Judith K. Canepa chained to the tree in the City Hall Park. The protest is a demand for City Council Speaker Corey Johnson to hold an oversight hearing on ESCR. September 28, 2021. Photo by Nikol Mudrová.

A  small group of neighborhood activists walked into City Hall Park  stopped by one tree in front of the City Hall building and two  women,  Jmac,  who did not want her full name used and Judith K. Canepa, hugged the tree, locked their arms into tubes around the trunk, and started their protest. 

“We’re going to stay here until the hearing is settled or until someone takes us away,” Canepa said.

She lives two blocks from the East River Park and said she  is going to be personally affected if the city moves forward with the ESCR.

The New York City Council wants to build flood control in the Lower East Side. And according to ESCR, the current East River Park should be destroyed and rebuilt all over again on a landfill, which would elevate the ground by eight feet. 

But originally, the city wanted to put flood protection between the main road and park while containing the park basically as it is now. 

NYC Council’s reasoning behind why they switched plans in 2019. Graphics taken from the January 23, 2019 NYC Council Hearing presentation. Provided by Megan Moriarty Press Officer, NYC Parks.

“We want the independent oversight to open the truth for everybody,” said Aresh Javadi, an artist, educator, and one of the leading members of the East River Park Action.

The only person who can set such a hearing is City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who  they are unable to reach, Javadi said.

They held up a sign that read  “Corey, schedule the oversight hearing on ESCR now.” They said they are in City Hall Park so Johnson can see Canepa and Jmac chained on the tree from his office. 

East River Park Action members demanding an oversight hearing from the City Council Speaker Corey Johnson in front of the City Hall. Photo by Nikol Mudrová

According to Javadi, the group filed the Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) to see the new plan, but after their lawyers obtained it, the majority of it was blackened.

“If it’s a good plan, you don’t cover 90 percent of it,” he said. “Now it just seems they chose the plan that costs more money, not the one that has the best interest for the community or the park.”

The independent oversight would clear up some unknowns and bring transparency to the project, activists believe. 

“There should be eight to 10 feet of fill, ok. What kind of fill?” Canepa asked as an example of an unanswered question. “Where is the fill coming from? How do New York City expect to do the project in five years when we’ve never, never done anything on time? How long would we have to live without a park and with more pollution then?” 

Meanwhile, policemen stopped by to check what was going on. 

“They didn’t pressure us or threaten us,” Canepa said. “One of them had a smile on his face and told me, he was just concerned and wanted to make sure we’re ok.”

 Hours later, they got a response from the mayor’s office. Manhattan Borough Director Andrew Kunkes promised they would set up a meeting with the speaker’s department.  

But Johnson still did not reply to the activists’. Kunkes also did not provide any additional information. 

 As the two women  remained chained to the tree the protesters gathered around a nearby chess table  to brainstorm the next steps.

“We’re probably going to do more direct action in the park itself. I mean… October is here, we don’t have more time,” said  protestor Eileen Myles, a poet, and writer from the Lower East Side.

Eileen Myles brainstorming the next East River Park Action’s steps in the City Hall Park. Photo by Nikol Mudrová

They said the city  would start cutting down the trees in East River Park in October. 

Roughly ten hours  after the protest began  the two women unchained themselves and it  was over. Since an  oversight hearing was not guaranteed the protesters will meet at East River Park to discuss next steps in the fight.

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“We don’t need to be rescued; we don’t need to be saved. If you kill this park, you are killing us,” said the poet Eileen Myles, a resident of the Lower East Side of Manhattan since 1974 and a leading figure in East River Park Action, who are fighting the plan. “Why would you take green space away from this neighborhood? We need these trees. They protect us.”

The group hoped to draw a thousand people to represent the roughly one thousand trees that can be found in the 57.5 acre public park. And while those in attendance numbered closer to five or six hundred, it was the group’s largest demonstration to date. Many cherish the role the park has played in their lives over the past year and a half and are determined to keep it the way it is. 

“I came here every day during the pandemic,” said Allison Colby. “I love this park. What business does the city have tearing down a thousand trees?”

The $1.45 billion ESCR project set to begin construction in several weeks aims to fortify the park as a barrier for future storm surge and eventual sea level rise. East River Park Action’s efforts to lobby Mayor Bill de Blasio to consider a community plan they say will preserve the park’s integrity have been fruitless. The group has also unsuccessfully sought an oversight hearing from City Council Speaker Corey Johnson.

From the outside looking in, some may applaud the city for taking necessary steps to combat climate change. Yet in a community ‘full of environmentalists,’ Colby said, the park has proven its worth in the wake of Hurricane’s Henri and Ida. (link to the hurricanes. 

“The park is a natural deterrent for the weather, with the marshes and existing barriers, “ said Colby. “It’s doing its job as is. We do not want this park to be destroyed.” 

As the crowd swelled, volunteers in yellow work vests passed out one-pagers detailing the city’s plan. Parents pushed children in strollers or walked alongside them on bikes as drums, tambourines and call-and-response chanting filled the air. People mingled with the sort of familiarity forged over three years of building opposition. So good

Community artist and volunteer Clara Rodriguez-Torres shows up to East River Park on a weekly basis to protest and preserve it exactly how it is. Photo by Frank Festa

For some, like community artist and volunteer Clara Rodriguez-Torres, there’s a deep connection to the land. 

“When my grandpa came from the Dominican Republic in the 70s, he told me stories about watching fireworks over the East River. It felt like a special welcoming,” said Rodriguez-Torres. 

She visits the East Village apartment where she grew up with her grandparents to reminisce. The apartment once rented for $60 a month and now goes for over $4,000. The park represents a part of her childhood that’s still intact.  

“We’re not asking you to vote for anybody or buy anything,” she said. “We come out here every week just for this park because we love it so much.”

In what felt like a last ditch effort to rally support, speakers rotated turns with a megaphone before leading a march down the East River Promenade. Next weekend will feature one of the final public events at East River Park – a House music concert where the group hopes to recruit more believers in their cause. After that, construction will commence, and the beloved park will be forever changed. 

East River Park Action believes the time for peaceful protest has come to an end. 

“It’s going to be civil disobedience after this,” said Eileen Myles into the megaphone when it was her turn. 

Brimming with optimism, Myles urged onlookers to sign up for future direct action, which she says there will be plenty of. 

“We know some of you will be willing to chain yourselves to trees, to climb them, to camp overnight. And, to say fuck you, this is our park,” she said.

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