The Municipal Art Society of New York

To mark National Train Day — this Saturday, May 8 — MAS spoke with renowned rail reporter and train enthusiast Don Philips about what’s happening with America’s railroads. From foreign competition for contracts for increasingly popular and lucrative commuter rail lines, to some major top-down changes at Amtrak, to Warren Buffett’s quiet, but major, investment in freight rail, Don told us that right now may well be the most pivotal period in America’s railroads for decades.

And, to learn what’s happening at Moynihan Station — New York City’s most important development project — join architectural historian Matt Postal this Saturday, May 8, at 11:00 a.m., for a tour of Moynihan Station and the Far West Side. Tickets are $15, $10 MAS members. No reservations necessary. Meet at the N.W. corner of Sixth Ave. and 30th St. MAP.

To learn about MAS advocacy on Moynihan Station, visit MAS.org/new-penn-station. More MAS podcasts are available at MAS.org/audio or on our iTunes page.

Innovative public servants and savvy transportation and public space advocates are working to transform urban streets into “Complete Streets”, in which the street is shared equitably between all users — pedestrians, cyclists, bus passengers, motorists and truck drivers.

Last Thursday, at Scandinavia House, MAS hosted a fascinating program on the city streets of today and tomorrow. Focused on the key challenges to, and best practices in, contemporary street design, and highlighting examples from the Netherlands, Chicago and New York City, Paul Steely-White of Transportation Alternatives moderated an expert panel including: Gary Toth of Projects for Public Spaces (PPS); Andrew Wiley-Schwartz, assistant commissioner of NYC DOT, Nicole LaRusso of ADNY; and Janet Attarian of Chicago DOT.

Click on the player above to listen to a summary of the program or, to download it to your hand-held device, click here to open-up the MAS iTunes page.

Learn more about MAS’ work on streetscapes in New York City at MAS.org/publicpolicy, and to listen to more MAS podcasts, visit MAS.org/audio.

If you missed Tuesday night’s panel, Light Fight: What’s Effective, Sustainable & Affordable, you can now listen to a summary of the fascinating discussion about the future of New York City’s street lighting that took place between some of America’s most prominent lighting designers and engineers and City officials in this podcast.

Moderator Randolph Sabedra of RS Lighting Design, and chair of the NYC public outreach committee, Illuminating Engineering Society New York City introduced the panel comprised of: Howard Brandston of Brandston Partnership, Inc.; Margaret Newman AIA, LEED AP, chief of staff, New York City Department of Transportartion; Peter Morante, director of energy programs, Lighting Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and Denise Fong IALD, LC, LEED AP, Candela, Seattle.

The discussion ranged from research into the human eye’s ability to perceive different kinds of light to the ways in which urban livability is influenced for good and bad by different types of street lighting illustrated with examples from as far afield as Shanghai, Copenhagen and Chicago. [To listen to the full, uncut footage of the panel discussion, click on the audio mp3 icon.]

The next event in our April panel series, New York’s Changing Streetscapes, is The Complete Street: Sustainable, Healthy & Pleasurable will take place on Thursday, April 29, at 6:30 p.m., at Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave., and addresses attempts to create an urban street that considers the needs of all its users — pedestrians, bicyclists, bus passengers, motorists, and truck drivers — and seeks an equitable allocation of resources. Tickets are $15, $10 MAS members and reservations are required. Purchase tickets online or call 212-935-2075. To become a member of The Municipal Art Society, visit MAS.org/membership.

For more MAS podcasts, visit MAS.org/audio or visit our iTunes page.

Ahead of next Tuesday’s panel discussion Light Fight: What’s Effective, Sustainable & Affordable? in which she will feature as a panelist, internationally-renowned lighting designer Denise Fong talks to Tamara Coombs of MAS about the challenges and complexities of what is a fundamental issue of urban livability and public safety: street lighting.

