Ashley King and Council Member Gale Brewer harvest lettuce from the Greenhouse Project Science Laboratory at P.S. 333 Manhattan School for Children.

By Amanda Woods

For some senior citizens on the Upper West Side, it may be difficult to take a trip to the Greenmarket and buy a few days’ supply of fruits and vegetables. With this in mind, Council Member Gale Brewer launched “Grow Green, Age Well” to help connect the elderly to locally produced healthy food.

“When they go grocery shopping, they often need some help,” Brewer said

The idea came about in 2010, when Brewer was developing a plan to make the neighborhood more friendly to seniors. In discussions with the New York Academy of Medicine, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Brewer outlined issues of concern to seniors in the neighborhood, and access to fresh fruits and vegetables was one of them. Brewer hoped to find a way to integrate healthy local food into menus at senior centers.

“[We thought] maybe we could substitute some of the vegetables that were frozen with fresh fruits and vegetables,” Brewer said. “We met with senior centers, and much to my surprise and pleasure, the [GrowNYC] Greenmarket said, ‘Oh, we can do that.’”

The program consists of four elements. The first, “Wholesale for Whole Meals,” involves delivering food from GrowNYC’s wholesale program to senior centers such as Project FIND’s Hargrave Center and Goddard Riverside, food banks and Citymeals-on-Wheels.

Cheryl Huber, assistant director of greenmarkets for GrowNYC, said that the organization is in the process of connecting its markets to senior center kitchens.

“We know seniors are some of our most vulnerable New Yorkers, and they, more than anyone, need access to fresh food,” Huber said.

Local senior centers welcomed the new program.

“We started, a while ago, thinking about the health and wellness of the seniors,” said Barbara Blackman, section head of program services for Project FIND, which operates five senior centers in Manhattan. “It’s a very good step in the right direction for our team. We’re very happy with the wholesale market.”

Through another program within the initiative, “Greenhouse to Goddard,” which begins July 19, high school students will harvest about 100 heads of lettuce at the Greenhouse Project Science Lab at P.S. 333 Manhattan School for Children and deliver it to the Goddard Riverside Senior Center, a short walk from the school.

Stephan Russo, executive director of the Goddard Center, is looking forward to seeing the program kick off.
“It’s local, it’s healthy, it’s cost effective,” Russo said. “We appreciate that Gale made the connection with the school’s greenhouse to grow and harvest lettuce this summer that can be delivered to our senior center just five blocks away.”

Because many elderly live on a fixed income, “Grow Green, Age Well” will also introduce a West Side Senior Supported Agriculture Program, which will help those who cannot shell out enough money at once for an entire season of produce, as with a traditional community supported agriculture program.

The program also includes the second annual Age-Friendly West Side Grocery Guide, which advises seniors on delivery options and senior discounts and where to look for fresh prepared foods in single portions.

Brewer notes that “Grow Green” will not only aid local seniors but upstate farmers who grow the produce.
“I’m very excited about it because it’s local planning,” Brewer said. “If it all works, it’s a wonderful, amazing story.”

A child runs through the West Side Community Garden during its annual Tulip Festival April 14. Featuring over 15,000 tulips in bloom, the garden is located on West 89th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus avenues. Visit the photo gallery at www.nypress.com for more pics from the Tulip Festival.

West Side Traffic Study

The Department of Transportation will present the results of a West Manhattan Transportation Study to the community on Wednesday, April 25, from 6-8 p.m. The study was initiated by a request from Council Member Gale Brewer and Community Board 7 for the DOT to analyze and address congestion, parking shortages and overall safety and mobility of pedestrians in the neighborhood.

The study began in January 2006, looking at the area bounded by West 55th Street, West 86th Street, Central Park West and Twelfth Avenue/Henry Hudson Parkway. The comprehensive study also took into account how public transportation operates in conjunction with pedestrian and vehicle traffic, as well as how delivery trucks, bicycles and taxis operate on the streets. The DOT has held periodic meetings to get community feedback as the study progressed, and this latest forum will be another opportunity for the public to comment on the findings and find out how the DOT plans to implement the data. At John Jay College Lecture Hall, 524 W. 59th St.

