Washington Market Park--In these first 2 1/2 years of parenting our park has been invaluable to me.  It’s a place where you know that everyone else has “been there” as you stomp relentless laps with a screaming teething sleepless infant. It’s where our neighborhood comes together and shares those crazy times as well as the delirious excitement of first steps and many other “firsts.” It always feels like an extension of home. Because this park means so much to me, I am extremely excited to offer my services on the park board to you.

I think that having a connected neighborhood is the key to a flourishing community. I would first reach out and ask families who use the park to create a brainstorming collective to generate feedback on the park’s services and to develop unique and interesting programming for our children.

A variety of special art and movement workshops run by volunteers such as mural painting, puppet making, capoeira, percussion, and dance could occur throughout the seasons. I would also like to start up an online bulletin board through the park’s website for all those in the community interested in connecting  and exchanging ideas on a variety of topics such as event posting, schools, caregivers, forming playgroups, and book+toy swapmeets in a spontaneous way.

As the mother of a 7 month old as well as a toddler, I would lobby for the creation of a small padded zone within the park for infants, young toddlers and their caregivers- a simple space where our babies could roll, crawl, and waddle- away from excited after-schoolers, and where a story reading group could meet weekly.

With the construction of site 5C underway, I would try to negotiate with the developer for concessions and perks for the park to make sure that our park retains it’s physical charm, even if afternoon shadowing is unavoidable. This could perhaps be achieved through the donation of flowering shade plants, ground cover and specimen trees, as well as some appropriate lighting for late afternoons in winter.

In addition to being mother of two, I am an independent architectural lighting designer.  This fall I have also been racing against the clock getting voters registered in Pennsylvania. Within Tribeca, I have participated in the TOAST open studios for the past 2 years. In March of 2003, I organized a candlelight vigil in Tribeca as part of Desmond Tutu’s worldwide statement for peace.  I have been serving on the board of my Coop at 105 Hudson Street since 2002.

We have a lot of interesting brains among us. Our diverse and talented community can create rich programming and uses for our park, and I hope to be able to help facilitate moving your dreams and ideas to fruition.

Christine Sciulli