Selecting the best street lighting for the “City That Never Sleeps” might seem to be a straightforward task of choosing what costs least and illuminates most, but the question is more complicated. How do you factor in energy efficiency and sustainability? Do laboratory measurements of light sources accurately reflect the way light is perceived on the street? What are the advantages and disadvantages of high pressure sodium and metal halide lights? New York City is participating in a pilot project using LED-technology. Is LED technology the certain way of the future or does it have its own drawbacks? What choices have other cities made—and why?

Last week, at the 2nd Annual MAS Jane Jacobs Forum Re-Imagining New York: Designing Urban Farms to Feed our City, moderator Neal Peirce of the Washington Post and panelists Jenn Nelkin of Gotham Greens, microbiology Professor Dickson Despommier of Columbia University, landscape designer Dan Albert of Weber Thompson architects in Seattle, Colin Cathcart of Kiss + Cathcart architects in Brooklyn, and environmental studies Professor Nevin Cohen of The New School, engaged in a fascinating discussion of the future of food production in New York.

Representing a variety of perspectives on sustainable agriculture, architecture and planning, and touching on issues as diverse as zoning, organic farming, national agricultural policy, and climate change, the panelists addressed the question: Can New York, a city with a growing population and shrinking acreage, eventually grow enough food within its boundaries to become self-sufficient? Continue Reading>>

Dr. Dickson Despommier, panelist at the upcoming 2nd Annual Jane Jacobs Forum Re-Imagining New York: Designing Urban Farms to Feed our City, recently spoke to Tamara Coombs of MAS about why he sees urban “vertical farms” as key to the future, not just of cities, but of the planet.

Ten years ago, Columbia University microbiology professor Despommier began investigating different approaches to agriculture that would feed the additional 3 billion people that are estimated to be born in the next 50 years. This research project, which he conducted with the help of his students, has grown into a popular website The Vertical Farm Project, an op-ed in The New York Times and a new book coming out next year, and garnered attention from municipalities (Newark, NJ), architecture and engineering companies, and the Obama administration along the way. Continue Reading>>

For the third and final installment of our podcast series of interviews with winners of the Yolanda Garcia Community Planner (YGCP) award, Eve Baron, Director of the MAS Planning Center, speaks with Yolanda Garcia’s daughter, Yolanda Gonzalez. Gonzalez succeeded her mother, for whom the award is named, as Executive Director of We Stay/Nos Quedamos, a community organization in the South Bronx that developed an alternative plan for Melrose Commons in the 1990s, and now oversees the plan’s implementation. Baron and Gonzalez discuss the plan’s creation, and the challenges and victories of community organizing in the South Bronx. The YGCP award jury is currently in the process of choosing the 2009 winner. This year’s award will be presented at MAS’ annual meeting in July.

The image above shows Yolanda Gonzalez, center, joined by her family and South Bronx elected officials, at a street renaming ceremony in honor of her mother, Yolanda Garcia in February of this year. Third Avenue between 156th and 157th Streets is now known as “Yolanda Garcia Way.”

Visit www.mas.org/ygcpa for more information about the Yolanda Garcia Community Planner Award and past year’s recipients.

Sideya Sherman of MAS talks with former Yolanda Garcia Community Planner (YGCP) award recipient Elizabeth Yeampierre about her organization UPROSE, how and why she became involved in community activism and environmental justice, and why global climate change is a major issue in this field.

To highlight community-based planning in New York ahead of this year’s YCGP award, this podcast is the second in a series of three interviews with previous award recipients. If you would like to nominate someone for this year’s award, visit www.mas.org/awards.

Ahead of this year’s Yolanda Garcia Community Planner Award (YGCPA), MAS’ Lacey Tauber talks community activism in the Far Rockaways with last years’ YGCPA winner, Jeanne Dupont, Executive Director of the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance.

MAS is accepting nominations for this year’s award through Friday, May 29 (2009). For more information, and a copy of the nomination form, click here.

