Like Mr. Anderton and others, she thinks the intrusion into Mr. Ali’s facility has to do with Mayor Eric Adams’ move to dismantle homeless detention camps around the city, which the department said. park denied. Despite that, the Adams administration seems to be waging an indiscriminate war against aesthetic dissatisfaction, cluttering up the poor’s belongings but neglecting to address the cafeterias. shabby old plywood and chic with any similar sense of urgency.
At first, Ms. Davis was also puzzled by the tents, but that impression did not last. “When I saw the engagement,” she told me, it was fun. The city needs to expand what he founded, not take it away. Health and fitness should be number 1 in this community. “The park is located between East and Central Harlem, where asthma rates among children are more than double that of the rest of the city, and obesity rates are also above average.
Although property prices have skyrocketed in this part of Manhattan in recent years – earlier this month a townhouse near the park sets a record, closing at $6.4 million – Marcus Garvey did not receive the enormous amount of capital, public or private, that could restore to its former glory. Conservationists have successfully secured nearly $8 million in city grants for renovating an important historic watchtower in the park, was completed three years ago. And while other improvements have been made, Marcus Garvey looks like a park that has been largely overlooked.
On Wednesday morning Mr Ali was visited by Connie Lee, an influential advocate who was president of the Marcus Garvey Parks Union for six years and now sits on the local community council. Ideally, the city would create a state-of-the-art outdoor gym in the park so that a special approach to Mr. Ali’s business would not be necessary. “Mel” – as Ms. Lee and others call him – “and all the men exercising in the park set an example, setting the tone for inclusion and inviting everyone to be a part of it. of the fitness community,” she wrote to me. tomorrow. “Marcus Garvey is a culturally significant public space that Mel contributes to every day.”
Ms. Lee said that during her tenure at the union, she lobbied for a master plan for the park for restoration. However, there are too few bathrooms. She estimates the cost will come to about $35 million, but donating even half of that money to charity is an unlikely proposition in a place where not many people can afford to write giant checks like vertical. Central Park, for example. Several large companies have offered to donate money to the park but want to exchange it for a branding opportunity.
The bureaucracy has always had a way of explaining inequality, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that just days after Mr. Ali’s outfit was removed, the city biggest rooftop park opened on Pier 57 on the Hudson River, near West 15th Street and adjacent to unusual wealth. The dock will also house Google offices. When I asked the park department what would happen next regarding Mr. Ali’s goals, his spokesman, Crystal Howard, offered the following: “Our priority here has always been to ensure a the park is clean and safe for all users. We are grateful to the community advocates who helped bridge the gap between the parks and Mr. Ali, and look forward to perfecting a final resolution to this issue. “
Essential for his theories on landscape architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted famously declared, “Service must come before art.” For too long, in parks far from the sight of the ruling class, power brokers have given no priority.
