How did I miss NY Civic!

No need to worry, I know, but I just realized I did not include Henry Stern's New York Civic on my blog sidebar. Well, you can rest assure the site is there now.


Wait. You aren't familiar with New York Civic? Oh, well, then let me give you a heads up.


What is it?
Part watchdog, part cheerleader, part fundraiser, part whistle-blower, part trusted advisor, part muckraker, part think tank, part consciousness-raiser, New York Civic takes an active role in outlining and defining public and civic life in its myriad forms.


Who runs it?
A native New Yorker, Henry J. Stern has served in various capacities in New York City government. In 1973, and again in 1977, he was elected to the City Council as a member-at-large from Manhattan (with the Liberal Party), a position he held for nine years before being appointed commissioner of parks and recreation by Mayor Koch on February 14, 1983. He served seven years in the Koch administration, until the end of the mayor’s term, during which he founded the Natural Resources Group, an environmental watchdog for New York City. In 1994, he was re-appointed parks commissioner by Mayor Giuliani and served in that position until 2002.


As commissioner, Mr. Stern was credited with improving the cleanliness and safety of New York City’s 1,700 parks and playgrounds. Most notably, Central Park was largely restored, in partnership with the Central Park Conservancy. He also acquired several thousand acres of new parkland for the city, created over 2,000 "Greenstreets" at traffic intersections, erected 2,500 historic signs, and built over a billion dollars worth of park improvements as part of the capital construction program of Mayor Koch and Mayor Giuliani.


Mr. Stern has received numerous honors in recognition of his environmental protection efforts, including the National Audubon Society Lifetime Achievement Award and the City Club Earthling Award for Environmental Excellence. In February 2002, in an effort to improve the quality of life for New York City residents, Mr. Stern, along with Alan M. Moss, former first deputy parks commissioner, co-founded New York Civic.


So what can I expect?
Well, I'm not going to copy his latest entry, but I'll link it for you. It's titled What's Happening All Over and it is an easy, but interesting read.


Of course, I'll have to add something. As many like to discuss environmental issues as clean air and Global Warming, Nature.com just published a very interesting find.


Henry Stern does pretty much what I do here. He's just much better at it, since he has years of experience behind his opinions. But politics is all about debates and forming a consensus when one can be agreed upon. Too often we find partisanship outweighing what would be best for New York and its neighborhoods.