City Cleanup Corps spruce up NYC green spaces
BY DEAN MOSES
Thanks to a new program greenlit by
Mayor Bill de Blasio, the Parks Department
is undergoing a citywide
effort to improve and maintain the quality
of life in green spaces all across the fi ve
boroughs.
On Aug. 11 those passing by Lincoln
Center may have been shocked to see fl ames
frothing at the Dante statue on West 63rd
Street and Columbus Avenue. This was
not the work of some extraordinarily wellequipped
vandals but instead, the NYC
Parks monuments field crew andCity
Cleanup Corps staff using a blow torch while
undertaking a delicate restoration process in
order to ensure the century-old statue will
remain standing for generations to come.
Using a host of tools and chemicals, park
workers hope that after a two-week-long
renewal process the likeness of the famed
Italian poet will shine in time for the 700thanniversary
of the literary icon’s death.
“We’ve had annual maintenance but
sometimes they statues need a little extra
love. We are removing the old lacquer coating
that is starting to fail and making sure
Members of the City Cleanup Corps restore the Dante Statue in the Upper
West Side.
the patina is nice and even and intact. Then
we are going to be doing a protective wax
coating and we are also replacing some of
the old mortarin the joints on the base that
the fi gure of Dante stands on,” Rebecca
Rosen NYC ParksCrew Chieffor the monument
conservation told amNewYork Metro.
This complex and time-consuming process
is not only going to benefi t Dante Park,
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
however. It’s part of the City’ssummerlongNew
Deal-inspired city cleanup program
that is not only aiming to make public
spaces all over the Big Apple more well-kept
by power washing benches, removing litter,
repainting fences, and restoring statues,
this initiative is also creating some 2,500
seasonal jobs within the Parks Department.
Jonathan Cher and Efeh Ibojie are
two young, enthusiastic members of the
Cleanup Corps who have found a passion
restoring New York.
“We go to Brooklyn, Queens, Staten
Island, and the Bronx. It has been an amazing
experience to be able to see different
parks and to be able to maintain them,”
Ibojie shared, stating that hailing from
Queens she has never seen so much of what
New York has to offer.
Agreeing with this sentiment, Cher said
he has fallen in love with New York while
working to upkeep it.
“As a non-native New Yorker, I enjoy
going to places I otherwise would never
go. It is really cool to maintain little spots
of culture all over and interact with people
who come by and ask us questions,” Cher
said, adding, “For a long time I would not
think much of a statue but when you see
people working on it you see that these
things really take a lot of care.”
In the coming weeks, monument maintenance
akin to the one in Dante Park
have been taking place in Harlem and will
continue in the coming weeks at locations
in Union Square, Battery Park, Prospect
Park, and more.
Perkins loses Harlem council primary recount by 114 votes to Democratic socialist
BY RACHEL HOLLIDAY SMITH AND
CHRISTINE CHUNG
THE CITY
The New York City 2021 primary is
fi nally offi cially over and Harlem
has a new Democratic nominee for
its City Council seat.
In a major leadership shakeup for the
area, Democratic Socialist and fi rst-time
political candidate Kristin Richardson Jordan
has clinched her win over incumbent
Bill Perkins, a New York politics veteran.
The close race had gone to a manual
recount by the Board of Elections on July
26, and took nearly a month to complete.
It was the last outstanding race to be certifi
ed from the city’s fi rst ever ranked-choice
primary on June 22.
The race results were made offi cial
Tuesday afternoon by the city Board of
Elections.
Jordan, who was endorsed by Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez’s political action
committee, secured 9,034 votes — just
114 votes over Perkins, who was vying for
another term while suffering from apparent
memory loss.
Shortly after the Board of Elections
commissioners voted to certify the election,
Jordan released a statement celebrating her
win as a victory for the Harlem community.
She also noted that the campaign was
Councilmember Bill Perkins and new Democratic nominee Kristin Richardson
Jordan.
led by Black and brown women — and that
she would be one of the fi rst queer Black
women to head to the City Council.
“We made history and disrupted the
election with radical love,” she said, noting
that the win came without the assistance
of political veterans and campaign
consultants.
“I want to make clear that this campaign
was never about me, it was about us as a
community. It was a campaign by the
people of Harlem for the people of Harlem.
We won. Harlem won. We, the community,
did this.”
BEN FRACTENBERG/THE CITY
A Late Comeback
The Harlem primary tally was the last to
be completed from the June primaries, in
which New Yorkers for the fi rst time used
ranked choice voting to choose candidates.
Jordan ultimately won thanks to ranked
choice: Hers was just one of three races in
New York in which a candidate who lost
with fi rst-place votes later took the lead
when second-, third-, fourth- and fi fth-place
preferences were tallied.
Perkins originally took fi rst place in the
fi rst round, but Jordan pulled ahead by
Round 13, said her election attorney Sarah
Steiner. Before the recount, Jordan had led
by 104 votes.
The results spell big changes for Central
Harlem. Perkins has led the neighborhood as
both a Council member and a state senator
for more than 20 years. His popularity translated
to a near-win in the crowded 13-person
race — even though he hardly campaigned,
City and State reported before the primary.
Perkins, in a statement conceding the race
last week, thanked the district’s voters for
their “support and confi dence in me over
the past 25 years” and congratulated Jordan.
“While my City Council will end at the
conclusion of the year, I will continue making
my voice heard fi ghting for justice, equality
and opportunity for all,” he added.
A staffer told THE CITY that the campaign
had not personally reached out directly
to Jordan, because they “did not have her
number.”
As the Democratic nominee, Jordan is
very likely to win the general election in
November, where she will face Republican
community organizer Alpheaus Marcus. If
she takes offi ce, she will serve for an abbreviated
two-year term due to New York’s redistricting
process, set to take place in 2023.
This article was originally published on
Aug. 17 by THE CITY, an independent,
nonprofi t news outlet dedicated to hardhitting
reporting that serves the people of
New York.
Schneps Media August 19, 2021 3