

 

 

Happy International Women’s Day, UESiders!!

Of especial moment in 2018…

Enough said.

Let’s talk lumber stronger than steel!!

That lumber being the glulam (as in glued/cross laminated lumber) we made note of a couple of newsletters ago and that’s finding increasing traction among the starchitects of our world, particularly those of a green bent, given the carbon storage capacity of wood and elimination of pollutants generated by steel production…  Even boasting more fire resistance that steel – –  

Well, maybe not quite enough said…

As in beyond-starchitect Norman Foster’s firm (think the Hearst Building) just got caught with a substantial gender pay gap…

Dismounting the soap box…  On to the week ahead: 

Present to Wednesday, July 4th: Celebrating the Year of the Dog Exhibition

Metropolitan Museum, 1000 Fifth Avenue

To celebrate this year of man’s best friend, the Met’s put on view man’s best friend’s integral role in daily Chinese life and death (archaeological evidence indicates dogs were buried with deceased humans as early as 1500 B.C.)!!  For more…  

Saturday, March 10th:  82nd Street/St. Stephen’s Greenmarket

82nd Street between First and York, 9am–2pm

Compost & Clothes Collection, 9am–1pm

With us will be American Pride Seafood, Bread Alone, Ballard’s Honey, Consider Bardwell,  Samascott, Hudson Valley Duck, Rising Sun Beef, Old Mother Hubbert,  Gajeski, Hawthorne and Nolasco Farms!!

This newsflash from Market Manager G.:  “Don’t forget to bring your reusable totes  to reduce the usage of plastic at the Greenmarket!” 

Shellfish cravings may have to put on hold for a moment as the NYS DEC’s closed several shellfish fishing areas due to excessive runoff from all the precipitation we’ve been having!!

Last week’s recycling totals:  67 lbs. batteries; 14 lbs. cords, corks, cellphones and cartridges; 4 pairs eye glasses; 11 compost bins; 27 bags of clothes.   

Great that eye glass recycling is picking up!! 

Saturday, March 10:  4th East 86th Street Clean Team Event

Meet at the silver door between Shake Shack & Barnes & Noble, 1pm

So how come 86th Street been looking so improved these last couple of months?  A growing band of fantastic volunteers cleaning sidewalks, gutters, tree beds and clearing up debris, that’s who!!  And, of course, the more hands there are, the better this prime UES artery gets!!  All you need are your work clothes.  Everything else – including a host of new friends – will be supplied!!  Just let the Team know you’ll be there:  afine@halstead.com or http://www.east86th.org/contact-us!!

Wednesday, March 14th:  Pesticides Are Poisons Forum

Seafarers & International House, 123 East 15th Street, 6:30pm

The title says it all about this latest in the Sierra Club’s Sustainability Series moderated by Bonnie Webber and with speakers Sarah Evans of Mount Sinai, Peter Lehner of EarthJustice and Patti Wood of Earth Justice.   Free.

Saturday, March 17th:  The 2018 Ben Kallos Chess Challenge

Eleanor Roosevelt High School, 411 East 76th Street, 10am-3pm (Check in: 8:15-9:30am) 

Last year saw kids (K-12) from 94 schools testing their chess mettle!  This year…?  We’re prepared to be amazed!!  Organized by the great Chess In Schools.  Completely free, but players must register by Tuesday, March 13th ChessInTheSchools.org!!

Every Monday:  Children’s Story and Music Time

Logos Book Store, 11am

Neighborhood classic fun for the baby-to 5-year old set under the gentle guidance of Lily.  Free!

On to April:

Saturday, April 21st:  Shred-A-Thon – Earth Day Edition 

82nd Street/St. Stephen Greenmarket, 82nd Street between First & York, 10am-2pm

Please remember:

NO cardboard or plastic-handled shopping bags.

REMOVE paper clips and spiral bindings. 

NO HARDCOVER BOOKS.   (But paperbacks are fine.)

(Take those hardcovers to Goodwill or Housing Works.)

Many thanks to Council Member Kallos, Assembly Member Seawright and Council Member Powers for their support!!

Tuesday, April 24th:  East River Crew’s Community Rowing Season Begins!

East River Esplanade at 96th Street, 4:30 pm

No finer, more fun and complete way to experience our East River than to be out on it in one of the Crew’s wonderful boats!!  Row or don’t row, experienced or not at all, you’re welcome any old way.  Free!! 

Madison Square Park, circa 1880

Hitting the miscellany trail:

For the many who’ve inquired, yes, CM Kallos’ Scaffolding Bill has been reintroduced!!

