Of Parks, Inequity and the Flinging of Coins…

At the “Talking Transitions Tent” New Yorkers for Parks hosted a panel entitled “Four Immediate Ways to Equitably Improve NYC's Parks”. The panel consisted of committed and hard-working park advocates.

One of the panelists, State Senator Squadron, proposed that “marquee parks” (such as Central Park) share a percentage of funds raised in the private sector with parks that do not have private financial backers. He reminded us that all city parks exist within the same network. That any individual park’s situation affects all parks. It was an impassioned and intelligent plea.

Squadron’s proposal was hammered. The audience was warned of the chilling effect on marquee park supporters, of government interfering with the “democratic tradition” of philanthropy, of distracting from the real issues, and, that city parks were not in such bad shape anyway.

It was disheartening.

Here we were sitting in an enormous “tent” constructed by the wealth of billionaires, hoping to influence the next mayor. There was no time allotted to the audience to speak. We were in the county of Manhattan, home of the largest undisputed income inequality gap in this nation. Joseph McKellar, a panelist who represented Flushing Meadows Corona Park pointed out that there is a correlation between the racial and economic make-up surrounding a park and the conditions of that park. Too true.

Our parks can’t help but reflect this reality. And in a city of such opulence, that simply is not okay.

The Community Garden network has been involved in the care of Greenspaces for decades. This movement came out of poor neighborhoods and largely out of communities of color – with plenty of skill and agency. I doubt any Conservancy in New York City has much to teach us. But maybe we have something to offer them?

Community Gardeners know how to share. We are all volunteers who freely give plants, labor, resources and expertise. Our budgets are usually under $3,000. We get small grants and member fees – we do a lot with a little. We don’t feel a chill when asked to help struggling neighbors. We consider it an honor to be asked.

But neighborhood parks need large amounts of funding to fix broken equipment and to retool park buildings to serve as sites for resiliency centers, youth spaces, meeting and information hubs. Providing support to help make that happen- even one park at a time -would give hope to parks who would otherwise have none. Training by experienced gardeners (from Community Gardens, Parks, Conservancies, etc.) could support gardening stewardship by local neighbors in every park. It would beautify the city and give communities skills to learn how to truly care for and “own” their parks. Every neighborhood deserves their own "jewel" park.

Personally, I don’t believe the public good should have to depend on the largesse of the wealthy for meeting the basic needs of a city. I don’t think a democracy can long survive relying on the whims of the rich. That’s why we have a tax system, so that government, including the Parks Department, would have the resources to take care of all parks.

Dr. King said, “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”

Thank you to Senator Squadron for raising the issue in a way that won’t be ignored. And, as Mr. McKellar said, “Any vehicle that creates more equity is a poignant conversation”.

K Webster

Swerve, David Bowie and Musicianship

Swerve, David Bowie and Musicianship
by K Webster / CounterPunch

WordPress posting: Exploring David Bowie:

24th-26th May 2013

The philosopher Epicurus speculated that, despite the overwhelming regularity of nature, atoms traveling in a straight line, in a moment of sheer unpredictability, might deviate from their course – or swerve. From this he gathered that we possess free will.

“It was an astonishing act of thought.” – Melvyn Bragg.

* * *

Once while in Moscow I came upon a searing violin solo in a cavernous stretch of subway. I was struck silent and still. It brought tears. It transported. This is what music can be. No constraints.

At the graveside of my Irish mother the penny whistle piped Danny Boy – out of tune (Buffalo weather is unforgiving to metal). But the worn melody surprised: painful, soulful. Respectfully and appropriately off-key.

Summer evenings and brass players suddenly appear on Rivington Street to make rowdy upbeat sounds, just for the thrill of it. An un-careful explosion of joy and noise.

* * *

“Gems hidden in the recording” – David Bowie

Steve bumped into David Bowie in line at the store. They started talking- about health, raising children – a dad conversation. They walked down the street and as they were saying their goodbyes David called out – “I’ll be in touch about something. If you don’t hear from me right away, don’t worry, it’s going to happen”.

A year or two later, a call came from Tony Visconti. “Do you remember me?” Steve laughed and said, “Yes, I remember exactly when I first met you!” He recounted that it was Tony who had been sent to stall him as they prepared a birthday party for Steve during Bowie’s “Serious Moonlight” tour.

