More than forty years ago, New York City took owner-ship of an area on the Lower East Side bounded by Essex, Delancey, Grand, and Willett Streets. This is the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA), just across Grand Street from this exhibition. Few renewal projects have been so contested, and as a result, it remains the largest undeveloped city-owned parcel of land south of 96th Street. The hopes, memories and meanings of this place are intertwined with the history of housing and politics on the Lower East Side and in New York City at large.

The City Studio is a yearly Urban Studies class at the New School, and for the past two years, we have been studying SPURA. In February 2009, we opened Visualizing SPURA, an exhibition in which we sought to spur productive conversation about the site’s future, as part of the larger series of SPURA Matters visioning sessions happening in the neighborhood.

During the Fall of 2009, a new group of students in the City Studio continued to explore the SPURA site, as plans for SPURA are on the table once more at Community Board 3.

Exploring SPURAAn exhibition by students of the City Studio at Eugene Lang College, the New School & Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani, in collaboration with SPURA Matters.

February 4 - April 3, 2010Opening: Thursday February 4, 2010 6-8pm

common room 2465 Grand Street, NYC, NY 10002tel: 212-358-8605http://www.common-room.net/

SPURA and the City StudioMany people live in and around SPURA today, and many others have long-term and family connections to the site. Our new exhibition, Exploring SPURA delves into the experience of living at SPURA now - the resources and restrictions - as well as the experi-ence of the SPURA diaspora, displaced years ago. This course stressed research in, and with, the com-munity, and this exhibition emerged from students’ work of talking with people on the streets in the neighborhood and with residents in the Seward Park Extension buildings; interviewing those displaced from the neighborhood; surveying residents about the kind of resources available in the neighborhood (as well as those that are needed); and by studying the infrastructure and spatial restrictions that are also a part of today’s SPURA.

The resultant exhibition is comprised of photographs, box-objects, a documentary video, an audio instal-lation, and a map and guide (in this newspaper) of community-generated resources. We hope to encourage further productive conversa-tion about SPURA’s future.

The 2010 City Studio creators of Exploring SPURA are: Sarah Charles, Jamie Florence, Leijia Hanrahan, Anke Hendriks, Lila Knisely, John Lake, Claudie Mabry, Katie Priebe, Adam Schleimer, Kaushal Shrestha, Emily Winkler-Morey and Hannah Zingre. Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani is the professor and exhibition curator.

Our partnerships with local organizations in the SPURA Matters project, as well as use of the “Community Voices and the Future of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area” report, were critical in supporting students’ archival, ethnographic, visual and participatory research to explore the life of the neighborhood.

SPURA Matters is a collaboration between the neighborhood housing organization Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), The Pratt Center for Community Development, and City Lore and its Place Matters project, which fosters conservation of New York City’s historically and culturally significant places. The City Studio course is sponsored by the Eugene Lang, New School Office of Civic Engagement.

Inside:

Community Generated Resources: The SPURA Resource Exchange

City Studio gives many thanks to:

Joel Feingold + Damaris Reyes (GOLES);Lars Fischer, Todd Rouhe + Maria Ibanez (common room); The New School Office of Civic Engagement; Joseph Heathcott (The New School); Dylan House (Hester Street Collaborative); Kara Becker (NYU); Marci Reaven (Place Matters) & Kaushik Panchal (Buscada).

Restricted SpaceJohn Lake, Claudie Mabry and Adam Schleimer

In surveying SPURA, our observations have drawn us to an analysis of the spatial restrictions inside of SPURA that have been created by outside forc-es. Through exploring the restrictions to mobility around the Grand Street Guild Homes that result from the long-term scaffolding, as well as the waste man-agement inconsistencies on the site, it is our hope to illustrate how a lack of infrastructural support on this site leads to negative implications for the site itself, and the experience of the place.

By looking closely at environments created by the scaffolding in one area of the SPURA site, as well as data associated with garbage in the area (pick-up, contents, locations, amount), our intention is to depict the spatial restrictions experienced within the larger site itself.

