BY SCOTT STIFFLER | What goes round and round, draws young and old with its distinctive calliope sound, and is capable of transporting grown adults back to a time when they couldn’t wait to ride a horse whose trajectory was more up and down than straight ahead? If you said, “A carousel,” you’re either good at riddles or you simply noticed the above photo…or both.

No matter—and no need to do any more guess work. A July 28 press release from the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation urged you to “Get to know Carousels in City Parks” and didn’t skimp on the details to make that possible.

Turns out, in terms of density and variety, NYC is one of the best places in the country for carousel connoisseurs. That’s because, the Parks press notes, “At the start of the 20th century, Brooklyn was home to the largest concentration of carousel workshops in the country, as several master carvers set up shop in the city.” The fruit of their labors were scattered far and wide, but many became beloved, long-standing amenities in City Parks. Two of the most storied examples of that are the B&B Carousel in Luna Park, Coney Island, (built on site in 1906 and open to the public daily through November) and the 1903-built Forest Park Carousel. It’s one of only two surviving carousels by internationally acclaimed master craftsman Daniel Carl Muller, and features traditional horses, menagerie animals, and chariots. Open through October, its hours follow those of Forest Park Carousel Amusement Village, within which it’s located.

Located near Chelsea Piers (btw. W. 22nd & 23rd Sts.), Hudson River Park’s Pier 62 Carousel features 33 custom-designed, hand-carved Hudson River Valley animals—including a seal, a raccoon, a bear, a deer, and a seahorse. The carousel structure has a green roof and opens to a sprawling lawn and tree-lined pathways. As noted on this calendar page, it’s open Friday through Sunday, 11am-6pm, through the end of October, weather permitting.

For real-time updates and additional information including delays and closures, please visit the Pier 62 Carousel Facebook page. Tickets are $4.50 for single riders, $3.50 for groups of 10 or more. Want a birthday party that’s memorable for something other than the fact you hired some inadequate approximation of Huk and Thor to wow the crowd? A $579 Party Package comes with plenty of perktastic bells and whistles, anchorewd by a generous supply of Unlimited Ride wristbands (click here for details). Carousel-riding candidates must be at least 42” to ride alone. If a child is under 42”, the child must have a ticket—but the accompanying adult rides for free. Any unused tickets are valid for the current operating season. All sales are final and cannot be exchanged or redeemed for cash. No exceptions. Contact number and email: 718-788-2676 | info@nycarousel.com. For a full list of carousels in City parks, please visit the new Carousels in NYC Parks webpage.

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Mulch Ado About Our New Composting Bins | One third of what New Yorkers throw away is food scraps and yard waste, according to one of the many pages at nyc.gov dedicated to reducing that shameful statistic. Doing your part to lessen what we send to landfills just got a lot easier, with the introduction of Streetcorner Composting Bins.

NYC Council Member Erik Bottcher introduced the smartphone-operated orange bins to Chelsea and nearby areas in a June 26 tweet that read, “Our Smart Composting Bins have arrived! They can be accessed 24/7 via a simple app and they are located throughout Council District 3.” The Council Member’s assurance of app simplicity was, well, apt: Finding a bin in proximity proved to be a breeze—as did deployment of the app to opening the bin upon approach.

But what good is finding a receptacle if you don’t know the Do and Do Not of it? Click here for a primer on those new bins, which includes these helpful tidbits:

—Composting Bin-Compatible: ALL food scraps, plant waste, and food-soiled paper are prime candidates for your local Smart Composting Bin. This includes meat, bones, dairy, prepared foods—and greasy uncoated paper plates and pizza boxes.

—Not a Candidate for Composting Bins: Recyclable materials should never be put in a composting bin. The same goes for trash such as diapers, personal hygiene products, animal waste, wrappers, non-paper packaging, and foam products.

—They are emptied regularly and food scraps are composted to beautify green spaces across NYC.

You can access Smart Composting Bins 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, using a free, simple app. To download NYC Compost for iOS, click here. To download NYC Compost for Android, click here. A quick search via the app yielded these Bin locations:

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‘Team’ Has Tales to Tell, for Those Wondering About the Work at 278 Eighth Ave. | On July 29 arrived an email alert from the “278 8th Ave. Team”—the movers and shakers behind the building of the rapidly rising structure on the corner of Eighth Ave. and West 23rd Street. Sent out every 2-4 weeks, this latest update on the status of the project noted work hours for all activities are Mon.- Fri. 7am to 6pm, and Sat., 9am-5pm.

Facade construction and window installation as well as general interior construction will take place over the next two weeks—and over the next four weeks, noise levels are expected to be “standard for such activities and the contractor will abide by the approved dust and noise mitigation plan submitted to the City.”

Concerning milestone markers, the message noted, the demolition, foundation work, and vertical construction phases are all complete, with facade construction having commenced—a status identical to that of June 26, 2023, when we last updated readers on the project.

“It is our goal to keep our neighboring community informed,” read the email’s concluding paragraph, adding, “We recognize that construction can be at times an inconvenience and an upheaval to daily life. We hope that our transparency, willingness to cooperate and integrity make this an easier process for all parties.”

Members of the community who have concerns, comments, or questions are asked to email 278EighthAve@gmail.com. For more information on the 218,000-square feet (14 stories, 190 units) project, click here.

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