Category Archives: Stuyvesant Cove Park

Cool Wednesday Volunteer Events at the Park!

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Spring is in full swing and we’ve got tons to do!  It seems that every year everything needs to happen at once in May, and this year is no exception.  In fact, there is more work than ever, as the recovery from Sandy continues.  First on the to do list is weeding (we’ve got lots of lamb’s quarters!), followed by replacing the fibar on paths, then more planting and mulching.  Our team needs help getting all this done!

 

 

Daisy Hoyt, the manager of Stuyvesant Cove Park, will be hosting a weekly volunteer event each Wednesday  from 1 to 4pm, starting next Wednesday, May 29th, and continuing into June.  We will meet at the Solar One building, which is located right on the East River at the end of 23rd st.  Power bars and water will be provided (but not pizza).  Please RSVP to daisy@solar1.org, and let Daisy know in general if Wednesday afternoons are feasible.  Feel free also to pass this on to others who might be interested in helping.  We hope to see you there!

East River Blueway Plan Sticks Stuy Cove and Solar 2 right in the middle

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The East River has never been known as an oasis of nature. Seinfeld famously ridiculed Kramer, who thought it would be a good idea to swim in the East River. But an intrepid group of politicians and groups are trying to take a big step forward by re-imagining the shorelines along downtown Manhattan.

 

Prominently featured in the new Blueway Plan is Solar 2, the Stuyvesant Cove Boat Launch, and even our very own Max Joel.

 

We recommend to download the full plan (don’t worry there are lots of pictures) and browse through some of the proposed developments. Stuyvesant Cove Park gets a full section, and there are some interesting tid-bits about the waterfront and history. This is your river, too!

 

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Eupatorium coelestinum, Eragrostis spectabilis, Rudbekia fulgida, and Heliopsis helianthoides

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Sun washed over Stuy Cove Park, warming the chilled spring air. It wasn’t an unusual day, but it was one of our favorites, as some of our best volunteers from Stuyvesant Cove Park Association made even more progress in helping us continue to restore the plants and beds of Stuy Cove.

 

This is the season where weeds start to appear, and in addition to planing new greenery, our volunteers also sought out weeds to remove them from our native-plant beds. Some of the new plants were Eupatorium coelestinum, Eragrostis spectabilis, Rudbekia fulgida, and Heliopsis helianthoides. Recognize any of them?

 

It’s the Mist Flower, Purple Lovegrass, Black-eye Susan, and the Oxeye Sunflower. Next time you come to Stuy Cove Park, you can find them!

 

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All that brown space will turn back into greenery, one new plant at a time.

 

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Solar One Family Day: NYC Wildflower Week Interactive Plant Fair

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Come to Solar One on Saturday May 18 for a fun-filled day of wildflower and native plant activities! Kids and families can pot a native wildflower to take home, make wildflower seed bombs, get their faces painted, make flower costumes and color native wildflowers that grow in Stuyvesant Cove Park. The first in our monthly series of Family Days! Please RSVP to daisy[at]solar1[dot]org or to dina[at]solar1[dot]org.

Held in partnership with NYC Wildflower Week! Because native plants are a wonderful part of our natural environment…

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Six Months After Sandy: A New Stage and a Budding Park

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This past Monday, April 29, marks six months since Superstorm Sandy pummeled the east coast and caused extensive damage at Solar One and Stuyvesant Cove Park. But things are starting to come back because our stage is being rebuilt, and the plants that survived are sprouting up in the Park. We’re now looking forward to continuing to rebuild and produce an exciting summer of events, activities and lovely days in the Park.

As you can see in the picture, the stage is being rebuilt by carpenter Joey Rizzolo and a fantastic team of volunteers from Green City Force, a service organization that teaches young adults sustainable job skills. GCF has a long and wonderful history with the Solar One family: Their very first pilot corps, back in 2009, worked on a weatherization project with our parent organization, the Community Environmental Center, to celebrate National Weatherization Day.

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We’ll be posting some new pictures of the Park and its spring progress soon!

 

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Is There a Doctor in the Park? A House Call for Stuy Cove’s Trees

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Yesterday two arborists came to assess the trees in Stuyvesant Cove Park, and take down the ones that won’t survive their Sandy damage. In all, seven trees were cut back or removed entirely, then chopped up into semi-mulch, which will hopefully be composted- unfortunately the wood chips were too big and sharp to be used as mulch in the Park. Sadly, all our Eastern Red Cedars had to be removed, as well as some of our hackberry trees.

