Showing posts with label fountain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fountain. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Bowne Park ain't what it used to be
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Happy Valentine's Day from the NYC Parks Dept
Decorative fountains built more than 50 years ago for the World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park are getting a new life — and new purpose — as part of a $5 million renovation next year.
The Fountain of the Fairs, part of the majestic water displays constructed for the 1964-65 World’s Fair, will be transformed into playful spray showers and mists where kids can cool off during the summer.
It will be a return to glory for the empty fountains, which Robert Moses designed to cascade from the Unisphere to the Rocket Thrower statue. The fountains were up and running after an extensive renovation in 2000, but broke within a few years and were later damaged in flooding from superstorm Sandy.
The city Department of Parks and Recreation decided to find a way to revamp them, setting up community meetings and listening sessions in 2015 and 2016 to figure out the best use of the space.
The community overwhelmingly asked for more water options, according to Janice Melnick, the administrator of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
Monday, July 17, 2017
Activity at Civic Virtue site
Drove by Borough Hall today and noted that the green plywood fencing surrounding the Civic Virtue site was down. The workers were hosing the site with water. I spoke to them and they said that blue boxood and white lilies - the colors of the Queens flag - will be planted in the fountain area. Flower planting to come from somewhere in New Jersey. Will Katz have a ribbon-cutting ceremony very soon?
Check out my post here with today's photos of the renovated site.
All the best,
GtheA"
Glad to hear we're even outsourcing flower planting.
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Parker Towers demolishing fountain
From Forest Hills Post:
Parker Towers, the large 1960s development sandwiched between Queens Blvd and Yellowstone Boulevard, has long been known for the giant fountain in the middle of the courtyard.
The fountain has traditionally been a focal point since it is surrounded by the three 22-story high-rises that make up the complex.
The fountain, however, is now being demolished. According to a spokesman for the Parker Towers, the demolition began yesterday and will be complete in two weeks.
The plan is to replace it with greenspace. Construction will begin in a few weeks and is estimated to be finished in a few months.
However, according to local historian and Forest Hills resident Michael Perlman, residents are not pleased with this decision and neither is he.
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Planted ruin construction underway
Repairs to a damaged fountain in Kew Gardens began this week and will include plans to transform the site into a plaza dedicated to women of the borough, according to the Queens borough president.
The $720,000 restoration project by the city's Department of Design and Construction will repair the stonework at the base of a fountain at the corner of Queens Boulevard and Union Turnpike on the ground of Borough Hall. The project will also improve landscaping, install benches and a plaque to honor the borough's women.
Restoration of Civic Virtue statue: $50,000 vs. Creating new plaza: $720,000
Translation: Someone's relative needed a contract.
Monday, June 22, 2015
Queens women to be honored with a planted ruin
City ignores public, proceeds with plan previously rejected by Helen Marshall
[This summarizes prior events concerning the Civic Virtue statue and the Queens Boulevard plaza site, then presents new information concerning a bidding process that closed on May 18, 2015 for work at the plaza site.]
I am Robert LoScalzo, the media producer/activist who sued the NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services (“DCAS”) in 2013 to force it to comply with the Freedom of Information Law and turn over records pertaining to the controversial removal of the colossal 22-ton artwork statue “Triumph of Civic Virtue” from the Queens Boulevard public plaza site where it had stood since 1941, to a private Brooklyn graveyard. DCAS had removed the statue without consulting Queens Community Board 9 and against the will of area residents and officials, who did not want the statue removed.
As you may recall, I am also the one who discovered and exposed that City taxpayers paid $49,464.00 for a fine art conservator to provide “all labor, materials and equipment necessary for the conservation of the Civic Virtue sculpture,” plus another $49,801.00 for a fine art handling company to provide “all labor, equipment and material necessary and required to design and fabricate a custom armature [cage] to support and lift the Civic Virtue statue for its relocation to the Green-Wood Cemetery.” Contrary to what the City led the public to believe at the time, it was unnecessary to relocate the Civic Virtue statue to Green-Wood Cemetery in order to repair and restore it – and taxpayers need not have incurred the additional $49,801.00 expense to do so. Queens lost a valuable art asset, although taxpayers footed the bill to restore it.
