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Volume XX • Number 25 • June 20 - 26, 2013 •
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Putnam Trail decision reaches an impasse
By HAYDEE CAMACHO People who had hoped there would be a final resolution either in support of or against the Parks Department Plan on the paving of the Putnam Trail in Van Cortlandt Park by the full membership of Community Board 8 at its Tuesday, June 11th meeting will have to keep waiting. Parks and Recreation Committee chair Bob Bender reported that with last month’s split vote on the resolution (3-2 with 2 abstentions) at the committee meeting, the matter will not go for a vote with the full board. The community board only serves in an advisory capacity and the Parks Department can still go ahead with its plans, which have been temporarily stalled. The Parks Department is awaiting approval of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The Parks Department is also responding to the public comments being submitted about the plan which calls for paving the trail with asphalt. Conservationist and community advocates have called for paving with stone dust. Bender said the DEC must be satisfied with Parks Department response to the public comments or it will not grant approval . The plan has also hit another road block with the recent expiration of the New York City Department of Design Construction approval. The DDC issued its approval for the project on June 6, 2011 which was valid for two years. If the plan receive the go ahead from the DEC , it must go back to the DDC for another round of
the approval process which could take anywhere from a few weeks to months. Will Sanchez, an organizer for Save the Putnam Trail, one of the most vocal opponents to paving was unhappy with the outcome. “I believed a vote would have been taken,” he said. “Any board member could have put in a motion.” He felt the board was adopting a “wait and see” attitude and that they are anticipating changes to design for the trail. The current design calls for a 10 foot wide asphalt path down the center with a three foot jogging path of compacted earthen material to the left and a two ft. nature trail to the right. In the meantime, the group continues to speak out against the design. Members distributed a statement on their views to all the board members. They are also working to obtain funds for the maintenance of a stone dust trail through private sources. “We are determined to ensure that the Bronx gets a world-class stone-dust trail that would be a model for the rest of the country,” said Sanchez. After Bender updated the board members on the delays, members informally shared their views. Laura Spalter, Vice Chair of the Parks and Recreation Committee voted against the resolution to support the current design to pave with asphalt at last month’s meeting. “A lot of trails throughout the city have used stone dust and it creates a much safer environment for strollers and joggers. It’s softer on feet, kinder on the knees and back,” she said.
“When I visited the Putnam Trail, I was surprised to see bikers, walkers and joggers together because the bikers can’t go so fast. But if you create a biker highway with asphalt then you’re going to have much faster bikes and it’s going to totally change the character of the trail,” said Spalter. Other board members felt stone dust was unsafe for anyone who took a fall and that the material had poor drainage after rains. Andrew Cohen was present at the meeting and issued a statement regarding the Putnam Trail paving. He noted that the current plan has been extremely divisive and has needlessly pitted the cyclists and the runners, two park-supporting constituencies, against each other. “A path constructed of compressed crushed stone would provide a surface that cyclists and runners, as well as walkers and the disabled, could live with and use,” he said. “A recent meeting of the parks committee of Community Board 8, a representative of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities stated that compressed crushed stone is ADA-compliant and would thus be an acceptable solution. Unfortunately, the Parks Department has stuck with asphalt, arguing that it would be too difficult to maintain a compressed crushed stone path. While maintenance might be an issue on the hilly cross-country trails of Van Cortlandt Park, the Putnam Trail is flat, making its maintenance significantly easier,” he stated.
Works of Artists Supporting Israel exhibited at HIR By PAULETTE SCHNEIDER Artists Supporting Israel has chosen the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale as the venue for a 40-work exhibition representing visual artists who support Israel’s right to exist in peace and security. Their goal is to educate and motivate artists who will ultimately participate in creating a body of work that can enlighten viewers. For this exhibition, their second, the group challenged visual artists to respond—in both art and essay form—to either of two radio broadcasts. One
was a news report on last June’s Hamas rocket fire on a factory in Sderot, along with a clip on a song sung by Sderot’s children during attacks. The other was a broadcast by radio host John Batchelor with co-host Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chair of the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations, on the subject of Israel’s choice to maintain restraint even while security is threatened. This broadcast coincided with the Boston bombing incident. Organizer and artist Fred
“A People That Dwells Alone,” a photograph by Isaac A. Geld.
Spinowitz “just knew about the synagogue and thought it would be a good place to launch this,” said Sheryl Itrator Urman, an artist who founded the group. Malcolm Hoenlein, who is “very much conceptually behind this project,” gave full permission for the
use of his radio broadcasts, she said. “The goal is to bring this artwork to the Jewish world and then the secular world,” she said. I’m hoping that one of our works will wind up in the Brooklyn Museum,” where viewers will be moved to ask why the piece
was created. “I’m hoping that we’re creating the pictures that will tell the story of a certain time period.” The artworks, some by Riverdale residents, are on sale and will be on view in the shul through Friday, June 21.
“What If…,” a fiber art quilt by Mimi Wohlberg. The red squares represent Iron Dome protective missiles; the blue shapes are rockets firing on the fields below.