Parks and Historic Sites

Will There Be Face-Recognition Surveillance at the Statue of Liberty?

The National Park Service describes the Statue of Liberty as "a universal symbol of freedom and democracy." What better place to implement powerful new surveillance systems complete with next-generation facial-recognition technology? Late last year, Police Product Insight, a trade journal for polic ... More >>

New York City Parks Are Hot Spots For Rapists. Bill de Blasio Credits NYPD "Blind Spots"

New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio says NYPD "blind spots" are partially to blame for a recent spike in sexual assaults in city parks. To fix the problem, de Blasio says the cops need to start tallying park-crime data.De Blasio's suggestion comes just days after a 31-year-old woman was nea ... More >>

After Heated Hearing, Fate of New York's Park Artists Remains Undecided

The lengthy legal battle between New York's artist-vendors and the Department of Parks and Recreation continued this afternoon, as lawyers for both told Judge Richard Sullivan, of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, that the other side is wrong about the basic fac ... More >>

Adrian Benepe's Resignation: Will Changes in Parks and Recreation Affect Artists?

Adrian Benepe, the Parks and Recreation Commissioner who helmed the Department for a decade, is leaving to go work at the Trust for Public Land, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Benepe's job will be filled by Veronica M. White, who heads New York City's Center for Economic Opportunity. Now, t ... More >>

Federal Judge To Decide if Artists Can Play in The Park

The long-standing legal battle between the city's artists and Department of Parks and Recreation has started to heat up. Yesterday, the city's artist vendors asked Richard J. Sullivan, U.S. District Judge of the Southern District of New York, to consider new evidence in their suit against the city. ... More >>

The Other America: Revisiting Lawrence Kasdan’s Grand Canyon

Department of Environmental Protection Clarifies Fracking E-Mail (UPDATE)

Mayor Mike Bloomberg has had his share of public reservations about hydrofracking, urging government honchos to keep drilling far from NYC's water. The City's environmental agency is on board, too. But a strange little newsletter released this afternoon from the Department of Environmental Protect ... More >>

5 More New York City Parks Will Get Free Wireless Internet This Week

​Earlier this year the city announced a five-year plan with AT&T to bring free Wi-Fi to 26 spots in 20 New York City parks throughout the boroughs. This Thursday, Astoria Park in Queens, Herbert Von King Park and McCarren Park Field House in Brooklyn, Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan, and Clo ... More >>

In the Annals of 'Boooo!': Tomato Thieves Abound in the City's Community Gardens

Jaako/flickrTomatoes for the taking.​One of the best lines in the New York Times article on people who pilfer from the 700 community gardens in the city is this one: "I know that people who garden in the country have trouble with squirrels and deer and turkeys; here in our neighborhood, we ha ... More >>

Grizzly Bear Kills Man at Yellowstone National Park

​In the first fatal bear-to-human mauling in Yellowstone National Park since 1986, a female grizzly has killed a 57-year-old man who was hiking with his wife and stumbled upon the bear and her cubs. The attack occurred close to Canyon Village, in the middle of the park, and remote campgrounds ... More >>

NYC Parks Department Is Checking to See How Badly We Are Treating Our Obelisk

​Back in January there was a bit of drama over the 3,500-year-old Egyptian obelisk residing in Central Park, Cleopatra's Needle, which was given to the U.S. by Egypt to commemorate the opening of the Suez Canal. The minister of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, claimed that ... More >>

Happy Birthday, Statue of Liberty!

​On June 17, 1885, the Statue of Liberty arrived in the New York Harbor. It was a gift from the people of France, designed by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. Because she is 151-feet tall, Lady Liberty was shipped to the United States in more than 200 pieces. Assembly was completed on October 18, 1 ... More >>

New York to Become 'Leading Example' of Urban Camping, Maybe

Not exactly what Salazar had in mind.​Ken Salazar, the Interior Secretary, has come up with a fun idea. Urban camping! Okay, the idea to camp in urban areas is not Salazar's per se, but he has just announced that Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn will be developed by the National Park Service to ... More >>

God Told Crazy Guy to Swim to Statue of Liberty

​It was all god and country for an unidentified dude over the weekend who says the lord commanded that he swim in the New York Harbor even though it was freezing. A 29-year-old reportedly got down to his bathing suit at Liberty State Park and dove in, attempting the 3/4-mile trip to the Statue ... More >>

Sarah Palin Gets Goosebumps From Ellis Island, Eats Pizza With Knife and Fork

​Last night Sarah Palin met Mr. Donald Trump for dinner at Famous Famiglia's in Times Square, where the two -- horror of horrors -- ate their pepperoni pizza with a knife and fork (a knife and fork!). Today, Palin has continued in her authentic experience of our great city by touring Ellis and ... More >>

Swiss 'Jetman' Yves Rossy Flies Across the Grand Canyon [Video]

Yves Rossy, who is both braver and crazier than we are, flew for 8 minutes across the Grand Canyon on Saturday at speeds of up to 190 miles per hour. "Flying his jet-propelled wing attached to his back, and steering only by moving his body, Rossy launched from a helicopter at 2,440 metres above the ... More >>

