New Chinatown playground of, by & for kids
BY TODD MAISEL
A ribbon was cut on a new school
playground that is both functional
for the children and adds
“neighborhood resiliency” to reduce
storm fl ooding in the Two Bridges
neighborhood, offi cials said Monday
morning.
The new $1.7 million playground,
located in the rear of PS 184M Shuang
Wen Public School at 327 Cherry St.
(across from the East River), was completed
this fall through a partnership between
the Trust for Public Lands NYC
Playgrounds program, the city’s Offi ce
of Resiliency, and the U.S. Department
Housing and Urban Renewal.
What makes the park special is its
green infrastructure, including infi ltration
basins under the artifi cial turf that
absorb rainfall and storm water during
storm surges, a green roof gazebo, a
garden for student use and trees.
Aside from new play equipment,
there’s also a yoga circle, a stage, and
tennis and basketball courts.
“There’s far more to this playground
than meets the eye,” said Jainey Bavishi,
director of the Mayor’s Offi ce of
Resiliency. “By leveraging the power of
resilient design, it will prevent fl ooding
and create a sanctuary against rising
Children from P.S. 184 sit on the new artificial turf field installed in
their schoolyard and opened officially on Nov. 25.
temperatures while also providing
new and improved recreational space
for students and the surrounding community.”
Previously, the park was made up of
aging tennis courts — a concrete and
asphalt surface. During Superstorm
Sandy, the park was underwater.
The area is now more user friendly
PHOTO BY TODD MAISEL
while being a “smart design,”
offi cials said.
School Principal Jeremy Kabinoff
complimented the city for completing
the park in a timely manner so that his
students could have “more opportunity
to be outdoors.” He said students 2-5
years old spent more than 32 hours
a week in front of a screen and he
quoted one child who said, “I like to
play indoors because that is where the
electrical outlets are.”
“Outdoor play promotes physical
health, promotes cognitive and emotional
development, improves sensory
skills, increases attention span, and
ultimately happiness and better immunity,”
Principal Kabinoff said. “Here
at Shuang Wen, we are committed to
more outside play, promoting more opportunities
to exercise, have fun, and
support a healthier life style.”
Student Daniel Zheng said students
had a say in the design of the new
school yard.
“The new yard was picked through a
democratic way — we had options for
the design of the yard and we voted on
the ones we like the most,” Zheng said.
“We now have a new grass fi eld for soccer
and American football, new basketball
courts, benches for people who
want to take a rest. Most of the concrete
has been replaced with soft mats
to protect our young students from getting
hurt. Our new yard represents and
symbolizes a new beginning.”
The Trust for Public Land’s NYC
playgrounds program has designed
and or built 209 school and community
playground throughout the
fi ve boroughs.
Mayor inks foie gras ban, other animal rights bills
BY ALEJANDRA O'CONNELLDOMENECH
Foie gras will be “foie-gotten” now
that Mayor Bill de Blasio signed
the bill banning the sale of the
French delicacy into law Monday, Nov.
25.
Under the bill, restaurants caught
selling dishes with the fattened goose
and duck livers will be charged with a
misdemeanor and fi ned between $500
and $2,000. Animal rights activists
pushed for the ban arguing that practice
is cruel to the animals. In order
to fatten the fouls livers, farmers force
feed geese and ducks grain via a metal
tube multiple times a day.
“Something can be a tradition and
that does not make it healthy, it does
not make it positive,” said Mayor De
Blasio, in front of backdrop of sign
waving animal rights activists at the
Tony Dapolito Recreation Center.
The bill received pushback earlier
this year against restaurant owners and
duck and geese farmers whose profi ts
will be hurt when the law goes into effect
in 2022.
“We can still deliver an amazing dining
experience in one of the culinary
capitals of the world without it,” said
Councilmember Carlina Rivera, sponsor
of the foie gras ban bill. “There
Mayor Bill de Blasio hands a pen to Allie Feldman Taylor, president
and founder of Voters for Animal Rights, after signing a bill banning
the sale of foie gras into law Monday, Nov. 25.
have been global cities and national cities
that have put forward this ban and
PHOTO BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
they are still thriving in the restaurant
industry.”
Today, New York City joins the state
of California and countries like India,
Israel and Great Britain that have also
passed a ban on foie gras.
“The humane concept of this kind of
dawned on me, that this is about all of
us and this is about everything,” said
de Blasio, after recounting the multiple
times animal rights activists pulled him
aside on the steps of City Hall to the
express their concern for the city’s animals.
“If we allow cruelty in our midst,
it’s a poison, a cancer that keeps growing.”
“I needed to be educated, I needed to
learn from this movement and I understand
that now.”
Other animal bills signed today included
legislation that will prohibit
horses from working when the temperature
is over 90 degrees Fahrenheit
or in 80-degree weather with an equine
heat index of 150 degrees; that will require
all dogs brought to kennels, offi
ces and businesses to be vaccinated
for bordetella; to ban the traffi cking
of wild birds; to require full-service
animal shelters to post pictures of new
adoptable animals online within three
days; the creation of an Offi ce of Animal
Welfare; and the publication of a
semi-annual public report by the NYPD
of reports on animal cruelty complaints
and arrests.
4 November 28, 2019 Schneps Media