Partnership News
Community
Board #5 Overwhelmingly Ratifies New Plans for Union
Square North
|
 | The
Union Square Partnership is pleased to announce that
plans for the redevelopment of Union Square Park's North
End are moving forward, bringing a 20-year effort to
revitalize Union Square Park to its final phase.
Manhattan's Community Board #5 has approved the plan
that includes an exciting and vastly expanded
playground, a seasonal restaurant in a renovated
Pavilion structure, public restrooms (one accessible
from the plaza for the general public and one accessible
only from the playground for children and their
caregivers), and an improved repaved Northern Plaza
which will benefit the Farmer's Greenmarket and public
alike. Designed in a collaboration between the NYC
Department of Parks & Recreation and the Union
Square Partnership, the new plan now goes to New York
City's Art Commission for approval. William
Castro, the NYC Parks & Recreation Manhattan Borough
Commissioner, anticipates that construction will begin
by the end of the year with completion estimated to be
in 18-24 months. Many thanks go to the plan's
supporters and a special thank you to those who came out
to the Community Board meetings and spoke in favor of
the proposal. Once the renovation of Union Square
Park is finally completed, the Park will truly be the
crowning jewel of the community.
|
New
Partnership Co-Chairs: Danny Meyer and Eric
Seiler |
| The Union Square Partnership announced the
election of Danny Meyer and Eric Seiler as Co-Chairs of
the Board of Directors of the Union Square
Partnership. Their election will continue the
strong leadership that the Partnership has enjoyed under
the current Chair, Eugene R. McGrath's, tenure.
"We are tremendously pleased to welcome Danny and Eric
as our new Board Chairs," said Karen H. Shaw, Executive
Director of the Union Square Partnership. "They have
both played pivotal roles in the success of the
Partnership and the local community. Danny's Union
Square Cafe was one of the first businesses to foresee
Union Square's wonderful possibilities, an early and
important step which led the way for the unbelievable
turnaround of this neighborhood. Eric is one of
the leading commercial litigators in the city and has
been a community advocate since he moved to the
neighborhood nearly twenty years ago. Together, their
combined energy, vision and commitment will lead the
Partnership and the neighborhood into an exciting new
era." |
Go Towards the Light! The Ones
in the Neighborhood, that
is. |
A three-year long lighting project, championed by
Joseph Tango, the Partnership's Director of Operations,
and funded by State Assembly Member Deborah Glick and
recently retired State Assembly Member Steve Sanders was
completed recently. The project dramatically
increased the number of pedestrian lights from 28 to 73
lights on 14th Street between 1st and 7th
Avenues!! Thanks to the Hon. Deborah Glick, the
Hon. Steve Sanders and the USP's Joe Tango for making
our streets even more safe and
attractive.
|
Love
Math? Like Kids? Maybe You Have a Future
Tutoring Washington Irving H.S.
Students |
|
Washington Irving High School's Math Tutoring
Program is currently in need of 20 additional
tutors! Now in its fifth year, the Math Tutoring
Program pairs volunteer tutors with students to help
them improve their algebra, geometry, calculus, and
trigonometry skills and to prepare for the Math Regents
exams. This program has been successful in
providing students with positive role models as they
work to develop their mathematical and reasoning
skills. The
Math Tutoring Program has been extremely effective with
the students. This past year, 91% of our Math Tutoring
students passed their exams as opposed to 71% for the
school as a whole. Math Tutoring takes place at Washington Irving
High School (40 Irving Place and 17th Street). If you,
or anyone you know, is interested, please contact Lanthy
at truongla@coned.com. |
Nominate Your Union
Square Business for the 2006 NYC Small Business
Awards
|
The New York City
Commission on Women's Issues (CWI) joins forces with the
New York City Department of Small Business Services
(SBS) in sponsoring an awards program open to small
business enterprises owned by women and/or men,
to:
- Raise broad awareness of the importance
of women entrepreneurs to the City of New
York;
- Demonstrate that NYC is a great place
for a woman-owned small business because of the breadth
of services available;
- Award entrepreneurs
who have proven themselves to be strong role models by
demonstrating Success for Women in New York City,
Entrepreneurial Success, and Business Success; and
- Encourage all entrepreneurs, regardless of
background, training or resources, to do business in
NYC.
Sign up now for the NYC Small Business
Awards for your chance to be awarded up to
$50,000! For official rules and more information
go to the New York City
website.
| |
Neighborhood
News
February 2006 Hot
Chocolate Festival! |
|
Looking for a way to warm your soul during the
cold winter season? Well, you're in luck!
City Bakery, located at 3 West 18th St. near 5th Ave.,
is hosting its Annual City Bakery Hot Chocolate
Festival! Serving a rotating menu of 25 unique hot
chocolate blends each day during the month of February,
including flavors such as espresso, vanilla bean,
ginger, and chili pepper, City Bakery is sure to not
only bring you warmth, but inspire your taste buds as
well! To buy tickets to these events call (212)
366-1414. More information about the Annual City
Bakery Hot Chocolate Festival can be found at www.hot-chocolate-festival.com.
|
Visit the
Livable Streets: A New Vision for New
York Exhibit |
| Last fall, Community Board 5 passed a resolution
supporting recommendations from the Union Square
Community Coalition and Transportation Alternatives that
would make the streets around Union Square more
pedestrian friendly. At the Livable Streets
Exhibit, on display at The Urban Center (457 Madison
Ave.) from February 1st to March 29, residents from the
Union Square area can learn how to "re-conquer [their]
streets from the motorcar" and create safe access to
Union Square Park, a quiet refuge from the busy
surrounding streets. Find out what is being done to
implement current commonsense recommendations to the
neighborhood and how alleviating traffic or creating
pedestrian friendly spaces can improve your quality of
life. For more information, contact The Municipal
Art Society at (212) 935-3960. |
Go Back In
Time at The Tibet House! |
|
Take the opportunity to 'go back in time' with
the new Delicate, Exotic Watercolors Depict 1,400 Years
of Tibetan Architecture Exhibit showing at the Tibet
House! From February 9 to April 7 you can
experience this display of works by Michel
Peissel. The exhibit captures the stunning
monasteries, chapels, and fortresses that can be found
in Tibet, as well as the more modern architecture
existing today. The gallery at the Tibet House,
located at 22 West 15th St., is open Monday thru Friday
from 12 - 6 p.m. For more information visit www.tibethouse.org.
|
Free Jazz
Concert at Beth Israel Medical
Center! |
|
Cecil's Big Band, a nationally renowned 17-piece
Jazz Ensemble led by Cecil Brooks III, will be
performing, FREE, on Thursday, March 2 from 6 - 8 p.m.
to kick off the National Colorectal Cancer Awareness
Month! Beth Israel Medical Center invites you to
attend this spectacular event in the Second Floor Atrium
of the Phillips Ambulatory Care Center, located at 10
Union Square East between 14th and 15th Streets.
|
About
Union Square
Partnership
|
| The Union Square Partnership, a
non-profit organization, works to ensure the community's
vibrancy as a center for business, culture and education
and to improve the quality of life for its residents and
businesses, by providing supplemental public safety,
sanitation, business promotion and economic development
services throughout the district. The Union Square
Partnership, comprised of a Business Improvement
District and Local Development Corporation, facilitates
economic development by spearheading educational,
economic development and park enhancements and
acting as a liaison between community, business and
government leaders. |
| Visit the Union Square
Partnership online at www.unionsquarenyc.org
| |