In our boxes and large-format images, we have sought to create simulated restrictive physical spaces to heighten viewers’ sense that lack of infrastructure and a feeling of restriction can result in an inability to see the positives of a community - seeing only space as disposable. One does not want to be trapped, and the uncomfortable experience of negativity and lack of concern we hope to evoke with our work will hope-fully leave you with the idea that something must be done to change this situation.

We hope that this work can help move past initial pessimism and possible biases, to see the more tan-gible and actionable issues of a community lacking structural and institutional support, and to think differ-ently when critiquing and planning for SPURA.

Exploring SPURA: A guide to the exhibitionCity Studio developed Exploring SPURA to help envision this site’s future, remember its past, and value its present. What are these stories? What are the politics that surround it? Exploring SPURA uses photographs, objects, videos, listening stations and opportunities for you to make your voice heard about the future and everyday life of this complex site.

The following is a guide to each piece in the exhibition. The 2010 City Studio creators of Exploring SPURA are: Sarah Charles, Jamie Florence, Leijia Hanrahan, Anke Hendriks, Lila Knisely, John Lake, Claudie Mabry, Katie Priebe, Adam Schleimer, Kaushal Shrestha, Emily Winkler-Morey and Hannah Zingre. Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani is the professor and exhibition curator.

The voices and thoughts of people on the street are collected here into an audio installation. This installa-tion lends an insight into the stream of consciousness of your fellow neighbors. We have set up headphones so that you may listen to the voices on the street, and a story hotline that you can call so that you can offer your own thoughts in exchange: (646) 450-3341. We hope that you will continue this dialogue by dialing the number and leaving a message with your story.

All new recordings will be uploaded to the project website where you may hear your and others’ stories: http://spuraspeaks.wordpress.com.

Please post reactions, comments and suggestions in this ongoing conversation on SPURA.

Our project set out to collect layers of sound from the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area. We strove to create an audio installation as a “temporary land-scape” in a public site, bringing the people of SPURA a heightened awareness of their own surroundings, place perceptions and memories. We also thought it was important to create a durable document available on the internet.

As our process evolved, we started speaking with people on the street, and the project began to em-phasize exchange. We shifted our focus to create an ongoing dialogue by giving people the opportunity to voice their ideas, emotions, and reactions, and by creating a platform in which their voices can continu-ally be accessed by the public.

The intent of our documentary, “42 Years Later, and Still Waiting,” is to bring awareness to the personal (and community-wide) consequences of a central problem plaguing New York City planning and com-munities: the lack of affordable housing. It is also celebrates the rich history of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area as a Lower East Side neighborhood and a true “melting pot.”

In November 2009, we heard this evocative identity recalled by one displaced neighbor at the rally for SPURA on the forty-second anniversary of the site’s demolition. Beginning at that rally, this documentary focuses on the experiences of Ed Rudick, who grew up in the area before its demolition, and his per-sonal reflections on how much has changed around

Seward Park as a result of the area’s “renewal.”

While this film reflects one man’s life history, we hope it will stir thought and conversation on the concept of urban “renewal” and “revitalization” and the impor-tance of maintaining essential social elements when planning neighborhood improvements.

We hope viewers will have time to watch the entire video, and will use the headphones to help delve into the world Ed describes: of the Lower East Side as it was fifty years ago. Viewing this video while in the Lower East Side, we hope that when you leave the gallery, and step outside, you will be able to imagine Ed’s stories in the landscape and contemplate what was lost through citywide “revitalization.”

SPURA SpeaksKatie Priebe, Jamie Leigh Florence & Hannah Zingre

42 Years Later, and Still WaitingAnke Hendriks, Kaushal Shrestha & Lila Knisely

SPURA Resource Exchangeby Emily Winkler-Morey, Leijia Hanrahan and Sarah Charles

As part of the New School’s 2009 City Studio class,we chose to focus our project on the opportunities that exist within the community surrounding the SPURA site. We wanted to give people the opportunity to address and discuss the needs and resources that exist within their neighborhood.

