Open Session #9: Hosted by East River Park Action

Pat Arnow and Harriet Hirshorn from East River Park Action convene an evening of discussion around the question, “What can we do to stop the city from continued environmental and social destruction?” The workshop will be anchored by a screening of Hirshorn’s film-in-progress Greenwashed! What happened to East River Park which documents the efforts between 2018-2021 to save the East River Park from demolition. Following the film, Alicia Boyd from the anti-gentrification group Movement to Protect the People, will talk about the citywide zoning proposal called City of Yes that is actively planning to continue the destruction. This Open Session is an invitation for the audience to think through how the city has ravaged the environment of the Lower East Side neighborhood in order to supposedly protect the community from the ravages of climate change, and unpack the complexities and dangers of this approach.

East River Park Action seeks environmental justice for our park and the Lower East Side community it serves. Their mission is to stop the destruction of East River Park. They demand a truly resilient and comprehensive plan that provides flood control against the worst effects of the climate crisis and protects the health and well being of the community with minimal destruction of existing parkland and biodiversity. 

Pat Arnow is a Lower East Side resident and co-founder of East River Park Action. She has worked as a photographer for New York City labor unions and as a writer and editor for many publications.

Harriet Hirshorn is a bilingual (English/French) documentary filmmaker and editor whose award-winning documentaries focus on human rights and social justice issues. Her recently completed film, Nothing Without Us: The Women Who Will End AIDS premiered in November 2017 at DOCNYC and has screened nationally and internationally in 2018 with an educational release in 2019. She is a founding member of East RIver Park Action.

Alicia Boyd is a community activist, educator and Prose Litigant (non-attorney who files lawsuits). Her group the Movement to Protect the People “MTOPP” has been around for over a decade educating and fighting against oversized development. MTOPP was instrumental in protecting the Brooklyn Botanic Garden from the largest development project planned for Brooklyn. They also prevented a massive district-wide rezoning proposal. Boyd is a lifelong Brooklynite and her group members reside in Crown Heights/Flatbush.