Will take some years to complete (of course!), but FEMA’s now embarked on drawing up new US flood/wetlands maps…  A huge deal for all NYC’s many coastlines and ours with its MTS! 

While we plead for funds to keep our Esplanade above water level, Park Ave may soon be home to  decorative waterfalls…

From the activism file:

If you haven’t weighed in on offshore drilling… 

Should you think that election day should be a holiday…

Changing gears again:

Wondering what financial docs to retain post tax season and for how long?  The Organizing Goddess’s got the answers and more!!

So great that Urban Green’s now offering online courses conducted by among the best and brightest in sustainable, high-performance building design!

Recycling volunteer opportunities!!

What our NYS DEC Conservation Officers were up to in February…

The residential turrets of NYC…  (There should only be more!!) 

NYC’s Ditmas Park has one of the largest number of Victorian homes in the U.S.!!  (With residents now worrying about the effect of development…) 

There’s some amazing inventiveness going on in the world of vegetables and their seeds!!  (Thanks to reader Susan Blackwell for the tip!)

From The Times, adventures in NYC commuting…

How many Best Picture Oscar winners were set or filmed in NYC?

Been wondering what’s going on at the Central Park Reservoir?

Then, one last shot:

As in a map detailing when women in each of these United States will achieve equal pay…  (Only 2046 in NYS!!)

Let’s have some animals:

Yes, definitely, mice sing!!  (But just guy mice!!)

Before a blackfooted ferret can run free…

Termites and cockroaches merging…?!

Probiotics to heal coral reefs…  (Be sure to scroll down to the insanely gorgeous coral videos!!)

How to avoid conflict with coyotes…

Adorable little red NYS foxes…

Then there’s this observation from reader Gary Thalheimer:

The pair of Mallard ducks have returned to the pool/fountain in front of 1385 York Avenue between 73rd and 74th for the annual visit.  I saw the pair Friday a week ago, but then no trace for several days.  I know the management has tried to discourage them by draining the pool, etc., but I saw droppings a couple of days ago.  Then this afternoon I passed by and they were sitting on the ledge and one of the doormen dropped some cornmeal on the ledge for them.   (Good on that doorman!!  Thank him, folks, when you pass by!!)

And another from reader Katherine Winkleman:

During mid-February, as I was walking towards and then entering the Inwood Canoe and Kayaking Club (around 199th and the Hudson River), what did I spy sitting on our old dock? A very insulated and healthy looking harbor seal.

Many a sign of spring in the Hudson River Almanac:

2/19 – Manhattan: I had been watching a pair of bufflehead ducks (drake and hen) in the river for a week from the west side of Manhattan between piers 39 and 66. Today I found them diving and feeding off Pier 62. – A. Salcius

Bufflehead Duck

2/21 – Manhattan, HRM 5: The air temperature reached 78 degrees F today, establishing a new record high for the date. –  National Weather Service

2/23 – Manhattan, HRM 13.5: I visited Inwood Hill Park in midday; fog over the river made the Palisades invisible. In the woods there were hints of spring. Little clumps of “onion grass” were everywhere, the fresh leaves thin and tangled. Near the top of the path up through the Clove, snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) were up, the flowers beginning to open. Tiny leaves of celandine were up as well and so were shoots of day-lilies, promising a wonderful display this summer. – Thomas Shoesmith

wild onions

[Onion grass (Romulea rosea) is a strange invasive plant. In several years of seeing it, I’ve never noticed flowers. It grows from little bulbs that look like cocktail onions; they bud underground, extending individual clumps (I dig them up in the Brooklyn Botanic Native-flora Garden, so I see this). Yet it has spread over a large area, so it must reproduce by seed as well.  – Thomas Shoesmith]

2 /23– Manhattan, HRM 1: We checked our collection gear in Hudson River Park at The River Project’s sampling station on the lighthouse tender Lilac at Pier 25. It was tempting to say that we only caught grass shrimp (Palaemonetes sp.) and isopods this week, but we know the essential role these aquatic creatures play in the ecology of the inter-pier area of Manhattan’s west side. – Siddhartha Hayes

Evergreeningly yours, 

UGS

 

Happy 20th Read Across America Day, UESiders!!

A day on which we Americans celebrate the power and delight of being a human who reads…  With a particular focus on young humans reading…  With March 2nd the chosen day because it’s the birthday of the one and only Dr. Suess!!

There’ll be events at libraries and bookstores across the city…  And on the UES at the NYPL Yorkville Branch…  At The Society Library on 79th…  At Barnes & Noble on 86th…  

Or…

One could pay the joy forward by helping another to learn or improve their reading!!

fritillaria-liliacea

No better way to begin a maxed-out week:

Friday, March 2nd:  NYSkies Astronomy Seminar

McBurney House, 125 West 14th Street between Sixth & Seventh, 6:30-9:30pm 

Star master John Pasmino fills us in on stars in winter-to-spring transition!!  Free and always so interesting! 