After the Civic Virtue statue was removed and the public wondered what would happen to the Queens Boulevard plaza site, I am also the one who unearthed the disappointing plan devised by DCAS to convert the statue’s fountain base into a “planted ruin.” According to plans dated April 2, 2013 (PDF attached), "DCAS wishes to keep the original fountain as a planted ruin, a scenic backdrop to a busy and important intersection in the borough. … [T]he fountain, although left as a 'ruin', will be planted with grades and groundcovers and act as a landscape folly to enhance this prominent corner."
DCAS’s “planted ruin” plan was ridiculed on the popular QueensCrap web site, which declared: “Planned ‘Civic Virtue’ replacement a total embarrassment.”
DCAS’s “planted ruin” plan was also rejected by Helen Marshall, then Queens Borough President. Marshall’s spokesman Dan Andrews said “renderings that were presented to Marshall ‘were not acceptable to the borough president.’ ‘She would like to see it as a place where people can sit and reflect on the contributions of different women whose names she had wanted engraved there,’ Andrews said. The proposed renderings, Andrews said, did not include the women's memorial. Marshall would also like the fountain to be restored at the site, but the renderings did not include it. They called for flower plantings instead.” DNA Info
Concerned about the lack of any public process to plan the use of the Queens Boulevard plaza site and to consider the potential return of the newly-restored Civic Virtue statue, on April 8, 2014 the Civic Virtue Task Force met with Barry Grodenchik, a top aide to Queens Borough President Melinda Katz (and now candidate for City Council District 23), and Nayelli Valencia Turrent, Katz’s Director of Cultural Affairs and Tourism, to discuss those issues. When Grodenchik asked if the Task Force had a “Plan B” in the event the statue would not be returned, the Task Force replied: “Institute a legitimate public process to plan the future use of the plaza site.” Grodenchik said he would discuss that with Katz and then get back to the Task Force. He never did.
On July 3, 2014 the Civic Virtue Task Force wrote to DCAS Commissioner Stacey Cumberbatch about those same issues, asking (among other questions): “What opportunities are there for community input and planning, regarding the future use of the Plaza site and the potential return of Civic Virtue?” DCAS never answered the question, and never instituted any public planning process for the plaza site.
Which brings us to the news: My most recent Freedom of Information Law request to the Office of the Queens Borough President reveals that the NYC Department of Design and Construction (“DDC”) has already solicited bids for a project called “Planted Fountain Restoration” at the Queens Boulevard plaza site, the centerpiece of which is essentially the 2013 “planted ruin” plan devised by DCAS which Helen Marshall rejected. The deadline for contractors to submit bids for this work was May 18, 2015. As far as I am aware, this has not been reported anywhere.
According to the bid solicitation documents: “The project consists of creating a sitting area around the existing historic fountain. The fountain basin will be stabilized and waterproofed and turned into a planter, and the fountain steps will be reconstructed. Benches, lighting and pavement will be added to create an accessible plaza.”
The bid specifications also require a 9” x 18” bronze plaque displaying the inscription: “THIS FOUNTAIN PLAZA IS DEDICATED TO THE WOMEN OF QUEENS.”
A few observations:
• The bronze plaque refers to “this fountain plaza” – however, there won’t be any actual functioning fountain. What is left of the fountain will be buried under the flowers and plants. It is wrong to call this a “fountain plaza” when the fountain is in fact eliminated under this plan.
• The City is proceeding with this plan, despite not addressing reasons it was rejected by Helen Marshall. She had wanted the fountain to be restored, not planted over; and she had wanted the names of women engraved at the site.