“I’m recording this young English blues musician – David Jones- are you interested?” Steve said of course. After he hung up it dawned on him who “David” was. A call a few minutes later from Bill Z confirmed his suspicion. The project was hush-hush.

The day of the recording Steve walked over to the Magic Shop with his baritone sax and a few other instruments. Bowie was strumming a guitar in the back, Tony and the engineer were nearby. David came out and gave Steve an affectionate hug. They talked for a while as Steve got out his horns. They worked on a few of the songs. They had working titles and some reference vocals. David had ideas of where the horns should be. Tony and David would make suggestions and Steve played.

“Tony and David have done a bunch of records over the years. Tony has ideas and gives direction and was handling the technical side of the day with the engineer. He creates the ground on which this gets built. He knows Bowie well enough to interpret when needed,” Steve recalled.

They started recording very quickly. “Frequently in the studio you spend time trying to figure out this line and that line and where it should go. Not this time.” Steve said later, “You can tell within the first couple of minutes how the day is going to go. And you could tell this was going to be a good day.”

It seemed they wanted more edge, not the accessible playing that is frequently asked for in session work. “They were interested in quirky, adventurous things. The more I took it out, the happier we all got,” Steve said. “They were interested in early takes. Often in session work time is spent refining solos, making them smooth. They weren’t interested in smooth.”

It was the same when Steve did that iconic solo on Modern Love. Bowie wanted first takes or early takes. “More the way jazz players do it. You get what you are going to get”.

For this new release Bowie’s directions were clear: “Just play” “Don’t be contained” ”Farther out” “Don’t even think about what key we’re in”. …

Steve: “We stopped for lunch and watched/listened to some Rhythm and Blues players on YouTube. We talked about Johnny Otis a little bit and about Dr. John and Little Richard.”

Steve had played with Johnny Otis and knew it wasn’t about subtlety. “It wasn’t about a lot of notes or a lot of chops. The lesson working with Eddie Cleanhead Vincent, Big Jim Wynn, and Shuggie Otis was ‘play nothing extraneous’. They were all great players, but it wasn’t a virtuosic display – ever. It was about being there. It’s similar with Bowie. I think he’s interested in being in the present and being musically straightforward. Trusting gut feelings, no covering up with frills. With Johnny it was always first take – you were playing live. But with David too, I think there is something about that first thought. What comes to you out of playing the music, right then and there.”

Years ago, Steve remembered David talking about leaving things in, “so you might find, in a record, things that only happened that one time maybe – just to show we could do it. David called them ‘the gems hidden in the recording’”.

“A recording studio can be a sterile environment, but there was something about having the headphones on, David in the control room, singing ideas kind of back and forth. It felt as spontaneous as it gets. Not contrived. And I don’t think it’s ever ironic. Playing R & B with Johnny was never ironic or coy and I don’t think it is with Bowie. It’s never “playing at playing music”. You’re playing music.

At one point, listening through my headphones, I was thinking: ‘here is this beautiful voice I’m hearing’. It’s very intimate, we’re singing ideas and he’s a few inches away from his microphone. He’s playing his guitar. He’s singing, your playing, he’s giving direction.” A year and a half later when Steve heard cuts from “The Next Day” he was struck again by “how vulnerable and honest Bowie’s voice is”.

The way Bowie set the session up secretively insured there was no pressure from the business end of music on him or anyone else. “He got to work on what he cared about. No pressure from the outside affecting the creative process. He seemed at peace. Slowed down and funny, really in the room, really there. David’s known as a ‘chameleon’, but whenever I’ve worked with him I always felt he was himself. Just himself at that moment. There was no time pressure. That’s the place you want to make records from. No one had to prove anything – just people working on getting some low horn sounds onto this project.”

Steve remembered other record dates that went like that: A recording session with Fred Wesley –James Brown’s trombone player- at a friend’s studio in the East Village. “A couple of hours, a couple of songs. But it felt like every idea locked-in perfectly – it felt like ‘that’s how it’s supposed to be’. And I’ve played with great trombone players all my life. But there was something about the phrasing and the feeling – this is what you want. When things click, when people are in the room together.

When we finished the last song Tony said how well it had gone. I had no idea whether any of it would make it on the record. But in a way, I thought, it didn’t matter. I get to be alive making music with a brilliant mind.”

