| Celebrating One Year of Clean Streets |
 |
|
One year ago, on Nov. 1, 2006, the
BID's Clean Team swept into action.
Armed with brooms, buckets, litter bags,
shovels, paint brushes and power washers and
easily identified by blue uniforms with
the distinctive Flatiron Partnership logo,
the team has become one of the most visible
manifestations of the BID's efforts during
its first year of existence.
To date, the members of the team have
accomplished the following:
- Filled more than 155,000 trash bags.
- Collected 3.8 million pounds of
garbage.
- Handled an average of 400 trash bags
a day during winter and 550 bags daily during
summer.
- Painted more than 600 fixtures,
including mailboxes, traffic lights,
lampposts and fire hydrants.
- Serviced nearly 150 New York City
trash receptacles throughout the district, in
addition to 116 custom BID receptacles.
- Removed graffiti from fixtures,
grates, and external walls.
They are on the job seven days a week, in
fair weather and foul, a Clean Team that
works hard to keep the Flatiron district
looking good.
|
| Non-Profit Profile: NYC Audubon |
|
|
When one thinks of New York City and birds,
perhaps the only feathered creatures that
come to mind are pigeons and loons. In fact,
there are more than 350 species of birds in
town, from mute swans to screech owls, and
most of them live in the
City's 12,000 acres of wetlands, forests and
grasslands.
When it comes to saving and
protecting them, that's the mission of NYC
Audubon, which is headquartered in the heart
of the Flatiron district, at 71 West 23rd Street.
NYC Audubon describes itself as "a grassroots
community that works for the protection of
wild birds and habitat in the five boroughs,
improving the quality of life for all New
Yorkers." It boasts an active group of
volunteers and is always looking for new
ones. Currently, it is seeking people to
assist with office coverage, complete special
research projects related to conservation
issues and to provide support for special
events.
Volunteer opportunities range from rescuing
injured birds as part of Project Safe Flight
to writing content for the organization's
newsletter, The Urban Audubon, and its
children's publication, Look Around New York
City. Volunteers who are bi-lingual in
English and Spanish are needed to translate
NYC Audubon material and to co-lead bird tours.
Those interested should call 212-691-7483, or
e-mail volunteer@nycaudubon.org.
|
| Restaurants Recycle Cooking Oil |
|
|
Used cooking oil from New York City
restaurants is moving out of the frying pan
and into the fuel can.
Through the auspices of RWA Resource
Recovery, a non-profit agency that started
work last December, waste cooking oil is
finding new life as biodiesel fuel, which is
fuel made from vegetable and animal
resources. It can be used in any diesel
engine without modification and is said to
burn 78 percent cleaner than petroleum diesel.
RWA Resource Recovery picks up the waste
cooking oil from food service businesses in
the City, on demand and at no cost to them.
Participating clients enjoy fully licensed
and insured pickup services that guarantee
compliance with the City's regulations for
disposing of waste cooking oil.
RWA Resource Recovery is a service of The Doe
Fund's Ready, Willing & Able Community
Improvement Project supplemental sanitation
service. Through October, the program has
serviced 340 food establishments and
collected 140,000 gallons of waste oil in
calendar 2007.
For additional information, restaurants
seeking the service can call 212-283-0986 or
visit RWA's website.
|
| Safety Team Profile: Sam Ortiz |
|
|
Before joining the Flatiron Partnership's
Public Safety Team in June 2007, Sam
Ortiz, a
31-year-old
Brooklyn native, had worked at various security
jobs since the beginning of 1996, work that
has taken him throughout the five boroughs as
well as Long Island, Westchester and parts of
Connecticut. Sam had also served as a volunteer
Auxiliary Policeman from the time he reached
the minimum age of 17 until last year, mostly
with the 83rd Precinct in Brooklyn's Bushwick
section. His work has resulted in a thick
stack of commendations and awards, many for
his nights as an Auxiliary, in addition to
Citations of Public Safety from the New York
State Assembly and the New York City Council.
He takes immense pride in them and keeps them
neatly assembled in a binder, each protected
by an acetate sleeve and each a testimony to
the conscientious way he approaches his job.
"I like client contact," he says, "and I like
having an effect on the neighborhood. I get
to know the people who work here:
superintendents, janitors, property managers,
store managers, even the people in the subway
token booths. I know all the street vendors.
They are my eyes and ears. They help me know
what's going on. I make friends with the
traffic agents and the police. We're a
community and we all work together."
After attending the Fiorello H. LaGuardia
High School of Music & Art and Performing
Arts, where he studied painting and the
visual arts, Sam went to Kingsborough
Community College's School of Continuing
Education for courses in computers and word
processors. His artwork these days is devoted
to making drawings for children and donating
them to one of his favorite charities: the Ronald
McDonald House of Long Island.
Sam, who continues to live in Brooklyn, loves
kids and he and his wife, Sabrina, have two
daughters, Samantha, 3, and Samara, 1. A
third daughter is expected this month and the
Ortizes already have a name picked out for
her. Not surprisingly, it too begins with the
letter S: Sarah Marie.
|
| Discover Flatiron: The Armory |
|
|
The 69th Regiment Armory - that massive
red-brick fortress on Lexington Avenue
between East 25th and East 26th Streets - is
steeped in history that is much more than
military.