• From the very beginning, the City’s plans to remove the Civic Virtue statue and to determine the future use of the plaza site have been secretly made by powers-that-be who have refused to implement any public planning process or to consider what the community and taxpayers actually want. DCAS Commissioner Stacey Cumberbatch, DDC, Melinda Katz, Barry Grodenchik and Nayelli Valencia Turrent apparently are continuing this imperious policy of dictating the use of the plaza site and abandoning the newly-restored Civic Virtue statue in a private Brooklyn graveyard, contrary to what constituents and taxpayers want.
• The public has never asked for any planted ruin or dedication to women at the plaza site. On the other hand, the public has requested the return of the newly-restored Civic Virtue statue from its temporary loan to Green-Wood Cemetery.
• To be very clear: We could have had the newly-restored Civic Virtue statue returned to Queens Boulevard, standing on top of a newly-restored fountain base, with its waterworks turned on every day and fully operational – think mini “Trevi Fountain” on Queens Boulevard, and you get the idea. Instead, we’ll get a “planted ruin” and a bronze plaque, while the Civic Virtue statue – newly restored at taxpayer expense – remains abandoned in a private Brooklyn graveyard. That is lunacy, and an utter failure of Queens leadership.
• Melinda Katz laments the fact that Queens receives the lowest per capita Department of Cultural Affairs support among the boroughs. But by allowing a unique and colossal artwork such as Civic Virtue to be taken from the borough to a graveyard, to be replaced by a mediocre “planted ruin,” Queens only proves the borough’s true status as the laughingstock of this City’s cultural affairs.
The NYC Public Design Commission (PDC) may still have to approve any plan for the plaza site. A cursory review of all PDC agendas at the PDC web site from the year 2012 to the present time did not show any Queens Boulevard plaza site renovation on any PDC meeting agenda.
Questions Raised:
(1) If Helen Marshall rejected the “planted ruin” concept, and DCAS and DDC are now proceeding with essentially that plan, has Melinda Katz approved it? Or are DCAS and DDC doing whatever they want at the plaza site?
(2) Which contractor firm is the winning bidder for the “Planted Fountain” work at the plaza site? What is the total price of the winning bid? Has a contract actually been awarded and executed yet?
(3) Has the Public Design Commission approved the plans for the fountain/plaza? If not, when will it?
(4) Presuming that the PDC must approve any plan for the plaza site but has not yet done so, why would DCAS and DDC solicit bids for a specific plan for the plaza site, without first obtaining PDC’s approval of that plan?
[This summarizes prior events concerning the Civic Virtue statue and the Queens Boulevard plaza site, then presents new information concerning a bidding process that closed on May 18, 2015 for work at the plaza site.]
2015 DDC Planted Fountain Specifications
I am Robert LoScalzo, the media producer/activist who sued the NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services (“DCAS”) in 2013 to force it to comply with the Freedom of Information Law and turn over records pertaining to the controversial removal of the colossal 22-ton artwork statue “Triumph of Civic Virtue” from the Queens Boulevard public plaza site where it had stood since 1941, to a private Brooklyn graveyard. DCAS had removed the statue without consulting Queens Community Board 9 and against the will of area residents and officials, who did not want the statue removed.
As you may recall, I am also the one who discovered and exposed that City taxpayers paid $49,464.00 for a fine art conservator to provide “all labor, materials and equipment necessary for the conservation of the Civic Virtue sculpture,” plus another $49,801.00 for a fine art handling company to provide “all labor, equipment and material necessary and required to design and fabricate a custom armature [cage] to support and lift the Civic Virtue statue for its relocation to the Green-Wood Cemetery.” Contrary to what the City led the public to believe at the time, it was unnecessary to relocate the Civic Virtue statue to Green-Wood Cemetery in order to repair and restore it – and taxpayers need not have incurred the additional $49,801.00 expense to do so. Queens lost a valuable art asset, although taxpayers footed the bill to restore it.