Cognizant of our own roles as outsiders in the community, we engaged in continuous dialogue with community members in an attempt to create a project that would reflect and address their con-cerns. We used surveys, informal conversation, and participant observation at community events to facilitate this dialogue, centering our questions on topics of what resources the community has, as well as what it needs.

In order to display the information gathered in a use-ful and accessible manner, we took the approach of asset mapping, listing the resources we obtained and showing their corresponding locations on a map.

These resources were defined as being any groups or organizations that could be of service to the community from within the community. The asset map and this pamphlet contain organizations and groups that people told us through our surveys that they found to be helpful, as well as others that we discovered, as we sought to research and respond to the needs expressed by community members.

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“This is our neighborhood and we’ve lived here long enough that we don’t entertain thoughts of leaving.” -Anonymous survey participant

1) Lower East Side Tenement Union

2) Lower East Side People’s Mutual Housing Association

3) Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association

4) Workforce Development Center (part of Henry Street Settlement)

5) Seward Park Branch

6) The Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center

7) Good Old Lower East Side

8) Henry Street Settlement

9) Educational Alliance

10) Hester Street Collaborative

11) Grand Street Settlement

12) City Lore

13) Lower East Side Family Union

14) Ana Luisa Garcia Community Center

15) East Village Community Coalition

16) Indochina Sino-America Community Center

17) Cooper Square Committee

18) Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV)

19) Two Bridges neighborhood Council

20) University Settlement

21) Lower East Side Business Improvement District

22) Chinatown Planning Council (CPC)

23) Chinatown YMCA Houston Street Center

24) Chinatown YMCA Hester Street Center

25) Good Companions Senior Center

26) Lower East Side Tenement Museum

27) Ryan-NENA Community Health Center

28) Abrons Art Center (part of Henry Street Settlement)

29) Urban Justice Center

30) Center for Urban Pedagogy

31) Jews For Racial and Economic Justice

32) Lower East Side People Care

33) Earth School @ P.S.64

34) Community of Poor People in Action of the LES

35) 6BC Botanical Garden

36) Las Siete Potencias

37) Vamos Sembrar: Place of Honor & Memory for the Beloved and Otherwise Forgotten

38) Fifth Street Slope Garden Club

Resources of many kinds in SPURA and the surrounding area Contributed by the community, through a series of surveys and conversations we initiated on Grand, Broome and Essex Streets in Fall 2009.

Resources of many kinds: by category

HousingLower East Side Tenants Union A resource for education and advocacy for renter’s rights on the Lower East Side organized by Good Old Lower East Side (see community orgs) Lower East Side People’s Mutual Housing Association228 E 3rd St # 1 (212) 473-5940‎ Lespmha.org“The sole purpose of this entity is to provide long term affordable housing for the residents of New York City.”

Cooper square Mutual Housing Association 61 East 4th Street. (212) 228-8210 “The Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association is a not-for-profit affordable housing corporation that man-ages and develops housing for low and moderate in-come individuals and families on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The CSMHA currently owns and manages 19 low income buildings with 302 apartments.” They are also involved in tenant organizing and building preservation.

Employment assistanceWorkforce Development Center (part of Henry Street Settlement)www.henrystreet.orgContact - David Garza, Chief Administrator 99 Essex Street, 3rd floor 212.478.5400 x209This organization helps residents find employment, keep it, and work to receive their GED.

Public LibrariesSeward Park Branch192 East Broadway. (212) 477-6770www.nypl.org/branch/local/man/se.cfmThis Library offers access to books, computers and public events, and also has a unique Lower East Side Heritage Collection.

