park

Additional Funding from Greenacre Foundation

SPNA is delighted to report that the Greenacre Foundation has agreed to provide a second round of funding of $10,000, which will be used towards Phase 3 of our tree maintenance program. Above are images from Phase 2, which entailed pruning trees that cast a heavy shadow over flower beds, preventing the beds surrounding the fountains from receiving sufficient light and air for the plants to grow.

Phase 3 will focus on the West Park and is tentatively scheduled to take place this summer. The goals of this phase are to:

• Reduce weight of branch ends
• Reduce risk of branch failure
• Reduce likelihood of storm damage
• Maintain size and shape

We want to thank Eric Anderson of Bartlett Tree Experts for his dedication and enthusiasm for this program.

Thank you also to SPNA board President Jason Money and board member Doris Dieter for making sure we met the deadlines in order to be considered for this funding.

SPNA is very grateful to the Greenacre Foundation for their recognition of the importance of this work and their continued support of our efforts.

Thank You!

SPNA wants to thank all the volunteers who came out on It’s My Park Day to help clean litter from the garden beds in Stuyvesant Square and the surrounding streets. They did a great job in spite of the heat!

A big shoutout to Sokie Lee and Ken Gray, co-founders of NYC CLEAN Volunteers, who partnered with SPNA for this event. Their participation helped to make this event a success.

We also appreciate the support of Partnership for Parks and NYC Parks for their help in making this event happen twice every year.

And thanks to Trader Joe’s for providing the shopping bags that we used to collect the litter!

It takes the efforts of many to keep our city clean.

SPNA Invests in a Rate Abatement Program

As everyone is aware, New York City has an out of control rat problem and Stuyvesant Square Park is no exception.

In order to get this situation under control, the SPNA board voted to hire a private company to execute a rat abatement program. This is an expensive undertaking, but as the Parks Department only has one exterminator for all of the parks in Manhattan, it was obvious that they would not be able to do what was necessary to reign in this problem.

The company that was hired uses safe and effective methods for rodent control which have been approved by the Parks Department. They work in many parks in the city including Bryant Park, Madison Square Park, and Gramercy Park, among others. The work was started in the beginning of January.

SPNA is hopeful that this program will help everyone who visits Stuyvesant Square – neighbors, volunteers and even our pups – to have a safer and more pleasant park experience.

You can read more about rats in New York City in this New York Times article.