After the Civic Virtue statue was removed and the public wondered what would happen to the Queens Boulevard plaza site, I am also the one who unearthed the disappointing plan devised by DCAS to convert the statue’s fountain base into a “planted ruin.” According to plans dated April 2, 2013 (PDF attached), "DCAS wishes to keep the original fountain as a planted ruin, a scenic backdrop to a busy and important intersection in the borough. … [T]he fountain, although left as a 'ruin', will be planted with grades and groundcovers and act as a landscape folly to enhance this prominent corner."
DCAS’s “planted ruin” plan was ridiculed on the popular QueensCrap web site, which declared: “Planned ‘Civic Virtue’ replacement a total embarrassment.”
DCAS’s “planted ruin” plan was also rejected by Helen Marshall, then Queens Borough President. Marshall’s spokesman Dan Andrews said “renderings that were presented to Marshall ‘were not acceptable to the borough president.’ ‘She would like to see it as a place where people can sit and reflect on the contributions of different women whose names she had wanted engraved there,’ Andrews said. The proposed renderings, Andrews said, did not include the women's memorial. Marshall would also like the fountain to be restored at the site, but the renderings did not include it. They called for flower plantings instead.” DNA Info
Concerned about the lack of any public process to plan the use of the Queens Boulevard plaza site and to consider the potential return of the newly-restored Civic Virtue statue, on April 8, 2014 the Civic Virtue Task Force met with Barry Grodenchik, a top aide to Queens Borough President Melinda Katz (and now candidate for City Council District 23), and Nayelli Valencia Turrent, Katz’s Director of Cultural Affairs and Tourism, to discuss those issues. When Grodenchik asked if the Task Force had a “Plan B” in the event the statue would not be returned, the Task Force replied: “Institute a legitimate public process to plan the future use of the plaza site.” Grodenchik said he would discuss that with Katz and then get back to the Task Force. He never did.
On July 3, 2014 the Civic Virtue Task Force wrote to DCAS Commissioner Stacey Cumberbatch about those same issues, asking (among other questions): “What opportunities are there for community input and planning, regarding the future use of the Plaza site and the potential return of Civic Virtue?” DCAS never answered the question, and never instituted any public planning process for the plaza site.
2015 DDC Planted Fountain Drawings
Which brings us to the news: My most recent Freedom of Information Law request to the Office of the Queens Borough President reveals that the NYC Department of Design and Construction (“DDC”) has already solicited bids for a project called “Planted Fountain Restoration” at the Queens Boulevard plaza site, the centerpiece of which is essentially the 2013 “planted ruin” plan devised by DCAS which Helen Marshall rejected. The deadline for contractors to submit bids for this work was May 18, 2015. As far as I am aware, this has not been reported anywhere.
According to the bid solicitation documents: “The project consists of creating a sitting area around the existing historic fountain. The fountain basin will be stabilized and waterproofed and turned into a planter, and the fountain steps will be reconstructed. Benches, lighting and pavement will be added to create an accessible plaza.”
2015 DDC Planted Fountain Plaque
The bid specifications also require a 9” x 18” bronze plaque displaying the inscription: “THIS FOUNTAIN PLAZA IS DEDICATED TO THE WOMEN OF QUEENS.”
A few observations:
• The bronze plaque refers to “this fountain plaza” – however, there won’t be any actual functioning fountain. What is left of the fountain will be buried under the flowers and plants. It is wrong to call this a “fountain plaza” when the fountain is in fact eliminated under this plan.
• The City is proceeding with this plan, despite not addressing reasons it was rejected by Helen Marshall. She had wanted the fountain to be restored, not planted over; and she had wanted the names of women engraved at the site.
• From the very beginning, the City’s plans to remove the Civic Virtue statue and to determine the future use of the plaza site have been secretly made by powers-that-be who have refused to implement any public planning process or to consider what the community and taxpayers actually want. DCAS Commissioner Stacey Cumberbatch, DDC, Melinda Katz, Barry Grodenchik and Nayelli Valencia Turrent apparently are continuing this imperious policy of dictating the use of the plaza site and abandoning the newly-restored Civic Virtue statue in a private Brooklyn graveyard, contrary to what constituents and taxpayers want.