These additional libraries are listed on NYC.GOV:

Chatham Square Regional Library 33 East Broadway, New York City

Hamilton Fish Park Library 415 East Houston St, New York City

Ottendorfer Library 135 Second Ave, New York City

Tompkins Square Library 331 East 10 St, New York City

HealthcareRyan-NENA Community Health Center279 East 3rd St, NYC. (212) 477-8500A full-service clinic which strives to provide affordable healthcare by providing care to people without insur-ance at a sliding rate based on income (as well as accepting most major insurance).

The Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center Drop-in centers at 43 Ave. C & 39 Ave. C, NYCleshrc.netfirms.com (212) 226–6333This organization offers a variety of services including confidential drug addiction counseling, health servic-es, recourses for HIV positive people, legal services, needle exchange services, and support groups. It also has volunteer opportunities for those who want to get involved in helping others.

Community advocacy & service organizationsChinatown Planning Council 150 Elizabeth Street, NYCwww.cpc-ny.orgThis is a Social Services organization that has worked within the community for five decades.

GOLES (Good Old Lower East Side)171 Avenues B (between 10th & 11th St.), NYC(212)533-2541 // (212) 358-1231 info@goles.org www.goles.orgGOLES has many organizing campaigns and com-munity services including advocating for affordable housing, calling for community-approved develop-ment on the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area vacant lots, landlord-tenant mediation,

Henry Street Settlement 265 Henry Street, NYCOpen Mon-Fri. 9AM-5PMHenry Street Settlement runs many programs includ-ing childcare, after-school activities, summer camps, health care, and job counseling, tenants’ rights coun-seling, and eviction prevention.

Hester Street Collaborative113 Hester Street, NYC 212.431.6780www.hesterstreet.org info@hesterstreet.org The Hester Street Collaborative is focused on involv-ing community members on the Lower East Side in social, political, educational, and architectural proj-ects to re-envision their neighborhood.

Grand Street Settlement 80 Pitt Street. 212.674.1741www.grandstreet.org/html/community.html This organization provides opportunities for low-income families with aid in areas such as community building, social services, advocacy, etc.

Lower East Side Family Union 84 Stanton Street. 212 260-0040 www.lesfu.org This organization works with families of many races and ethnicities to promote services that are geared towards cultural diversity. They pride themselves on preserving, strengthening, and empowering these families by delivering multi-lingual and culturally-sensitive services.

East Village Community Coalition 143 Avenue B. (212) 979-2344 evccnyc.org“The East Village Community Coalition works to recognize, support, and sustain the built and cultural character of the East Village. This character includes a diverse population; low-rise, human scale blocks and affordable buildings with historic and architec-tural significance; a multitude of community gardens; indigenous stores and businesses; and the neigh-borhood’s history and ongoing tradition as a haven for those seeking freedom to express artistic, cre-ative, and social concerns” (East Village Community Coalition)

These community resources were contributed by people we interviewed through a series of surveys and conversations we initiated on Grand, Broome and Essex Streets in Fall 2009.

Some other resources here that we have found useful come from the NYC.GOV website.

Cooper Square Committee61 East 4th Street, NYC (212) 228-8210 coopersquare.orgThe Cooper Square Committee (CSC) works with area residents to contribute to the preservation and development of affordable, environmentally healthy housing and community/cultural spaces so that the Cooper Square area remains racially, economically, and culturally diverse.

CAAAV (Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence)CAAAV Main Office : 2473 Valentine Ave, Bronx, NY 10458 // (718) 220-7391 x 11 // justice@caaav.org“CAAAV focuses on institutional violence that affects immigrant, poor and working-class communities such as worker exploitation, concentrated urban poverty, police brutality, Immigration Naturalization Service detention and deportation, and criminalization of youth and workers.”

Chinatown Justice Project office191 E. 3rd St, #1A, NYC 212. 473.6485

Women Workers’ Project 53-22 Roosevelt Ave. 2nd Fl. Woodside, NY 11377718.335.0419

Two Bridges Neighborhood Council275 Cherry Street, NYC 212-566-2729 www.twobridges.org“Two Bridges Neighborhood Council is a not-for-profit community-based organization serving the people of New York’s Lower East Side. We provide affordable housing, protect tenants, and promote the recogni-tion and preservation of the area’s living history and culture.”