Maybe that’s the point. The chance to reinvent the world with like-minded musicians – a valiant effort to flex our free will.

As they left the studio, Tony said, ‘I’ll never forget today.’

Swerve.

With thanks to Steve Elson

K Webster is a writer and community organizer.

Op/Ed: It’s Time to Reactivate Stanton Street Park Building

Op/Ed: It’s Time to Reactivate Stanton Street Park Building
The following article was written by Lower East Side resident K. Webster:

In a time of diminishing resources we must rethink how we allocate the ones we have. Community resources such as the numerous park buildings that dot the Lower East Side must be returned to active neighborhood use. We can no longer afford to have these buildings used for storage or sit neglected as empty space. The Stanton Street building in Sara D. Roosevelt (SDR) Park was once a bustling youth center. We need it back.

Affordable spaces are vanishing. With the ongoing collapse of structural support for vulnerable youth, elders, and working people, the need for access to publicly owned sites in densely populated, low-income neighborhoods is clear. And, as Hurricane Sandy made evident, we are in desperate need of hubs from which to catalyze self-help efforts to take on climate change locally.

There is an urgent need for gathering-places to plan our common future and to share skills. We need dedicated sites where we can tackle current crises and strategize to prevent or ameliorate those that loom. Three community issues in particular stand out: the ongoing youth-on-youth violence, the disintegration of funding streams for low-income neighbors, and the need to practice “going green.” Could we marry these in one building?

We recently lost a bottle redemption center nearby. This has had an immediate impact on those who live on the economic margins. The working poor rely on this supplemental income to stay in their homes. Could we share these buildings for recycling? We get “greener,” people get concrete help.

We have young people who need to know they matter. Our teenagers need to take charge of their future. But in order to do that they need skills and hope- they already have the energy and the ability. Bike-share programs are coming to the LES in the spring along with jobs to maintain them. Can we use this site to train our youth to fix a bike?

Could they learn to build solar panels and install them? Figure out how to build a wind generator? Can math and science serve a present purpose- not just in a textbook? Can information be used to excite the minds of our youth who may see no way forward towards a life that has relevance?

In our community we have talented volunteers who are eager to share knowledge to help us create a better environment -right now. They can teach us how to ride a bike. Or fix it. Or fix your grandmother’s shopping cart. Or teach us how to grow vegetables or flowers or fruits. Or how to compost. Or knit a sweater or sew a shirt. Or read or write. Or make a poem. Or organize the tenants in your building. We have many skills here: across class, race, age, schooling and gender. Could we use park buildings as central clearinghouses for taking concrete actions? Could we site technological think tanks here that point us towards a sustainable future? Could parks become models of sustainability?

What if we show youth some options? Insist on possibility despite our own exhaustion and discouragement? Stop telling them what THEY should do and instead show them what WE will do? What if we make a decision to stand on behalf of our children and our planet? Apply sustainability to sustaining our environment AND our youth?

Can we use our combined talents and power to shift our focus to solving crisis and not waste time finding fault, blaming others, doing nothing or talking endlessly?

It has been done. The Delancey SDR Park building was reopened in the 1980’s because this community fought for it. The building had sat empty, with no park funding. It now houses the BRC’s senior nutrition center. M’Finda Kalunga Garden, Stanton CSA, SDR Coalition, Community Board 3, Parks Department and others meet there. It is a beehive of activity. Generous hard-working staff and seniors have created an oasis of caring in our park – on a shoestring budget. This building bristles with joy and purpose.

We can do it again.

We have active interest in re-energizing park buildings from our Council Member, Community Board 3, the neighbors, local funders and not-for-profits. We have ongoing efforts to survey the buildings and the neighbors as well as offers to maintain and program the building. We have interest expressed from the Parks Department.

Just as the erosion of our environment must be challenged now (because hurricanes and physics won’t wait) so we must pivot to take on the other urgent needs of this neighborhood. All our public resources must be fully used.

I’ve heard reasons why we can’t reopen the building. But for any of us who’ve witnessed the disaster of Sandy or the disaster of children dying on our streets- none of the reasons hold. I can’t imagine losing my child to such tragic foolishness but I also cannot imagine sitting by while OUR tragic foolishness says there is nothing we can do about it.