Since its completion in 1906, the Armory has
been as much of a home to the visual arts as
it has to one of the most storied fighting
units in U.S. history. It has also been the
home court of the New York Knicks basketball
team in the late 1940s on nights when Madison
Square
Garden was unavailable; a tennis center; a
fashion runway; and a homeless shelter. It
has also been the site of such disparate
events as Playboy magazine's 50th birthday
party and, in the days immediately following
9/11, a place where friends and relatives of
the missing gathered to post pictures of
their loved ones and lend support to one
another.
Designed by the architectural firm of Hunt &
Hunt in 1904, the structure consists of the
two standard elements of armory design, an
administration building and a vast drill
shed, but it was the first armory in New York
not to look medieval. It has no turrets or
towers or crenellated parapets - all elements
of conventional armories - but relies instead
on classically inspired design. In 1996, it
became a
National Historic Landmark. New
sheathing atop the drill shed, currently
being refinished, and a one-story addition to
the administration building in 1929 are the
only major changes to its original appearance.
The Armory is the home of the 69th Regiment,
one of the Army's most romanticized units.
Formed in 1851 by Irish immigrants, it was
nicknamed "the Fighting 69th" during the
Civil War by a distinguished adversary:
Robert E. Lee. It has served with gallantry
ever since, in battles from Bull Run to
Baghdad, and its story has been a staple of
pop culture. The 1940 movie "The Fighting
69th" recounts the exploits of the regiment
during World War I, portraying such
legendary figures as Father Francis J. Duffy,
the regimental chaplain, whose statue stands
today in Times Square; Major William "Wild
Bill" Donovan, who became the first director
of the OSS; and the poet Joyce Kilmer, slain
by a sniper in France. Today, the soldiers
who train at the Armory are members of the
1st Battalion, 69th Infantry, New York Army
National Guard.
Stark reminders of the Armory's military
history can be seen in two display cases in
the vestibule containing battlefield
artifacts. Among them: Civil War ammunition
from "Yankees" and "Confederates"; a World
War I Prussian helmet; a Japanese Army helmet
from World War II; and night-vision
binoculars and a black face mask used by
insurgents in Iraq.
The Armory achieved worldwide fame in 1913
when it became the site of the International
Exhibition of Modern Art, the first major
display of contemporary art in this country
and one of the most influential events in the
history of American art. Some 1,300 pieces
were exhibited, giving many Americans their
first look at artists such as Paul Cézanne,
Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Matisse and Pablo
Picasso.
It has since become the site of numerous art
fairs, antiques shows and a variety of
fund-raising luncheons and dinners. Some of
the events on tap in the next few weeks are
boxing matches on Nov. 1 to raise money for the
Police Athletic League, a Council of Fashion
Designers of
America charity sample sale on Nov. 17-18,
and an Artrider holiday crafts fair the
weekend of Dec. 1-2.
|
| Talking the Talk, Walking the Walk |
|
|
More than 500 people have taken the
BID's free Sunday morning Discover
Flatiron walking tours since they were
launched on
April 29.
Attendees have been treated by the BID's trio of
tour guides to the history and
behind-the-scenes stories of some of the
district's most notable architectural
attractions (the Flatiron Building, the New
York State Appellate Courthouse, the Met Life
Tower); the human dramas that have taken
place there (the murder of Stanford White and
his notorious affair with "the girl on the
red velvet swing"); and the memorable factoid
that can bring an area to life (the origin,
for example, of the phrase "23 skidoo").
The tours are conducted at 11 a.m. each
Sunday by a rotating team of guides. They are
Miriam Berman, author of Madison Square: The
Park and Its Celebrated Landmarks; Frederick
Cookinham, a veteran guide who had led tours
for the New-York Historical Society and other
institutions; and Mike Kaback, a native New
Yorker who has shown people the City for years.
As the Walking Tour program ends its first
six months, it has amassed some admirable
statistics:
- It has attracted visitors from 86 cities
from the U.S. and Canada (not including New
York). It has also drawn more than its fair
share of New Yorkers, some who live within
the Flatiron district itself and who want to
learn more about the area.
- To date, visitors have come from 27
states and five Canadian provinces.
- In addition to the U.S. and Canada, 16
other countries have been represented:
Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China,
Croatia, England, France, Germany, Israel,
Italy, the Netherlands, Peru, Scotland, South
Korea and Sweden.
Tour Meeting Time:
Every Sunday at 11:00AM.
Tour Meeting Place:
The southwest corner of Madison Square Park,
at 23rd Street and Broadway, in front of the
statue of William Seward.
|
| Newsroom |
|
|
Recent News Coverage
Press Releases
|
| Newsletter Archives |
|
|
Newsletters
|
|
Take the BID Community Survey |
|
|
|
The Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership was
created in 2006 by area property owners,
businesses, and residents to provide programs
and services to enhance the quality of life
of all who work, live, and visit here.
We invite you to complete the following
community
survey to help us evaluate our work thus far
and to share your priorities for the
neighborhood. Your input is important to us.
Start the Survey...
|
|