Community Artistic & Cultural CentersAbrons Art Center (part of Henry Street Settlement)466 Grand Street, NYC 212.598.0400“The Abrons Arts Center brings innovative artistic excellence to Manhattan’s Lower East Side through diverse, cutting-edge performances; exhibitions/artist residencies, classes and workshops for all ages; and arts-in-education programming at public schools.”

Educational Alliance 197 East Broadway 212.780.2300 edalliance.orgEducational Alliance offers many educational and ser-vice programs including art classes for both children and adults, fitness programs in collaboration with the 14th street Y, addiction counseling services, and boys and girls clubs.

City Lore 72 East 1st Street New York, NY 10003.www.citylore.org This is a non-profit membership organization that has members including historians, folklorists, anthropolo-gists, ethnomusicologists, etc. that work to produce independent films, exhibits, and other media projects.

Ana Louisa Garcia Community Center605 FDR Drive, NYC 10002 (917) 386.7285www.algyc.org Contact person: Jasmin Sanchez“ALG has diminished alleged stereotypes of an urban community by complementing the community with an extensive variety of, but not limited to, cultural, edu-cational, social, and recreational programs”

Indochina Sino-American Community Center170 Forsyth Street, 2nd Floor NYC 10002212-226-0317 // isaccny.org“ISACC’s mission is to assist immigrants and refu-gees integrate to society’s mainstream by provid-ing them with programs, services, and activities to achieve economic self-sufficiency” (Indochina Sino-American Community Coalition)

Lower East Side Tenement Museum108 Orchard Street, NYC www.tenement.org“A New York City Museum that tells the stories of im-migrants who lived in 97 Orchard Street, a tenement built in 1863 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.”

University Settlement 184 Eldridge Street, NYC 10002 (212) 674-9120www.universitysettlement.org“No longer a literal home for immigrants, as it was in the early days, the Settlement remains a haven for Lower East Side residents of all ages. Here, they can find the best in child care, pre-school, housing as-sistance, mental health services, college and career preparation, crisis intervention, senior services, arts events, English classes, afterschool programs and more” (University Settlement)

Lower East Side Business Improvement District 54 Orchard Street, NYC 10002 Tel: (212) 226-9010 / 1(866) 224-0206info@LowerEastSideNY.comwww.lowereastsideny.com“The Lower East Side Business Improvement District was established in 1992 as a nonprofit economic de-velopment organization dedicated to revitalizing the Orchard Street Shopping District while preserving its unique and diverse character”

“There are more people on the waiting list for public housing than there IS public housing . . . [we need a] bigger emphasis on organzing.” -Anonymous survey participant

Head Start ProgramsBank Street Head Start113 East 13 St, New York City

Cardinal Spellman Head Start137 East 2 St, New York City

Dewitt Reformed Church Head Start123 Ridge St & 280 Rivington St, New York City

Educational Alliance Child Care Center 197 East Broadway, New York City Escuela Hispana Montessori Inc.(Head Start)185 Ave D & 296 East 4 St, New York City

Grand Street Settlement Head Start294 Delancey St, New York City

Hamilton Madison House Head Start79 & 89 Catherine St; 50 Madison St; 77 Market St; 243 Cherry St, New York City

University Settlement Early Childhood Head Start184 Eldridge St, New York City

City-wide OrganizationsUrban Justice Center 123 William Street 16th Fl. NYC, 10038 646-602-5600 // www.urbanjustice.org“The Urban Justice Center serves New York City’s most vulnerable residents through a combination of direct legal service, systemic advocacy, community education and political organizing. We often defend the rights of people who are overlooked or turned away by other organizations. We reach a wide-rang-ing client base through our Projects” (UJC)

Center for Urban Pedagogy232 Third Street #B402B, Brooklyn, NY 11215 (718) 596-7721 // info@anothercupdevelopment.orgCUP works with NYC communities to make “educa-tional projects about places and how they change.” They have worked on the Lower East side, including work with SPURA Matters visioning sessions.