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Expect to see these guys back at it again next week- they had to cut their work short because of yesterday’s high winds. While we’re sorry to lose some of our mature trees, we’re excited to see what spring will bring for the Park!

Memorial for Park Angel Irene Zaharkiw, Sunday March 17 from 2-4pm

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Irene pruning closeup July 2012

There will be an afternoon of remembrance for Irene Zaharkiw, who passed away at home in Stuyvesant Town on Thursday, February 7 after a short illness. Those who knew Irene, and Irene’s friends from Solar 1 and the Stuyvesant Town Community Center, are invited to share their memories of her on Sunday, March 17, from 2-4PM at Solar 1 located in Stuyvesant Cove Park just south of East 23rd Street along the East River. After sharing memories, we will gather outside at the East 20th Street entrance to Stuyvesant Cove Park at her favorite garden spot to honor Irene’s love and dedication in caring for nature There will be an opportunity for friends wishing to honor Irene with a memorial tree, to contribute to a tax exempt fund. For information and to RSVP contact dina[at]solar1[dot]org. or call 646-576-5664.

Progress Report: What We Did Last Week

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Despite the damage at Solar One caused by Superstorm Sandy, we still managed to provide a vital service to our beleaguered community: solar power for cell phone and laptop charging! Even though our building was flooded, our power never quit, and we had our solar array up and running on Wednesday October 31- more than a week before many of our neighbors got their grid power back!

 
Here’s what Wanda Vasquez, a neighbor who posted on the Solar One Facebook Page had to say:

Thank you so much for sharing your solar energy with us to charge our phones, you guys were heaven sent in our time of need.

 
Along with phone and computer charging, we also charged up a nebulizer for a young man with asthma:
 

This young man is breathing easy, thanks to the power of the sun. Photo by Alex Smith.


 

We also made some great strides in cleaning up the building and the park, and used a bunch of the new wood that washed up at our site to start rebuilding our ramp, stairs and stage. Now we’re focusing on replacing lost topspoil and getting mulch down before the serious winter weather sets in. If you’re interested in upcoming volunteer opportunities, please email volunteer[at]solar1[dot]org.

Sandy Knocked Us Down. You Picked Us Up.

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Volunteers pitch in to help clean up Stuyvesant Cove Park. Photo by Darin Quan.


 
When Solar One sent out our call for volunteers to give us a hand after the hurricane, we thought we’d be lucky to get 20-30 per day. If fact, we had over 600 requests and over 200 volunteers come to help out between October 30 and November 3. In the very first days after Sandy struck, some of you came by foot- even all the way from Astoria, Queens. You came with friends, with kids, and some even came with cash to help us replace equipment and rebuild what we’d lost. High school and college students, neighbors from the blacked-out buildings all around us, people who regularly use and enjoy the park: you all came, and we couldn’t be more grateful for your support. That so many showed so much feeling for our little organization and our little park makes all the work ahead so much easier!

 

Happy and working. Photo by Darin Quan.

These volunteers are small but their impact is huge. Photo by Sara Jayanthi.

Help Stuyvesant Cove Park and Solar One Rebuild

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Sandy destroyed park tools. It destroyed educational supplies and program equipment. Flower beds are gone and topsoil is now mud. Trees are down and debris from the surge is strewn around the park. Solar1 flooded two feet above the floor. It is the most destructive event to have ever come to the park.

 

But Stuyvesant Cove Park will be rebuilt so that it can continue to be a beautiful public space. And Solar One will recover to continue to be a beacon of education toward a new energy future. If you would like to help:

 

  • Donate money securely online to Solar One. All funds will be used to help rebuild our park and educational supplies. (Unfortunately, we cannot accept in-kind donations. We can’t put them anywhere.)
  • Volunteer this weekend in a community clean-up effort to join with your neighbors to help remove debris from Stuy Cove Park. We will be cleaning on Friday 11/2 and Saturday 11/3 from 10am – 4pm each day. Please RSVP to dina@solar1.org to confirm.

 

Here is where the park shed and the program shed used to be.

The Solar1 stage ended up on the other side of the building–and in pieces.

 

Plants and trees are down across the park.

 

Debris and mud are everywhere.

 

 

For more pictures and updates visit our Facebook page.