OSA Town Hall Meeting

When: Tuesday, October 25, 6:30 pm – 8 pm

Where: McCarren Play Center, 776 Lorimer (between Driggs and Bayard)

Who: – Neighbors who love their parks and want to see more parks and better-kept, safer parks with more programming
– Leaders from OSA partners such as El Puente, Greenpoint Williamsburg Soccer League (GWYSL), McGolrick Park Neighborhood Association (MPNA) and Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park (FBIP), among other groups, are expected to attend
The OSA board will attend

What: Brief review of 2016 activities; quick overview of 2017; and an extended public discussion, providing direction to OSA board and staff facilitated by Tupper Thomas, the executive director of New Yorkers for Parks.

Food and Drinks? Yes! A complimentary buffet dinner and drinks will be served

Childcare will be provided

RSVP: info@osanb.org (for headcount for food)

Why Attend? >> Your Parks Need You! NYC spends only half of 1% of its budget on parks and is under tremendous fiscal pressure, so its capacity to maintain and invest in parks is limited. OSA can provide valuable resources to supplement the City’s maintenance and programming of parks, but only if OSA raises enough money to reach critical mass with a core group of employees and broadly expanded programs, and only if OSA engages enough local residents.

Topics: We’ll review OSA’s progress and shortcomings in supporting the parks throughout CB1 and we’ll discuss OSA’s priorities going forward, including:

Your ideas!
Your feedback!
How together we can unlock the full potential of CB1 parks with more health/exercise events, festivals, movie nights, markets, music and art events, historical and nature walks and food events
Solutions to the public health threat parks next to the BQE and WB Bridge pose to South Siders. BQGreen is one answer.
Status of the acquisition of the CitiStorage property for Bushwick Inlet Park
OSA’s strategy for growth
Facilitator: Tupper Thomas, the executive director of New Yorkers for Parks. Thomas was chief administrator of Prospect Park for 31 years and founding president of the Prospect Park Alliance for 23 years.

ComCom: The OSA Town Hall Meeting will serve as the annual meeting of OSA’s Community Committee (ComCom), an independent standing committee of the OSA board composed of volunteer park stakeholders.