Jews For Racial and Economic Justice135 W. 29th St. #600 NYC 10001(212) 647-8966 // info@jfrej.org“Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) is a membership-based organization founded in 1990. JFREJ engages Jews to pursue and win racial and economic justice in partnership with Jewish and allied people of color, low-income and immigrant communi-ties in New York City” (JFREJ)

Senior Centers & Elderly ResourcesGood Companion Senior Center (of Henry Street)334 Madison Street (Basement), NYC 10002(212) 349-2770Wendy Prudencio, Program DirectorThis organization offers activities and social ser-vices to Senior Members of the Lower East Side community.

Educational Alliance Co-Op Village NORC465 Grand Street, 4th Fl., NYC 10002(646) 395-4505This organization provides programs for Co-Op Village residents who are at least 60 years old.

The following organizations are from NYC.GOV:

Brc Senior Nutrition Program30 Delancey St, New York City

Educational Alliance197 East Broadway 1,380

Grand Coalition Of Seniors, Senior Center80 Pitt St, New York City

Jacob Riis Senior Center152 Ave D, New York City

John Paul II Friendship Center103 E. 7th St., New York City

La Guardia Senior Center280 Cherry St, New York City

Lillian Wald Houses12 Ave D, New York City

New York Chinatown Senior Center70 Mulberry St, New York City

Sirovich Senior Center331 East 12th St, New York City

Smith Houses Senior Center50 Madison St, New York City

UJC Adult Luncheon Club15 Bialystoker Place, New York City

University Settlement Nutrition189 Allen St, New York City

Community Gardens“The More Gardens! Coalition is a group of commu-nity people, gardeners, and environmental and social justice activists who promote the development and preservation of community gardens as well as the cultivation of fallow land in New York City. We share information about community gardens with the public in order to raise awareness and engage people in both actual gardening and political activism. ”http://moregardens.org/nyc_gardens/manhattan

Lower East Side People Care Garden25 Rutgers Street

Earth School Garden@ P.S.64 600 East 6th Street

Community of Poor People in Action of the LES Garden171 Stanton Street

6BC Botanical Garden624-628 E. 6th Street

Las Siete Potencias Garden302-04 East 2nd Street

Vamos Sembrar: Place of Honor & Memory for the Beloved and Otherwise Forgotten Garden198 Ave B

Fifth Street Slope Garden Club626-27 E. 5th Street

Children’s Day Care CentersAction for Progress Day Care Center255 East Houston St, New York

CPC Jacob Riis Child Care Center108 & 90 Ave D, New York City Children’s Liberation Day Care Center, Inc. 150 1st Avenue, New York City Coalition for Human Housing Day Care Center60 Essex St, New York City Educational Alliance Head Start197 East Broadway, New York City

Emmanuel Day Care Center737 East 6 St, New York City

Garment Industry Day Care Center115 Chrystie St, New York City

Grand Street Settlement Child Care Center300 Delancey St, New York City

Hamilton Madison House Child Care Center10 Catherine Slip & 60 Catherine St & 243 Cherry St.

Hand In Hand Development Incorporated465 Grand St, 2nd Floor, NYC // (212) 420-1999

Henry Street Settlement Day Care Center 301 Henry St, New York City

Henry Street Settlement Urban Family School110 Baruch Drive, New York City

Lillian Wald Day Care Center, Educational Alliance34 Ave D, New York City

Little Star Of Broome Street151 Broome St, New York City

Puerto Rican Council Day Care Center 180 Suffolk St, New York City

Virginia Day Nursery464 East 10 St, New York City

“I’ll go to an event if it will help me get a job... If not, I don’t have time...” -Anonymous survey partcipant