NY Central Park Lawn Bowls Club needs our help!
We need your help! Please take five minutes to help save the Lawn Sports Center in NY Central Park.The Central Park Conservancy is ordering the New York Lawn Bowling Club to vacate the Lawn Sports Center at the end of our season—Oct 12. In response to this decision, we are asking our friends to contact officials mentioned below and urge them to stop this egregious move. We are concerned that this is a first step by the Conservancy to eliminate lawn bowling from Central Park.In response to the Central Park Conservancy’s decision we are calling for a meeting with the Conservancy to work out a mutually acceptable solution.Now is the time for everyone to act! We are urging all friends of the NYLBC, your families, friends and colleagues to phone, e-mail, fax, write to Conservancy administrators and elected officials. Please pass this on to everyone you know. We want hundreds of messages sent in our fight against this decision.The message is straightforward: We are asking to protect our access to the Center’s lockers and bathrooms.Our arguments are simple and in keeping with the values of the Central Park Conservancy’s mission to restore, manage and enhance Central Park in partnership with the public, for the enjoyment of present and future generations.The points to be made in your letters and emails:
- The Lawn Sports Center facility is indispensable to the existence of lawn sports in the park, providing storage, the ability to secure personal belongings, and much-needed shelter in inclement weather.
- Our largest group of players is seniors. Lawn bowling in Central Park provides one of the city’s few organized outdoor recreational opportunities for seniors. Access to the Lawn Sports Center is important especially for our senior players to store heavy sports equipment and personal belongings near the playing fields and gives immediate access to bathrooms as well as shelter from unpredictable weather.
Below is a sample letter, which we encourage you to use or revise. Contact others you know who have enjoyed lawn bowling in Central Park and encourage them to write/call/e-mail.It is imperative that we act today, certainly before the end of our season—Oct. 12. We fear that once we are moved out of the Center, we will have lost. Please contact these officials immediately.On behalf of the Board of Directors of the New York lawn Bowling Club, I thank everyone who has sent out letters and urge the rest to help with this important cause.Sincerely,Alan WinsonPresident, New York Lawn Bowling Clubwww.nybowls.com__________________________________SAMPLE LETTERDear :It has come to my attention that the Central Park Conservancy has decided to take over the Lawn Sports Center at Mineral Springs for exclusive use by Conservancy staff. This decision is counter-productive to the mission of a park that exists for those who use it.As a friend of the New York Lawn Bowling Club, which has had continuous access to these facilities for over 50 year, I believe that this decision will deprive its members, many of whom are seniors, and visitors to the greens of much-needed access to the restrooms and storage space for lawn bowling equipment in the Center. The Lawn Sports Center helps facilitate important outdoor recreational activities, which are vital to the health of our seniors.Finally, I hope that this is not an initial effort by the Conservancy to eliminate lawn bowling, which has been a tradition in Central Park since 1926.I strongly urge the Central Park Conservancy to abandon this decision and find a more appropriate location to house their staff. Sincerely,– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –Please contact:Adrian Benepe, CommissionerDepartment of Parks and RecreationAdrian.Benepe@parks.nyc.gov Douglas Blonsky, PresidentCentral Park Conservancy14 East 60th StreetNew York, NY 10022Tel: 212-310-6669Fax: 212-310-6646Neil Calvanese, Vice-President for OperationsCentral Park ConservancySame address as aboveMelissa Mark-Viverito, Chair, Parks and RecreationNYC Council - District 8mviverito@council.nyc.gov Gale BrewerNYC Council -- District 6gab@pipeline.comgbrewer@council.nyc.govDan GarodnickNYC Council -- District 4211 East 43rd Street, Suite 2004garodnick@council.nyc.ny.usJessica Lappin, Chair of the NYC Council Committee on AgingNYC Council -- District 5lappin@council.nyc.govOffice of Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringerbp@manhattanbp.org