Community Gardens Fear Wilting Under Massive Cuts in Federal Block-Grant Money

Growing dissent: Urban gardeners besiege City Hall​By Adrian Fussell Looming federal budget cuts mean that community gardens across New York City will likely face a severe, life-threatening drought. And the seeds of protest are already sprouting. Supporters of GreenThumb, the city's primary comm ... More >>

Water Taxi New Years Eve Cruise

The Last Jelly Pool Party, Featuring "SECRET SPECIAL GUESTS!", Is Back On

Last chance to do this, for real this time. Pic by Sam Horine.​Yes, the final Pool Party of a remarkably tumultuous year has been saved, set for this Sunday, August 29, rescued after an ugly few days of Jelly and the Open Space Alliance trading crabby press releases. The dialogue is still crab ... More >>

Pelham Parkway Guardrail to "Protect Drivers From Trees" Means Killing 80 Trees

Courtesy George Zulch​By Valerie Vande Panne Pelham Parkway activists are simmering up in the Bronx. The Department of Transportation wants to cut down 80 of the 1,219 mature trees that cradle the Parkway to install guardrails that would ostensibly protect the trees from drivers crashing into ... More >>

Last Pool Party Canceled, OSA Slams Jelly, Jelly Prepares Rebuttal: "Their Statement Contains Numerous Falsehoods That We Can Document"

At the !!! Pool Party Sunday, in (slightly) happier times. Pic by Sam Horine.​A bad summer for the Jelly Pool Parties is ending worse. Word spread last night that the August 29th show at East River State Park, featuring Delorean, Dominique Young Unique, and two never-revealed SECRET SPECIAL GU ... More >>

Arbouretum+Pontiak

Paterson's Cuts Include Hits to a Park He Helped Create Through Protest

​Governor David Paterson's dramatic budget cuts to state parks includes a severe hit to a park he once blocked traffic to create. Back in 1988, then-State Senator Paterson joined environmental activists to block the West Side Highway as a way to protest the stench reeking from the North Rive ... More >>

Brooklyn Bridge Park Announces Its Summer Food Vendor Line-Up

Now with lobster rolls, organic ice cream.​In March, the newly constructed Brooklyn Bridge Park was launched with a ceremony at Pier 1 attended by a lot of city politicians who stood around shivering in the drizzling rain. It was but a prelude to sunnier and more well-fed times: today, the Bro ... More >>

Albany Proposes Closing Bayswater Point State Park, Cuts to Riverbank Park; 79 Other Sites Affected

​As expected, the state has proposed closing or limiting services to a lot of state parks and historic sites is response to its "historic fiscal crisis." The local damage is limited. Under the recommendations, the 12-acre Bayswater Point State Park in Jamaica Bay would close. And Riverbank S ... More >>

JELLY NYC Pool Parties Saved! (Again!)

The only thing missing here is Schumer. Illustration by M. Wartella.​The Department of Parks and Recreation let slip back in December that the embattled, endangered JELLY NYC Pool Parties had been given a reprieve by the city that had temporarily tried to shut them down. But, as Senator Chuck ... More >>

Brooklyn Bridge Park to Get New Waterfront Restaurant

Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 6, future home of waterfront dining.​The Post reports that the city's Parks Department is looking for a new waterfront restaurant for Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 6. The restaurant is expected to be similar to the River Cafe, which sits adjacent to the Fulton Ferry L ... More >>

Jelly NYC Pool Parties Are Saved, Will Be At East River State Park Again in 2010 [Updated]

Get ready to see a whole lot more of this scene. Illustration by M. Wartella.​"There's still some paperwork, but as far as state parks is concerned, there will be concerts," state park director Rachel Gordon told the Brooklyn Paper. It was the Department of Parks and Recreation's announcement ... More >>

Order now

​Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty are opening for evening visits on September 24 and 25 (this, essentially, does not happen). Visitors will also see a preview of Ken Burns' national park documentary for PBS.As likely as not, since this was announced a few hours ago, tickets are already gone, ... More >>

SHAPE UP, NEW YORK!

Start your day with fitness classes outdoors

Statue of Liberty's Head Reopens July 4

For the first time in nearly eight years, the head of the Statue of Liberty will be open to the public starting July 4. Interior Secretary made the announcement on the Today Show this morning. "The economic times we're going through really call for hope and optimism," he said. "Nothing symbolizes ... More >>

Getting the MTA's Goat at the Verrazano Bridge

Bloomberg's Coney Gambit Leaves Thor Up Sitt Creek

"Lovers's Lane Rape" Suspect to Face Judge

Yanks Get OK To Zap Park

Park Service, Black Pride Party End Standoff

Park Service Okays Yanks' Park Demolition

Theeeeeeeeeeee Yankees Win!

Yanks' Stadium Deal Not Over Till It's Over

This Land Is Their Land

Close-Up on Jersey City

Close-Up on DUMBO, Brooklyn

Sierra Club Scores Shrub's First 100 Days

Prez Not All Bad on Environment. Just Mostly.

Libertarian Belle

Gale Norton Rings in an America Where Polluters Police Themselves and Environmentalists Go Extinct

Norton Made Nice on Environment; Hansen Makes Nasty

Congressman 'Elated' at Chance to Undo Clinton's Work

Crying For Help

Into Thin Air

On the Scene of a Fruitless Search For a Friend

No Park-ing Today

Private enterprise disrupts a public park...again. Oh, but it's for a good cause.