 

Saturday, March 3rd:  82nd Street/St. Stephen’s Greenmarket

82nd Street between First and York, 9am–2pm

Compost & Clothes Collection, 9am–1pm

At their tables will be American Pride Seafood, Bread Alone, Ballard’s Honey, Consider Bardwell,  Samascott, Hudson Valley Duck, Rising Sun Beef, Old Mother Hubbert,  Gajeski, Hawthorne and Nolasco Farms!!

Reminder from Uber Market Manager Margaret:  “The Winter Warrior Program continues, so if you have a card, don’t forget to stop by the info tent and get it punched (and claim your prizes after 5 and 10 punches)!!” 

Fingers crossed Mother Hubbert’s chocolate milk returns this Saturday!!

Last week’s recycling totals:  67 lbs. batteries; 10 lbs. cords, corks, cellphones and cartridges; 2 pairs eye glasses; 12 compost bins; 25 bags of clothes.   

Love those 12 bins!! 

Saturday, March 3rd:  24th Annual Historic Districts Preservation Conference

New York Law School, 185 West Broadway, 9:30am-3:30pm (Luncheon included)

Participant-driven sessions, the most telling being – or we say –  on the subject of “Losing Its Way:  The Landmarks Preservation Commission In Our Time”.  No kidding!  Friends and seniors, $25.  General admission, $35.  Students, free.   For complete details…

Monday, March 5th: 19th Precinct Monthly Community Council Meeting

19th Precinct, 153 East 67th Street, 7pm

You haven’t ever attended one of these gatherings, you’re missing something really real NYC…  Especially so if you’ve got a neighborhood issue to air.  And it never hurts to make the acquaintance of the men and women keeping us safe.  (There’re even refreshments from Butterfield’s!)

Thursday, March 8th:  Women’s History Month Celebration

Abigail Adams Smith Auditorium, 417 East 61st Street, 6pm

And who better to throw the party than the woman who represents us up Albany way, Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright?  To RSVP (you must):  SeawrightR@NYAssembly.gov or 212-288-4607…

Friday, March 9th; Saturday, March 10th; Monday, March 12th; Tuesday, March 13th & Wednesday, March 14th:  ReelAbilities Film Festival – Reel Shorts! 

67th Street Branch Library, 328 East 67th Street

A carefully curated series centered on life challenges –  from physical limitations to increasing the minimum wage to aging and more!!  (No kidding, our neighborhood libraries really are broadening their horizons!!)   Free!  For films, dates and schedule check out the attached flyer… 

Saturday, March 10th:  19th Century Tea Tasting

Mount Vernon Hotel Museum, 421 East 61st Street, 1:30pm

Learn the history of the world’s most popular beverage and how it was prepared in the U.S.A. of the 1800’s…  Then partake of historically faithful teas, herbal infusions and other refreshments of the period, all served in and on 19th-century ceramics!!  Members and students with ID, $15.   Non-members, $20.   For tickets…

Deep breath then:

Saturday, March 17th:  The 2018 Ben Kallos Chess Challenge

Eleanor Roosevelt High School, 411 East 76th Street, 10am-3pm (Check in: 8:15-9:30am) 

Last year saw kids (K-12) from 94 schools testing their chess mettle!!  This year…?  We’re prepared to be amazed!  Organized by the great Chess In Schools.  Completely free, but players must registered by Tuesday, March 13th ChessInTheSchools.org! 

Then: 

Weekends, March 17th/18th & March 24th/25th:  NYS Maple Sugaring Weekends

Five Rivers Environmental Education Center, 56 Game Farm Road, Delmar,  1:30-3:30pm

Prime opportunity to twirl a brace drill, pound a spile, inspect sap flow in the sugar bush, enjoy the aroma of sap boiling down and take the maple taste test…  All under the mindful eyes of NYS sugaring experts!!  Free.  Organized groups are welcome but are asked to call the Center at 518-475-0291 to register.  For more and directions…  (And to read more about sugaring…)

As spring begins:

Saturdays, April 7th – June 17th:  Jesse Owens Track & Field Program

Thomas Jefferson Park, First Avenue at 111th Street, 10am-12pm

Perfect for young ones – girls and boys – to make the acquaintance of track and field’s classic elements from long jump to hurdles to the javalin and more!  Ages 8-14.   Co-sponsored by the Randall’s Island Park Alliance.  Entirely free!!  For more:  sports@cityparksfoundation.org  

Saturday, April 21st:  Shred-A-Thon – Earth Day Edition 

82nd Street/St. Stephen Greenmarket, 82nd Street between First & York, 10am-2pm

Know you will keep in mind:

NO cardboard or plastic-handled shopping bags.