• The public has never asked for any planted ruin or dedication to women at the plaza site. On the other hand, the public has requested the return of the newly-restored Civic Virtue statue from its temporary loan to Green-Wood Cemetery.
• To be very clear: We could have had the newly-restored Civic Virtue statue returned to Queens Boulevard, standing on top of a newly-restored fountain base, with its waterworks turned on every day and fully operational – think mini “Trevi Fountain” on Queens Boulevard, and you get the idea. Instead, we’ll get a “planted ruin” and a bronze plaque, while the Civic Virtue statue – newly restored at taxpayer expense – remains abandoned in a private Brooklyn graveyard. That is lunacy, and an utter failure of Queens leadership.
• Melinda Katz laments the fact that Queens receives the lowest per capita Department of Cultural Affairs support among the boroughs. But by allowing a unique and colossal artwork such as Civic Virtue to be taken from the borough to a graveyard, to be replaced by a mediocre “planted ruin,” Queens only proves the borough’s true status as the laughingstock of this City’s cultural affairs.
The NYC Public Design Commission (PDC) may still have to approve any plan for the plaza site. A cursory review of all PDC agendas at the PDC web site from the year 2012 to the present time did not show any Queens Boulevard plaza site renovation on any PDC meeting agenda.
Questions Raised:
(1) If Helen Marshall rejected the “planted ruin” concept, and DCAS and DDC are now proceeding with essentially that plan, has Melinda Katz approved it? Or are DCAS and DDC doing whatever they want at the plaza site?
(2) Which contractor firm is the winning bidder for the “Planted Fountain” work at the plaza site? What is the total price of the winning bid? Has a contract actually been awarded and executed yet?
(3) Has the Public Design Commission approved the plans for the fountain/plaza? If not, when will it?
(4) Presuming that the PDC must approve any plan for the plaza site but has not yet done so, why would DCAS and DDC solicit bids for a specific plan for the plaza site, without first obtaining PDC’s approval of that plan?
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Planned "Civic Virtue" replacement a total embarrassment
From Triumph of Civic Virtue:
Ever since plans to exile the Triumph of Civic Virtue statue to Brooklyn came to light, enquiring minds have wanted to know: What will replace the statue at its former location on Queens Boulevard?
On July 29, 2013, DNAInfo reported that Queens Borough President Helen Marshall was “in negotiations with the departments of Design and Construction and Citywide Administrative Services” concerning the future use of the Queens Boulevard site, but that “renderings that were presented to Marshall ‘were not acceptable to the borough president.’”
Thanks to a new Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) Request made by Robert LoScalzo (who has previously successfully sued the NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services (“DCAS”) to obtain Civic Virtue records), now we know how DCAS intends to utilize the former site of the statue: As a “planted ruin”.
Records obtained by LoScalzo discuss the fountain that served as the base for the Civic Virtue statue. The statue has been exiled to Brooklyn, but what is left of the fountain base is still at the Queens Boulevard site. According to the records:
DCAS wishes to keep the original fountain as a planted ruin, a scenic backdrop to a busy and important intersection in the borough. … [T]he fountain, although left as a ‘ruin’, will be planted with grades and groundcovers and act as a landscape folly to enhance this prominent corner.An artist’s rendering of the proposed “planted ruin” shows the fountain area closed off behind a cyclone fence, with wildflowers sprouting from the fountain and surrounding property.
Is DCAS serious? They’ve removed the colossal statue and artwork from Queens, and intend to leave behind a “planted ruin” to “act as a landscape folly”?
A “landscape folly”?
Who writes this stuff, and how dumb do they think we are?
Read the full prospective from the NYC Department of Design and Construction.
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Soccer stadium floated for FMCP
From the Wall Street Journal:
After a wide search, Major League Soccer officials have zeroed in on a run-down section of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens as their preferred site for the league's first New York stadium, according to multiple officials briefed on the matter.
