Prospect Park

The Daily Plant : Wednesday, April 24, 2002

ALL MY BAGS ARE PACKED…

If you have been looking for staff from Marketing, Citywide Special Events, Central Recreation or e-Government recently, it may have felt like a game of "Where’s Waldo?". The shift is on, as baseball announcers so eloquently put it, and some Parks employees have found new homes on familiar grounds. We here at The Daily Plant thought it would be helpful to let readers know where they can be found.

Parks Central Recreation has made its new home on the second floor of Arsenal North at 104^th Street and Fifth Avenue. The 12 person team has finally settled into their new space with Commissioner Jeffrey’s other divisions. Here is an updated list of personnel and phone numbers:

Emily Brennan (212) 360-3311
Kelly Gillen (212) 360-3309
Julia Schaffer (212) 360-3307
Darah Ross (212) 360-3310
Debbie Weiss (212) 360-3308
Ronee Mattingly (212) 360-3312
Jon Ells (212) 360-3305
Aaron Greenberg (212) 360-3303
James Brown (212) 360-3306
Sarah Horowitz (212) 360-3302
Kenya Lewis (212) 360-3304
April Rodreguez (212) 360-3313

Recreation Hotline (212) 360-3333
Central Number (212) 360-3300

Fax (212) 360-3314

Also new to Arsenal North is e-Government. With the Parks Internet site getting bigger and better, it is only fitting for those that create and maintain it to get their own space. They can now be reached at the following numbers:

Andy Wilson (212) 360-3319
Jed Reinitz (212) 360-3316
Peter Lo (212) 360-3315
Karen Chia (212) 360-3317

In a return to times past, the Marketing and Citywide Special Events divisions have been combined to form the office of Marketing & Citywide Special Events. With a new office on the second floor of the Arsenal, this move is sure to help streamline planning for big events. Reach out to them at:

Katie Langhammer (212) 360-8244
M.J. Furman (212) 360-8219
Misa Numano (212) 360-8218
Dana Krieger (212) 360-8216
Lauren Brignone (212) 360-1359
David Kovall (212) 360-1339
Alex Orloff (212) 360-1379

Adding to the mix, Arsenal West is moving downstairs. Starting Friday at 4:00 p.m. the staff of Arsenal West will start relocating to floors 2 through 5 of 24 West 61 Street. Be wary, from the start time through Saturday evening there will be very limited information access between Arsenal West and the rest of the agency. With questions or concerns please contact MIS at (212) 830-7911.

Central Recreation, though happy about all the advantages of their new home, was still sad to be leaving what had been their home since their inception. "We're glad to have new neighbors and a new neighborhood to get to know," said the Recreation staff. "Across the street, the Conservatory Garden is in bloom. We're closer to our north Manhattan recreation centers and, in-house, we're now right next door to our storage space. However, we sorely miss our colleagues back at the Arsenal: you're all invited to visit us any time!"

(Wednesday, May 1, 1989)

The New York City Urban Park Rangers annually educate more than 80,000 New Yorkers of all ages with more than 2,500 free programs and workshops of all kinds. To accomplish this, the Rangers occasionally need to re-educate themselves.

So once a year since 1985 the Rangers have held "Idea Exchange Day," a useful Ranger programming tool and forum for new ideas—and often the only time when all 65 Urban Park Rangers can gather as a group to discuss their programs. This year’s gathering, held on March 29 at the Picnic House in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, broadened the focus of the discussion to include representatives from other division of the agency.

"What does it mean when people applaud? …
Should I give ’em money?
Say thank you? Lift my dress?
The lack of applause—that I can respond to."

Barbra Streisand
(b. April 24, 1942)