REMOVE paper clips and spiral bindings. 

NO HARDCOVER BOOKS.   (But paperbacks are fine.)

(Take those hardcovers to Goodwill or Housing Works.)

As always, we thank Council Member Kallos, Assembly Member Seawright and the new fellow on the block, Council Member Powers, for their generous grants!!

Further down the recycling trail:

Sunday, May 20th:  DSNY Spring Safe Disposal Event

120th Street between Broadway & Amsterdam Avenues, 10am-4pm

Bring on those mouldering cans of transmission fluid and paint, unwanted medicines and cosmetics (!), pesticides, electronics and more.  For the complete list, how recyclables should be safely packaged, how to get to the event and more…  

This week’s miscellaneous mix:

Community groups Municipal Art Society, Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts, CIVITAS, Carnegie Hill Neighbors, other community groups and residents have filed a revised court petition challenging the proposed mega highrise at 321 East 96th!!   (A highrise which would devour the Marx Brothers Playground!)

Our State Senator Krueger’s co-sponsoring the plastic bag bill introduced last week!  (And if you’d like to show your support to the governor…)

Of course, tariff proposals are of major interest in the recycling world…

Construction of the Lower East Side ferry stop has commenced…  

Most sincerely recommend getting yourselves on quarterly Upper West Side Recycles Eco Letter email list…  The current edition featuring great NYC tree wisdom and classic Hard To Recycle List!!

And then there’s the Tree Listener…

How N. Rockwell’s Four Freedoms came to be…  And a modern take on each…

Paleourbana‘s our guide to fossils in our midst here in NYC (think Saks and Tiffany) and a host of other cities!!  (For tips on how to know what you’re looking for/at…)

If it’s March it’s time for the 7th Annual Conservation Artwork Contest for NYC kids K-12!!  For the details (scroll down)..   Entries due by March 9th!

Heart-healthy clean air tips…  Many entirely new to us!!

Central Park’s the NYState Hike of the Month!

And what good stuff have our NYS DEC Conservation Officers been up to of late…?

pseudotsuga-menziesii-glauca

Animal time:

The largest critter none of us have ever heard of…   The national mammal of Bhutan…  The Takin!! 

When NYC red-breasted mergansers seek female companionship… 

Wow!!  There’s a company custom-making milk for rare baby animals!!

Endangered European hamsters…

And from the Hudson River Almanac…  A Hudson River mystery:

2/10 – Hudson River Watershed: Our list of fishes for the Hudson River watershed (227 species) largely contains fishes for which we have museum specimens or other incontrovertible evidence that they were found here. There are a few exceptions, such as the 19th century record of a dusky shark (Carcharhinus obscurus) for which we have only newspaper accounts.

Another record, until now considered dubious, was the barndoor skate, a large saltwater fish (up to six-feet-long). While the type site for this fish was from the East River (Samuel Mitchill,1818), the single record for the Hudson River began with a newspaper story from August 4,1932, when Jack Johnson reportedly caught a barndoor skate on rod and reel in the river at North Albany (river mile 150). For this saltwater species to be found in freshwater made the thinly documented record doubtful.

Clues to the specimen’s fate comes from J.R. Greeley who notes in his A Biological Survey of the Lower Hudson Watershed (1936), “An adult male of this large species is preserved in the collection of the New York State museum. It was contributed by a local fisherman who said he caught it on rod and reel in the Hudson River at North Albany.” However, the specimen could not be located. It appeared lost.

The mystery was solved today. Bob Schmidt, Bryan Weatherwax, and Jeremy J. Wright opened a stainless-steel tank and were surprised to discover that a large skate was squeezed inside. When they accessed the computer records, they discovered that this specimen was the barndoor skate that Jack Johnson caught in 1932. The barndoor skate specimen was a male, measuring 55-inches total length. Schmidt, Weatherwax, and Wright view this specimen as evidence that a barndoor skate was collected in the freshwater tidal portion of the Hudson River in vicinity of North Albany.  – Tom Lake

                                                                    That Skate

[The barndoor skate (Dipturus laevis) is one of two species of the skate family (Rajidae) documented for the watershed, the other being the little skate (Raja erinacea). If you would like a copy of the Checklist of Hudson River Watershed Fishes, please e-mail trlake7@aol.com.

Yours in evergreenness, 

UGS