Contested greenspace in Greenwich Village

On January 7, 2011, the New York Times published "Just 7 Strips of Green, or a Park Worth Fighting For?" about seven small parcels totaling 2.5 acres located in Greenwich Village, four of which New York University would like to purchase to accommodate its expansion plans in the neighborhood. The article listed the owner of the parcels as the NYC Department of Transportation (NYCDOT). We wish the article had provided an actual list of the seven parcels as well as photographs of all the parcels. For example, the online version of the article was accompanied by a single photograph of a section of the Mercer Playground parcel. (Additional photographs of the playground can be seen on the Save Mercer Playground website.) Based on our reading of the article, we developed the image below to illustrate the locations of the seven parcels mentioned in the article as well as parcels mentioned in a Community Board No. 2, Manhattan (CB2) resolution submitted to the NYU 2031 Plan.

We were slightly confused about some of the information provided by the Times. For example, contradicting a statement in the article, the NYC Parks Mercer Playground webpage states that the playground was transferred from NYCDOT to NYC Parks in 1997.

Cherry tree garden on Bleecker Street

The cherry tree garden on Bleecker Street is listed as one of the contested parcels. We assumed the university owned this parcel because the garden is maintained by the NYU Garden Shop (read our article about some of the garden shop's gardens here), but apparently the university would like to acquire the greenspaces on the south side of Bleecker between La Guardia Place and Mercer Street which includes the cherry tree garden as well as two groves of large-stature trees, according to the afore-mentioned CB2 resolution. Maintenance is not always a sign of ownership as is the case with Mercer Street Plaza. The parcel is owned by the City but the plaza space is maintained by the university. Also, the university led the redesign process; the plaza was renovated after the completion of the school's co-generation power plant. (Read more about the plaza renovation here.)

Time Landscape on La Guardia Place (I.M. Pei-designed Silver Towers in background)

LaGuardia Corners Gardens (grocery store and NYU faculty housing in background)

LaGuardia Park on La Guardia Place (future site of Adrienne's Gardem a toddler playground, in mid-ground)

Mercer-Houston Dog Run

 Between the dog run and the entrance to the university gym on Mercer Street is the inactive Children's Playground. The afore-mentioned CB2 resolution stated that unsafe conditions led to the closure of this playground, specifically the sinking of the playground's surface. A 2004 article in The Villager provides more detail about the playground's condition: "when the property was designated as a federal urban-renewal project, the site was backfilled. Shifts in the surface are caused by settling of whatever was used in the backfill" (from an interview with university spokesperson John Beckman). However, we are left wondering why the playground has not been repaired by the property owner NYCDOT, or transferred to a playground-oriented agency like NYC Parks. For background on the university's expansion plan, read The Villager's "N.Y.U. unveils rezoning for its two superblocks" and the university's own NYU 2031: Growth documents.

Off topic: 1 square inch of dirt

The dirt shown above collected on a north-facing windowsill when I left open slightly (no more than an inch) a window for 24 hours.  The center window was left open, but the dirt collected towards the right end of the sill.  Was the wind in Greenwich Village (NYC) moving in an easterly direction on February 18-19, 2011?

Young street tree mortality in New York City

An occasional series about the rules and regulations of street tree planting, pruning, and removal in New York City.  This post extends the purview of the series to include research about street trees in the city.  Other posts in the series are Street tree planting rules in New York City, Street tree removal in New York City, and Street tree pruning rules in New York City.

"Signs of direct tree care or stewardship" are key social factors in low mortality rates for young street trees

Quoting at length from the abstract of a new US Forest Service research article:

In dense metropolitan areas, there are many factors including traffic congestion, building development and social organizations that may impact the health of street trees. The focus of this study is to better understand how social, biological and urban design factors affect the mortality rates of newly planted street trees. Prior analyses of street trees planted by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation between 1999 and 2003 (n=45,094) found 91.3% of those trees were alive after two years and 8.7% were either standing dead or missing completely. Using a site assessment tool, a randomly selected sample of
13,405 of these trees was surveyed throughout the City of New York during the summers of 2006 and 2007. Overall, 74.3% of the sample trees were alive when surveyed and the remainder were either standing dead or missing. Results of our initial analyses reveal that highest mortality rates occur within the first few years after planting, and that land use has a significant effect on street tree mortality. Trees planted in one- and two-family residential areas had the highest survival rates (82.7%), while young street trees planted in industrial areas, open space and vacant land had the lowest rates of street tree survival (60.3% -62.9%). Also significant in predicting street tree success and failure are species type, tree pit enhancements, direct tree care/stewardship, and local traffic conditions. These results are intended to inform urban forest managers in making decisions about the best conditions for planting new street trees.

The article, "Biological, Social, and Urban Design Factors Affecting Young Street Tree Mortality in New York City," was written by Jacqueline W.T. Lu, Erika S. Svendsen, Lindsay K. Campbell, Jennifer Greenfeld, Jessie Braden, Kristen L. King, and Nancy Falxa-Raymond and published in Cities and the Environment (Volume 3, Issue 1, 2010).

Do you know the mortality rate for young street trees where you live?

Hat tip: the California ReLeaf blog.

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5 Things I Like about Munich

We took our first trip to Munich last fall and had a great time.  We agree with Frommer's vote for Munich as one of the world's ten most walkable cities as blogged at Infrastructurist.  In addition, the city seems well served by subway and trams.  The dining and shopping options are also good.  The mix of old and new architecture is pleasing, the people friendly and helpful, and the diversity of open spaces is enviable.

