Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and Assembly Member Grace Lee were thrilled to have GSD at a joint celebration in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month on May 19th at 5:30. At the event, they acknowledged the exceptional work of remarkable individuals and groups within the community who have made significant strides in breaking barriers and promoting equity.

The celebration concluded with a showcase of outstanding performances and an array of refreshing treats for attendees to enjoy.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) has announced that it is going forward with the proposed plan to build luxury housing at 5 World Trade Center with a minimal number of affordable units. This is public land that is being used to help private corporations maximize their profits instead of providing desperately needed affordable housing. We need to let them know that we will not stand for this. GSD joined the Coalition For a 100% Affordable Housing on May 19 at City Hall Park to demand that public land be used for the public good.

The Loisaida Festival happened on Sunday May 28. GSD members were there for some great food, music and art. May 24th-30th was Fleet Week in New York City. Memorial Day weekend was truly a great start to the summer.

It’s Primary season so that must mean the Grand Street Democrats’ Annual Democratic Primary Rally is coming up!  On Thursday, June 15th at 5pm, we will gather to hear from endorsed candidates, Christopher Marte, Caroline Laskow, Lee Berman and Dana Catanzaro as well as a fabulous roster of speakers!  We will enjoy light refreshments from local vendors. Save the date and join us!! 

We want to wish all our members and neighbors that celebrate these spring holidays a wonderful week. As the daffodils, cherry blossoms and magnolias bloom, this is certainly the time of year for reflection, renewal and for spending time with loved ones.

Thank you to all of our GSD members for their efforts at getting signatures for our petitions, whether you stood on street corners or knocked on doors. We have collected and submitted more than 700 signatures! That is community in action!

After a busy year of elections and redistrictings, our VP of Elections, Sandra Strother-Ribeiro, has resigned. We thank her so much for her partnership and expertise navigating an unusual election season! We wish her well and look forward to opportunities to collaborate.

Please look out for our upcoming events: GSD General Meeting on April 17th, Welcome Wednesday on May 10th and our June primary kick-off on June 15th. See below for details.

Thank you, Mary Jo Burke for sharing the Climate and Sustainability Update and to Alec Appelbaum for the update on Army Corp of Engineers Resiliency plans. Next week, we will share the Traffic Committee report.

• There is a drug take-back bin located in CVS, at the corner of Grand and Willet Streets, located near the pharmacy. Use this link for information about which drugs are accepted and which are not included for takeback.
• The Lower East Side Ecology Center will have an electronic recycling takeback event in Thomkins Square Park on Sunday March 19th, from 10am – 2pm.
• Precycle is hoping to open their space in Essex Market during the week of March 20th, 2023. Keep your eyes open for their booth when you’re in the Market.
• Governor Hochul signed into law the “natural organic reduction”, or human composting, legislation. Further work will be required to regulate the activity within the state. Recompose is a company that is based in Washington State, and they currently provide human composting for anyone in the US. They work with local funeral homes to handle the death care which will facilitate transportation of the body to Recompose in Washington. Articles on the legislation from Bloomberg News, The Guardian, and SILive.
• For information on the orange compost bins in lower Manhattan, including a link to the app, FAQs and bin locations, use this link. Bins are accessible 24/7.

The Army Corps of Engineers has produced the first iteration of a multi-stage study on how to prioritize federal funds for protecting the waterfront communities of New York and New Jersey from storm surge and sea level rise. Its favored solution is fugly and impractical, relying heavily on walls. Enter you, the citizen. If you send comments to NYNJHarbor.TribStudy@usace.army.mil (deadlne extended to March 31st) and include ‘Harbor and Tributaries Focus Area Feasibility Study” in your message, they promise to take you seriously, The civic activists at Rebuild by Design offer this “comment writing template” to make effective comments easy and replicable.

Folks should email Alec Appelbaum with questions or concerns. Thanks again and be well.

Thanks to all who joined us at Monday evening’s meeting. It was a very full agenda so this email is chock full of information! Special thanks to Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and Councilman Chris Marte for speaking to the club and fielding lots of questions. MBP Levine shared his plans to encourage buildings to remove scaffolding in a timely (and safe!) manner, efforts to locate sites for affordable housing, and to make Smart Composting more accessible in Manhattan sooner than the proposed Spring 2024. Mary Jo Burke shared that Lower Manhattan has some locations through a pilot program. 

We had a great petition kick-off and want to thank all of our members and friends for showing up and getting their petitions to get signed! Please join the process by knocking on doors in your building or going to your favorite corner to get them signed. The first gathering to turn in petitions and get more blanks if needed will be on Sunday, March 19 at Saluggi’s from 7-9pm. We will also be setting up some tables over the next two weeks (see schedule below) and invite you to come join us. It is usually more effective and more fun when there are several of us around.