Fracking Forum

The New York Society for Ethical Culture and the group United for Action are co-sponsoring an event on the effects of hydraulic fracturing—a natural gas extraction method known as hydrofracking, or fracking. Experts on the panel will examine both the macro- and microeconomic factors of the process being performed in New York State, from price, supply and plans to export to net impacts on local drilling communities. Speakers include financial analyst Deborah Rogers; economist and principal of J.M. Barth & Associates, Jannette Barth, PhD; and former commissioner of the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, Al Appleton. Tuesday, April 24 at 6:45 p.m. at the Society for Ethical Culture, 2 W. 64th St.

Drink to Preservation

The Preservation League of New York will be holding a cocktail party and fundraiser to announce their Seven to Save campaign for this year, outlining the organization’s priorities for preservation. This year’s list includes the Upper West Side’s IRT Powerhouse building on 11th Avenue and West 59th Street. The event will be Monday, April 23, 6–8 p.m. at The River Club, 447 E. 52nd St. Ambassador William vanden Heuvel, chairman of Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, will give remarks. Tickets are $200 for non-members, $150 for members and $50 for people under 30. Email slaclair@preservenys.org  or call 518-462-5658 x. 13 for tickets.

Recycling Event to Break Records

On Saturday, April 21 from 12–5 p.m., the Upper West Side Recycling Center and Sims Recycling Solutions will hold an Earth Day recycling event in the hopes of breaking the official Guinness World Record for the most consumer electronics collected within 24 hours at multiple locations. The following electronics will be accepted: working and nonworking computers (laptops, desktops, servers) and computer accessories like monitors, printers, faxes, scanners, keyboards, mice and cables; TVs; stereo equipment; VCRs and DVD players; cable receivers; video games; cell phones; and flashlight-type batteries (AA, C, D, etc.) with the ends taped. Appliances, like microwave ovens, toasters, air conditioners, white goods and wall phones, are not accepted. The following textiles will be accepted: clothing, shoes, blankets, sheets and towels, in wearable or unwearable condition. Carpeting is not accepted.

The event will be held on West 77th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, in the P.S. 87 Tecumseh playground near Amsterdam on the north side of the street.

Accessible Taxis to Join Fleet

New audible touchscreens will soon be installed in New York City taxis, making them safer and easier for the blind to pay for taxi rides, City & State reported this week. The new technology was on display Tuesday in a taxi directly in front of the City Hall, with former Gov. David Paterson on hand to demonstrate how to use it. The system, which uses voice commands and larger touch-screen buttons, comes from Creative Mobile Technologies, the Long Island City-based company behind the city’s existing Taxi TV fare system. The company will roll out the technology in the city’s taxi fleet in coming weeks and then in cities across the nation.

There’s no indication it has anything to do with the city’s agreement with Gov. Andrew Cuomo to expand the number of wheelchair-accessible taxis, and City Councilman Jimmy Vacca, who chairs the Transportation Committee, declined to offer any further details. Vacca, whose father was blind, has also spearheaded legislation for visually impaired pedestrians, and would only say that he had been woring on promoting the new technology for some time.

Greenmarket Reopens for Spring

The West 57th Street greenmarket opened for the spring and summer seasons last Saturday and will open Wednesdays in May. This year, the market brings returning farmers as well as several newcomers like Toigo Orchards, which sells orchard fruit, cider and greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers, and Meredith’s Bread, which sells loaves of fresh-baked bread, pies, baked goods and preserves made from locally grown produce. Beginning this Saturday April 21, GrowNYC’s food scrap compost program will be present to collect household food scraps between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m.

WIC and FMNP checks are accepted at individual farmer stands and EBT/food stamps/debit/credit are accepted at the market info tent from 8 a.m.–2 p.m. The market is held in Balsley Park at West 57th Street and 9th Avenue until 6 p.m. every Saturday (except May 19) through December and every Wednesday beginning May 2.