Reviewing my photographs from the trip, I noted several themes: 

1. parks, 
2. street trees, 
3. transportation, 
4. recreation, and 
5. architecture.  

Below find photographs of some of my favorite examples from each category.

The hill in Olympicpark Munchen (Olympic Park) is a former landfill according to our family friend.  Also, the hill is great for sledding!

Did you know that in the U.S. there are an estimated "4,500 acres of landfill parks"? (source: Center for City Excellence quoted in Urban Green by Peter Harnik.  We reviewed Urban Green here.)

Englischer Garten (English Garden) and its wooded areas is another favorite park.  Lonely Planet: Munich, Bavaria & the Black Forest states that Englischer Garten is larger than Hyde Park and Central Park.  At 958 hectares or approximately 2367 acres it is definitely bigger than Central Park's 843 acres.

Englischer Garten, writes Spiro Kostoff in The City Assembled was "conceived in 1789 by the American Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford), the Bavarian Minister for War, it was designed by F. L. Sckell in the picturesque English mode and completed in 1808."

Street trees are creatively planted in the city.  For example, at the Technische Universitat Munchen trees are growing in small mounds between the sidewalk and an adjacent building in an area that often is not well used, and not just in Munich.

As was mentioned at the beginning of this article, Munich is very walkable.  One thing I found helpful in this regard was textural changes in the pavement used to signal different modes of mobility as well as land uses.  As can be seen in the photograph below, the sidewalk is marked for walking, cycling, entrances to stores and to courtyards.

The city's courtyards are one of my favorite architectural features of Munich. It was always a pleasant surprise to double-back and to peer in and sometimes to walk into the courtyards. 

Another fascinating aspect of the city's architecture is worker housing.  We think, at least, that housing is provided on site for workers.  Does anyone know if this is an  accurate assessment?

Finally, we spent a while observing a man fishing in the Isar River, on a section of the river that runs through the Englischer Garten.  He had walked out into the center of the waterway.  I found a thread about fly fishing on the Isar on the Washington Fly Fishing website.  Here is a description of the river from Muenchen.de website:

Munich's Isar River, which is fed rushing water by the Alps, serves as a major attraction for both visitors and Munich's inhabitants. This city treasure offers fishing, although a licence is neccessary, rafting, sunbathing, and miles of beautiful winding shorelines.

Our visit to Munich was very short so there is so much that I did not see. Here's a short list for a future trip.

• The nature parks in Bavaria & the Black Forest. Lonely Planet lists nine. I would start with Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald. Why? Here is a description from the park's official website: "Boundless forest wilderness in the first German national park."  The park is also one of the Bavarian birding spots listed on the Birding Germany website.
•  Englischer Garten -- I did not see all 2367 acres!
•  The Architecture Museum in the Pinakothek der Moderne
• The office of Die Gazette

Then & Now: Brooklyn Bridge Park down under the Manhattan Bridge

The original section of Brooklyn Bridge Park down under the Manhattan Bridge is also known as Main Street (Park).  The newer section of Brooklyn Bridge Park which includes Piers 1 and 6 (also known as New Brooklyn Bridge Park) is located closer to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Image: Postcard of Brooklyn Bridge 1992 by Genevieve Hafner

Last year, I purchased a 1992 postcard of the area located directly under the Manhattan Bridge, now part of Main Street Park.  The site in the postcard photo, above, is trash strewn, unattractive, and empty of people.  Fast forward almost two decades later and this same area is lovely and actively used.  While I do not have a photograph from the exact vantage point used in the postcard, the locations in the photographs below are to the left and right of the spot seen in the postcard image.

Visit our Facebook page for more photographs of old and new Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Water harvesting reservoir

To indulge my West Coast sensibilities I maintain a subscription to Sunset magazine.  I also read the magazine's  Fresh Dirt blog where I first saw Realm Environments water harvesting reservoir concept.  (Fresh Dirt's blog post can be read here.)  I contacted the firm for permission to use the image seen in this post and for background information about the concept. 

Image: Water harvesting reservoir concept, used with permission from Realm Environments (source)

Bree Richmond, graphic design and public relations staff, responded to my question about "what sparked the idea" as follows:

What sparked the idea was the fact that we live in a desert where a significant number of houses have been outfitted with pools which are often underused and over-maintained. Whether or not the homeowner purchased the house with a pool they do not want,or added a pool and used it at some point but no longer have a need for it, pools take up a lot of otherwise usable square footage in a landscape. They also use vast quantities of water due to evaporation, which is not only expensive, but impacts our natural resources. Pool maintenance can also be a costly hassle and oftentimes makes use of chemicals. Instead of filling in with dirt, we use an already formed structure as a holding area for water to be repurposed on site, and automatically reducing water bills, water waste, and helping the space to make sense.

Maybe New York's public pools could serve as water harvesting reservoirs during the winter!  The City has received a lot of snow so far this season which has blocked numerous storm drains in my neighborhood leading to large, deep ponds of cold slush at crosswalks when the snow begins to melt. 

Realm is currently implementing the water harvesting reservoir technology at three sites.  Check the firm's website for images of these projects.

Wordless Wednesday: Urban igloo

(iteration 2, left side)

(iteration 2, right side)

(iteration 3)

(iteration 3)

(iteration 3, interior)