The Battery

The Daily Plant : Tuesday, November 13, 2001

THE LAST SOCCER GOAL OF THE SEASON

Photo by Darah (Chance) Ross

Parks’ free Learn-to-Play soccer program concluded for the season on Saturday, November 3 with the fifth annual Soccerfest, an afternoon of fun and games in the field. Approximately 450 kids and community members met at the newly refurbished Playground XCVI in northern Manhattan. There they tested out a new turf surface with five on five soccer games, goalkeeping clinics, and contests in juggling, crab soccer, and penalty kicks. The artistically inclined fashioned necklaces with mini soccer beads and others had their faces painted. The human foosball, a unique Soccerfest tradition drew enthusiastic response. Kids had the change to strap themselves into a life-size version of the game. Commissioner Henry J. (StarQuest) Stern presented raffle winners with autographed merchandise from the MetroStars and NY Power soccer teams, as well as Snickers travel bags, shinguards, t-shirts, and posters. Their wee dozens of additional prizes for everyone there. Parks extends its thanks to the following event sponsors: Snickers, the United Soccer Academy, the New York/New Jersey MetroStars and NY Power. From Parks, Darah (Chance) Ross from Central Recreation coordinated the successful festival.

On Monday, October 29, 2001 Art & Antiquities received a donation of $15,000 as a maintenance fund for the Netherlands Monument and Flagstaff at the northeast entrance of Battery Park. The gift came from Dutch businesses, under the auspices of the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce, the Stichtung Netherland Memorial, and the Netherland-America Foundation. Last year, City Parks Foundation Monuments Conservation Program restored the monument, which was a gift from the people of Hooland to the city was known as New Amsterdam The monument was rededicated on November 16, 2000, Dutch-American Heritage Day, which commemorates the Dutch people’s first salute of the United States flag, in 1776 on the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius. The Netherlands Memorial Foundation and the Netherlands Consulate General Funded the restoration, which promises to have long-lasting effect now that the monument’s maintenance is endowed.

Jennifer (Treeshop) Greenfeld, Director of the New York Tree Trust passed the Certified Arborist exam last month. In holding that title, she joins Fiona (Treetop) Watt, Chief of Central Forestry; Doug (Slugfest) Still, Assistant Director of Street Trees; Tom (Tree Guy) Stofka, Director of Forestry for Brooklyn; George Jost, Climber & Pruner for Brooklyn; Tom (Timber Wolf) Russo, Director of Landscape Management for Queens; and Chris Weckerle, Climber & Pruner for Queens. The International Society of Arboriculture offers this exam to arborists with a minimum of three years experience in the field.

Greenfeld began at Parks in July of 1997. In her time at Central Forestry, she has expanded the One Stop Tree Shop through which city residents can order trees and tree services according to their specifications. She added pruning, tree pit expansion, granite block installation, and tree transplants to the list of services New Yorkers can order. She developed the grant for Teens for Neighborhood Trees program, a hands-on education course for youth, the Tree Rescue initiative, and Stewardship for Young Trees. Through this program, Parks has successfully recruited 166 groups to care for 211 greenstreets and 2900 street trees.

(Tuesday, November 15, 1988)

Benjamin Mims, who started his Parks career as a foot patrolman in 1983, has been named Acting Director of Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP), Chief of Citywide Services William F. Dalton announced.

"I am proud of the fact that I worked my way up the ranks," said Mims. "When I began, I hoped that I would someday have input into how PEP was run, and I am grateful to have the opportunity."

"The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over the harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on."

Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)

Know Before You Go

The Battery