In recent weeks, top MLS officials have presented a detailed proposal to local politicians, outlining a plan for a 20,000- to 25,000-seat stadium on roughly eight acres near the northern end of the park.
The plan, still in its nascent stages, would create a home for a brand-new league team, as yet unnamed. The league believes construction could be completed one to two years after the project receives the necessary approvals, according to officials briefed on the plans.
The move is perhaps surprising given that MLS opened the $220 million Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., in 2010.
But landing a stadium in New York City—a media capital and an ethnically diverse urban center—would be a significant boost to the league's international stature. Founded in 1993, the professional league comprises 19 teams, 16 in the U.S. and three in Canada.
As part of the proposal, MLS would also refurbish public soccer fields on the site and create a cricket field and volleyball courts, according to people familiar with the plans.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Robert Moses gaveth and taketh away
We lost the Flushing Park fountain in the 1940s thanks to Robert Moses. Long Island and NYC Places That Are No More has the entire story.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Unisphere fountains back on
From the Times Ledger:The Unisphere and its magnificent fountains have been returned to their full glory for the first time since the 1964 World’s Fair, city Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said at the ribbon-cutting of the newly restored fountains Thursday morning.
Dozens of streams of water shot high into the air around the iconic landmark in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, delighting the community leaders, politicians and parkgoers who gathered there to see the fountains spray once again.
Many of the gathered luminaries had attended the fair, and Borough President Helen Marshall said she had even attended the 1939 World’s Fair as a young girl. For Marshall and Benepe, the event was the culmination of a diligent effort to get $1.9 million designated for the fountain work.
Marshall said she was proud to see the beloved construction brought back to life for the first time in years, a testament to the diversity of Queens and a shining beacon to immigrants looking to move to the borough.
...after a countdown from ten, and those in attendance could not keep their eyes off the most famous structure in Queens, which is no longer dry and neglected.
I guess it's almost time for the U.S. Open again.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Fountain fixed; to stay turned off
From the Queens Chronicle:Just in time for summer, the fountain surrounding the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Park is scheduled to be turned on at the end of May, following $1.4 million in repairs.
The site has been closed since September to repair underground pumps that have been problematic for years. Dorothy Lewandowski, Queens Parks commissioner, said the aim is to fix the problem and make the fountain fully functional.
The current plan also calls for restoring the pipes and fixing the fountain heads. Funds are being supplied through the Mayor’s Office and Queens Borough President’s Office.
In the last few years, the fountain has been turned on only sporadically, partly as a water conservation measure but primarily due to the leaking. Lewandowski said it is costly to keep it on, but it definitely will be activated for special events.
So we spent $1.4M to fix it and it will still only be turned on during the U.S. Open? You've got to be fucking kidding.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Skate park to replace World's Fair fountain
From the Times Ledger:Flushing Meadows Corona Park will soon be home to a new skate park that blends together distinctive urban elements from locations throughout the city, officials said.
The 16,000-square-foot facility will be built atop the derelict Astral Fountain left over from the 1964 World’s Fair with money provided by the Maloof Money Cup, a skateboarding competition organized by the California family that owns the Sacramento Kings professional basketball team.
Construction was slated to begin this month. The skateboarding competition starts June 5 with a $100,000 prize for the winner. The completed skate park will replicate rails and stairs from locations like Union Square, Police Plaza, a now-closed curved concrete space under the Brooklyn Bridge and even the ledge and curvature of the Unisphere fountain pool.
The project has already gotten the go-ahead from Community Board 4 and the Flushing Meadows Corona Park Conservancy.
Not everyone was overjoyed with the plan, however. Greg Godfrey, president of the Flushing Meadows Corona Park World’s Fair Association, attacked the plan for destroying a piece of history.
All that remains of the Astral Fountain, which once included a towering, lattice-like cage around its water plumes, is a ring of nozzles in the middle of the concrete foundation. The last listed Parks Department inspection, in December 2009, found all elements of the structure were acceptable except for its paved surfaces.
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