Here’s What’s Happening

This Week In & Around Chelsea

Down to Earth Farmers Market Chelsea / Remaking Penn Station forRiders and the 22nd Century: An In-Person & Online Panel Discussion/ Inaugural Meeting of the 300 West 21-22-23 Streets Block Association / Programming In & Around Bella Abzug Park / 10th Precinct Community Council & Sector B Build the Block Meetings

PICK OF THE WEEKEND

Down to Earth Farmers Market Chelsea: Satudays, 9am-2pm | To visit the Market online, click here. The Market happens Satudays, 9am-2pm on W. 23rd St. Off of Ninth Ave. This Saturday, says the Market’s Melissa in a May 23 email, is well-stocked for Memorial Day meals, offering “all the grilling essentials and plenty of seasonal goodies to snap up” (including marinades, condiments, and fixings such as sauerkraut and sautéed gourmet mushrooms). A new addition for 2024: Textile Recycling! Bring your linens, old clothes, shoes, torn, stained, or new to recycle (look for the green bin). Also Note: Food Benefit Programs are welcome. Go to the Manager’s Tent to use your SNAP EBT card and get tokens to spend with the vendors. Matching Health Bucks are available ($2 for every $2 withdrawn, up to $10). FMNP vouchers can be used June-November. For a full explanation of benefits, visit this link. NYC residents who have questions about the FMNP program can dial 311.

Remaking Penn Station for Riders and the 22nd Century: An In-Person & Online Panel Discussion / Tuesday, May 21, 6:30pm-7:30pm | When the forward-looking thinkers at not-for-profit ReThinkNYC took one look at NYS Governor Kathy Hochul’s scorched-earth-cum-corporate-land-grab plans for the Penn Station area, they said, “Think again.” Under their alternate proposal, trains would run through the station to centers of business activity on the opposite side of Manhattan from their points of origin. Known as “through-running,” this practice, they note, “is the modern standard for commuter rail and is used or being implemented in most of our peer cities.” But how practical—and possible—is through-running at Penn Station? This discussion means to address that question from a number of angles. Moderated by Peg Breen (President of the New York Landmarks Conservancy), the featured panelists are Samuel A. Turvey, Chairperson, ReThinkNYC; Karim Ahmed, Senior Transit Advisor, ReThinkNYC; Christine Berthet, Co-Chair, Manhattan Community Board 4’s Transportation Planning Committee; and Dr. Robert Paaswell, Emeritus Director, City College’s University Transportation Research Center, Region II. Presented in partnership with the New York Landmarks Conservancy, it’s part of The General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen of the City of New York’s Labor, Literature and Landmark Lecture Series. Tuesday, May 21, 6:30pm-7:30pm at The General Society Library (20 W. 44th St. btw. 5th & 6th Aves.). General Admission: $15 / General Society Members, New York Landmarks Conservancy Members & Senior Citizens: $10 / Students: $5 (ticket prices the same for online attendance). To attend in-person, register by clicking here. To attend online, register by clicking here.

 Neighbors of 300 West 21-22-23 Streets Block Association Inaugural Meeting: Tuesday, May 21, 6:30pm | This opportunity to meet your neighbors and express any thoughts and ideas you have is open to residents and businesses of the 300 blocks of West 21st & 22nd Streets and the south side of West 23rd Streets between and including Eighth and Ninth Aves. For info, email ChelseaWestBA@gmail.com. For more info, see the below flyer.

Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen (HYHK) Alliance Presents May to October Free Programming In & Around Bella Abzug Park | Another season of free, all-ages programming is about to kick off in and around Bella Abzug Park (W. 34th to 35th Sts., 10th to 11th Aves.). For the complete schedule, click here—and in the coming weeks, see this listing’s updated versions, as we feature a rotating collection of fitness, music, movies, and dance events.

Bien Good Well offers free yoga classes Mondays and Wednesdays at 6pm and Saturdays at 10:30pm in Bella Abzug Park. To register, click here. Every other Thursday in May, June, July, September, and October, Vinyl Nights fills Bella Abzug Park with dance-demanding classics of the 70s, 80s, and beyond, as spun by veteran NYC DJs working with, yes, real vinyl records. For more info, click here. Looking ahead, the public space programmers from Street Lab will be popping up in Bella Abzug Park for six weeks in July and August, bringing interactive activities for kids of all ages.

COMING UP NEXT WEEK

10th Precinct Community Council Meeting: Wednesday, May 29, 7pm at the 10th Precinct (230 W. 20th St. btw. 7th & 8th Aves.) |  Having assumed Commanding Officer duties late last year, one of the general public’s all-too-rare opportunities to meet Capt. Alexander Brathwaite (and pose questions) happens as he (almost always) represents the 10th Precinct at Community Council meetings (held at 7pm on the last Wed. of the month, except during June-August’s summer hiatus). Organized and moderated by Council President Larry O’Neill, this monthly citizen-run event features a Q&A session that has a good track record of examining the results of insights given and reasurrances made at previous Council meetings (a level of accountabiity that’s been particularly useful over the years when it comes to crime and quality of life concerns at and around the corner of Eighth Ave. and West 21st St.). Want to keep up with Council goings-on? Follow the Community Council on Facebook by clicking here.

10th Precinct Sector B Build the Block Second Quarter Meeting: Thursday, May 30, 5pm at Penn South (339 West 24th Street) | NCOs, or Neighborhood Coordination Officers, host this quarterly meeting addressing crime and quality of life matters for the 10th Precinct’s Sector B (North side of W. 21st St. to south side of W. 29th St., from 7th Ave. to the Hudson).  Your Sector B NCOs are PO Victor Yu (VictorYu@nypd.org) and PO Michael Caligiuru (Michael.Caligiuru@nypd.org). Click here to find your Build the Block meeting. It’s a good idea to check in on the day of the scheduled meeting, as plans do sometimes change on short notice (in which case the 10th Precinct’s Twitter account, @NYPD10Pct, is a reliable source for last-minute info). To access the 10th Precinct’s nyc.gov page, click here.

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