Ahead of the panel discussion City of Art: New York’s Hidden Treasures Revealed which MAS is hosting on Thursday, April 16, at 6:30 pm., leading environmental artist George Trakas talked to Elizabeth Werbe of MAS about his recent public art work in New York City.

Widely acclaimed for numerous projects in North America and Western Europe over the past thirty years, Trakas has recently completed a major piece of work for the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brooklyn. Commissioned by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art program, his creation makes approximately 1,000 feet of shoreline accessible to the public. Continue Reading>>

On Tuesday, April 21 at 6:30 pm, MAS will host a panel discussion on Transforming America’s Cities: Creating a National Urban Policy.

In this podcast, urban planning professor Genie Birch talks with Eve Baron of MAS about the changing political landscape and potential opportunities for the metropolitan region in light of President Obama’s creation of an Office of National Policy to oversee all federal urban programs and integrate policies linking transportation, housing, economic development, energy, and environmental issues.

Moderated by Vicki Been, director of NYU’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, this panel featuring leading academics, policymakers, and practitioners will examine the implications for New York City and consider innovative solutions to create a more sustainable future in the metropolitan region.  Additional panelists will include Christopher Jones, vice president for research at the Regional Plan Association, Toni Griffin, director of community development for the City of Newark, and Anthony Shorris, director of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at NYU.

$15, $10 MAS members.  Purchase tickets online at www.mas.org or call 212 935 2075.

In this podcast, architectural historian John Kriskiewicz talks to Tamara Coombs of MAS about his April 2 lecture, The 100th Birthday of Two Great Bridges: The Queensborough & The Manhattan, celebrating the centennial of the Manhattan and Queensboro Bridges, and explains why their construction marks New York’s metamorphosis from an island city to a modern metropolis.

Join MAS as we celebrate the centennial of two of the eras great bridges with a lecture and two walks across the neighborhoods they transformed. $15, $10 MAS members. Purchase tickets online or call 212-935-2075.

Renowned architectural photographer and long-time Broadway resident Cervin Robinson chats with Elizabeth Werbe of MAS about the images and inspiration behind his exhibition By Way of Broadway: New York Photographs by Cervin Robinson, which opens with a reception tonight, Wednesday, March 25, 6:00 p.m., at MAS.This collection of black & white and color photographs explores New York’s visual landscape with thirty views of the 17-mile length of Manhattan’s main street taken over the course of three decades.

The exhibition opens to the public tomorrow, Thursday, March 26, and will be on display through Thursday, May 7, 2009. Visit www.mas.org/exhibitions for gallery hours and more information.

The Department of City Planning is holding a hearing today about its proposal to rezone 25 blocks along the Gowanus Canal to allow for a mix of uses, including residential, commercial, retail, light industrial, community facility and artist spaces.

MAS believes that existing businesses in this thriving manufacturing district should be nurtured and safeguarded, and that the rezoning presents a tremendous opportunity to create space for new industries and jobs. We are concerned that, given the area’s industrial past and present, and the lack of adequate sewage and storm-water infrastructure, new residential development may not be the best solution for the Gowanus neighborhood. Read our full statement here.

The video above is also available as a podcast below, and through iTunes.

For more information about MAS advocacy on Gowanus, click here.

With the generous support of the Rockefeller Foundation, MAS brought together a panel of experts in the field of housing for the 2008 Jane Jacobs Forum in November, in conjunction with the annual Jane Jacobs Award.

Click on the ‘play’ icon above to listen to a podcast of the program.

Jane Jacobs believed a sense of community was critical in creating and maintaining dynamic and diverse neighborhoods, but today, it is increasingly difficult for people of low and moderate income to live in New York City. How can planners, architects, city officials, and developers work with local residents to provide homes that are affordable and sustainable? What role do the dense, mixed-income neighborhoods that Jacobs favored play in creating a strong sense of community? Continue Reading>>