Central Park

The Daily Plant : Wednesday, August 31, 2005

BRUSH UP ON YOUR PARKS CURRENT EVENTS AT THE ARSENAL’S NEWEST EXHIBIT

How much do you really know about Parks & Recreation’s latest goings-on? Test your knowledge with this short quiz:

1. Where is the scenic canoeing spot pictured above?

2.   How many old tires are recycled to make a synthetic turf soccer field?
a. 5,000
b. 10,000
c. over 27,000

3.   New York City’s coastal area is equivalent in miles to the distance from:
a. New York City to Columbus, Ohio
b. New York City to Pittsburgh
c. New York City to Philadelphia

For the answers, see below—or, stop by the Arsenal gallery’s newest exhibit, Painting the Town Green: The Growth of New York City’s Parks. The exhibit has been extended until September 14, and highlights some of the exciting measures being taken to expand and improve our park system. This show includes new playground designs, architectural drawings ranging from the cutting edge to historic site renovations, examples of waterfront revitalization and new parkland acquisitions, and before-and-after photographs illustrating the greening of New York’s streetscape.

Waterfront parks on view include the Civil War-era Fort Totten in Queens, the quietly beautiful Crescent Beach in Staten Island, and the development of a citywide network of greenways. Designs for a variety of new capital projects are showcased as well—ranging from the playground design for Ronald McNair Park in Harlem (which has a physics and space theme in honor of the Challenger astronaut) to the plans for Concrete Plant Park in the Bronx (which combines native tidal wetland plantings, canoe launches, and relics from the site’s industrial past).

A wall devoted to “Green Technology” includes designs for the first-ever sustainable “green” building designed by city employees, examples of synthetic turf made from used tires, and illustrations of Parks’ fleet of electric and hybrid-fuel vehicles. In another section, photographs by the agency’s Chief Naturalist of the once-endangered heron and egret populations at North Brother Island illustrate Parks’ role as protector of the environment.

For more information about the exhibit, contact curator Clare Weiss at (212) 360-8163.

ANSWER KEY

1. B: The Bronx River, just a subway ride away.
2. C
3. A. The distance to Columbus is about 560 miles, and New York City has 576 miles of waterfront.

"We get very little wisdom from success, you know."

William Saroyan
(1908-1981)

Know Before You Go

Harlem Meer Center (formerly Lasker Rink)

Harlem Meer Center