On April 18, the Friends Of Astoria Heights Park will host its “Love your Block” event on 45th street between 31st and 30th Rd. alongside the west side of the park. The Friends group is the happy recipient of a $1000 grant from the Citizens Committee to help provide for portions of this event, which will feature a tree care workshop, 10:30-12:30, building 4 tree guards by City Tree Guards NY 10-12 , Street Clean up, 12-1, services by the Department of Sanitation , Department of Transportation and the Parks Department. Additionally, there will be a 100 tree give a way, from 9-11 AM, sponsored by New York Restoration Project, an information table by BIG Compost, Participatory Budget voting, and finally paper shredding sponsored by Councilman Costantinides, US Representative Crowley, Senator Gianaris and Assemblywoman Simotas. Following the morning’s events, a block party will be held on 45th street, including a potluck for neighbors and a scooter and bike strut for children.
Information on participating organizations:
Citizens Committee’s mission is simple: to help New Yorkers -especially those in low-income areas- come together and improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods. Residents are uniquely situated to define and act on the issues affecting their communities. When provided with modest support, neighborhood and school groups can effectively mobilize community resources to improve quality of life. Citizens Committee for New York City supports these grassroots efforts by offering grants, skills-building workshops and further technical support in the form of project planning assistance and an equipment share library. In 2014, Citizens Committee provided 366 projects with $1.6 million in grants and services, and the staff facilitated 30 workshops to over 500 social entrepreneurs. Since 1975, Citizens Committee has promoted the spirit of volunteerism and local engagement that drives their work.
Friends of Astoria Heights Park and New York Restoration Project (NYRP) are teaming up to bring you free trees! Please register to reserve a tree to plant in your front or back yards, gardens or commercial property. Registration is typically available approximately two weeks prior to the giveaway. If registration is full, a limited number of trees is available on a first-come, first-served basis at the event. NYRP’s city-wide tree giveaway program is a part of MillionTreesNYC, the initiative to plant and care for one million new trees in New York City by 2015. It is the largest municipal giveaway in the country, and is generously supported by sponsors TD Bank and Toyota.The New York Restoration Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming open space in under-resourced communities to create a greener, more sustainable New York City. Additional supporting organizations to make this possible are PlaNYC and NYC Parks. Register at: www.nypr.org/treegiveaway
The NYC Compost Project helps to reduce waste in NYC and rebuild City soils by giving New Yorkers the knowledge, skills, and opportunities they need to produce and use compost.
On April 13-19, any resident of this district 16-and-older will have the opportunity to vote on how to spend $1 Million on community improvement projects throughout the neighborhood. Projects on the ballot were developed by neighborhood volunteers during a six-month process. This year’s projects include playground upgrades, school facility improvements, and street improvements. Visit council.nyc.gov/pb in the coming weeks for a full list of voting locations and a sample ballot.