In This Week’s “THIS WEEK IN CHELSEA”
In Order of Appearance:
City Councilmember Erik Bottcher´s Free Housing Clinic / Community Board Application Deadline Extended to March 15 / CB5 Full Board Meeting / Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day Early / Hudson Guild Gallery Exhibits / Participatory Budgeting /
Tuesday, March 8, 4-6pm: City Councilmember Erik Bottcher´s [Free] Virtual Housing Clinic | Councilmember Bottcher continues the Housing Clinic offered by Corey Johnson for so many years. It takes place on the second Tuesday of each month, doesn’t cost a dime, and gives you access to a knowledgable housing attorney who will give you the unvarnished truth about your situation, recommend a course of action, and provide further resources for future needs. To sign up for a slot to speak with a housing attorney at no cost to you, click here. Slots are available in the 4-5pm and 5-6pm time period. For more info, see the below flyer.
Through Tuesday, March 15: Manhattan Community Board Applications Accepted | See the below flyer, and the event listing that follows it.
Manhattan Community Board Applications Due at 5pm Tuesday, March 15 | A result of last year’s Primary and General Election process, newly installed Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine has already embarked upon on of his marquee responsibilities: Appointing new members to Manhattan community boards. In order to be considered for appointment, a complete application must be submitted online or postmarked by no later than 5:00pm on Tuesday, March 15, 2022. NOTE: This is an extension of the previous March 1 deadline. Click here to see the application, which is a doozy, and must be completed in one single sitting–so be sure and take a test run before embarking upon it.
Thursday, March 10, 6pm: Public Hearing and Full Board Meeting of Community Board 5 (CB5) |This gathering of the complete voting membership of CB5, like its committee meetings throughout the month, is being held via Zoom. Those who wish to comment must register. To do so, click here. You can also livestream meetings or view them as archived recordings, via the CB5 YouTube channel. Members of the public are encouraged to comment on a Hearing Agenda topic, with two minutes allotted for each speaker. For the March full board meeting, Agenda items include alternative proposals for Penn Station and an Executive budget proposal to ease restrictions on commercial hotel to residential conversions, removing the FAR cap in NYC and improve the 421a program. Elsewhere in the evening, the Public Session also offers two minutes of uninterrupted time for members of the public to address the Board regarding topics relevant to the CB5 community.
Sunday, March 13, 10:30am at Clement Clarke Moore Park ( W. 22s St. & 10th Ave.) | “Due to the rainy forecast this Saturday,”said the West 400 Block Association, of this event’s originally scheduled Saturday date, “we are changing the St. Patrick’s event to Sunday, March 13 at 10:30 AM. If you stop by at the start you’ll get to hear the bagpipe player, and a silly leprechaun story! Spend a little time with friends and neighbors, have a treat, & grab a shamrock plant. We hope to see you this Sunday morning at 10:30.”
Hudson Guild Galleries (Hudson Guild Fulton Center, 119 Ninth Ave. and 441 W. 26th St.) | Jim Furlong, Director of Arts at Hudson Guild, has never steered us wrong–and we’re not just saying that because we like how it rhymes. So we’re taking him at his word about good stuff happening on the Hudson Guild gallery scene. Here’s his word, literally. In a recent email, said Furlong, “I am writing to let you know about a new exhibit opening in Guild Gallery II at the Fulton Center on February 10. It’s called Memory’s Daughter, and it is a collection of lovely still lifes by Elizabeth Koszarski Skrabonja. Viewing Hours are Tuesdays – Fridays 10am – 5pm. A reception for the artist will be held on Friday, April 1 at 5:30pm. Meanwhile, Return: works with oil and fabric by Danny Simmons remains on display in Hudson Guild Gallery at the Elliott Center through March 9. This show contains some large, colorful works which are characteristic of Simmons’s vibrant style. A reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, February 17 at 5:30pm. Viewing Hours are Tuesdays – Fridays, 10am – 6pm, and Saturdays, 12pm – 4pm. And circle your calendars for Semaphore: Lauren Bakoian on paper & Jolie Stahl with clay, the next exhibit in Hudson Guild Gallery at the Elliott Center, with opening reception on March 17 at 5:30pm.” The galleries partner with nearby neighbor Google, as part of the Google Arts & Culture online platform. In doing so, Hudson Guild shares works by artists whose work has appeared in the gallery spaces over the past two decades. “It also,” the Gallery curators note, “gives us the opportunity to create permanent records of many different kinds of shows which are presented each year in the galleries, while also advancing our mission to make the arts accessible to all.” NOTE: Hudson Guild Galleries are free to attend, but you must observe these five points of protocol: 1. Visitors are asked to spend no more than 15 minutes inside the galleries. 2. Visitors who wish to stay in the galleries for more than 15 minutes must fill out the Hudson Guild Health Screener in advance before entering the galleries. To access the Health Screener, visit hudsonguild.org. At the top of the first (home) page, it says, “Click Here for a Health Screen,” which will take you directly to the registration page. 3. Visitors must have their temperature taken by reception staff before entering the theatre (gallery) and will not be permitted to enter if their temperature is above 100 degrees. 4. Visitors must wear masks at all times while in the building. 5. Visitors will observe social distancing of three feet from other visitors while in the galleries.
Participatory Budgeting Returns to New York City Council District 3 | Sure, he recently handed out COVID tests, and spoke passionately on TV about the joys of Chelsea street corners bereft of huge piles of garbage… but what has Councilmember Erik Bottcher done for you lately? How about set aside a cool million, to be distributed among projects created by District 3 residents? Known as Participatory Budgeting (PB), the popular Cheddar/Lettuce Distribution program, which in its first year was responsible for creating West 20th Street’s beloved Chelsea Green pocket park, is set to return once again–End Date, April 22, 2022. Area residents (think Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, Greenwich Village, West SoHo, Hudson Square, Times Square, Garment District, Flatiron, Upper West Side) vote on a variety of proposals. The winning entry is fully funded, and what’s left after that gets distributed to the second, third, etc. winners until the money has been spent. To visit Bottcher’s Councilmember web page, click here. To visit the District 3 PB page, click here. There, among other nuggets, you’ll find this dandy: That $1 million, culled from the Councilmember’s budget allocation, “can be used for physical infrastructure projects that benefit the public, cost at least $50,000, and have a lifespan of at least 5 years. For example, projects such as local improvements to schools, parks, libraries, housing, and other public spaces can be funded. Ideas are then evaluated and voted on by residents of the district.”
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