“From coastal resiliency and sustainable green practices to the preservation of affordable housing, world-class public art, and vibrant, year-round programming in award-winning public spaces, Battery Park City leads the way in many of the measures that makes cities livable."

Raju Mann

President & CEO
  • 03/24
  • BPC People
  • Community

Newsletter — March 2017

BPC PEOPLE

Paul Diaz-Larui

Foreman, Community Center at Stuyvesant High School

Favorite Spot in BPC: Northwest corner of Rockefeller Park, on the BPC Esplanade

 

 

 

Paul Diaz-Larui was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. At four years of age, he and his family came to New York and settled on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. As a child, he attended St. Brigid, a Catholic elementary school where he attended Kindergarten through 8th grade. At the end of his last year at St. Brigid, he was selected to receive a full scholarship from the Boys Club of New York to attend Hoosac School, a private co-educational episcopal boarding school in upstate New York. During High School at Hoosac, he played varsity basketball and developed an all-around passion for sports.

After high school graduation, Paul attended Hartwick College where he received a B.A. in Business Management. While attending college, Paul was eager to acquire some experience in the field and was selected to intern with Salomon Smith Barney (now Morgan Stanley Wealth Management).

After graduation, Paul moved back to New York and was hired to work at Tribeca Park, a health club facility as a head lifeguard and Assistant Manager for about four years. In 2003, Paul was hired as the Head Aquatics Director at the Community Center at Stuyvesant High School (CCSHS) for about a year and a half until he became the foreman in 2005, a position he still currently holds.

CCSHS now has over 900 members and offers different featured programs including Hatha Yoga, Core Fitness Flow, Cardio Swim Workout, BPC Running Club, Tai Chi, Kids and Adult Swim Lessons, and Badminton. It also features a Total Body Boxing Workout class instructed by Paul, himself a former amateur Golden Gloves fighter.

In his spare time, he loves to coach and mentor children at the Boys Club of New York, work out and watch movies. He is a big fan of suspenseful movies including “The Sixth Sense“and foreign-language Japanese and Korean films. Paul looks forward to taking his 7-year old daughter this weekend to watch the new Disney remake of “Beauty and the Beast.”

Battery Park City Events

Free Storytime

While the BPC Public Library is undergoing renovations. 
At Battery Park City Day Nursery
Preschool Storytime (ages 3-5 years) 4pm, Tuesdays: March 28, April 4, 11, 25, May 2
Toddler Storytime (ages 1 – 3 years) 10:30 am, Wednesdays:  March 29, April 5, 12, 19, 26, May 3
Battery Park City Day Nursery, 215 South End Avenue (2 blocks south of Brookfield)
Space is limited, please RSVP by emailing info@bpcdaynursery.com or calling 212-945-0088.

As the weather gets warmer

Take a walk to southern Battery Park City.
Located at the Rector Place stop on the Downtown Connect bus.

Reminder: BPC Parks 2017 Winter Calendar is now available here!

BPC PARKS

Parent & Baby Yoga

MONDAYS, THROUGH 4/24
1pm-2:15pm
6 River Terrace

Enjoy yoga in a safe, supportive environment while learning exercises suited for new parents and babies from newborns through crawling age.
FEE: $20 PER SESSION
Pre registration required, email registration@bpcparks.org.

Special Teen Nights – DJ Workshop

Friday March 31st
4pm – 7pm
6 River Terrace

Join us in Battery Park City to get your scratch on!
Presented by Battery Park City Parks and with the help of Rock and Soul Electronics, stop by and get an opportunity to learn about DJing from a pro. Games, snacks and other activities will also be available.

Free to attend. Grades 7-12.
Click here for additional information.
For all questions, email registration@bpcparks.org.

Winter Talks: City on a Grid–How New York Became New York

Tuesday, March 28th
1pm
6 River Terrace

Manhattan’s street grid has been called “a disaster” of urban planning and “the most courageous act of prediction in Western Civilization.” In other words, you either love it or hate it. Join Gerard Koeppel as he relates the history of this uniquely New York marvel through his most recent book.

For more information click here.
Free event–to register, email registration@bpcparks.org.

Senior Exercise Group — Zumba Gold

Fridays, March 6th — April 24th
10:30am — 11:45am
6 River Terrace

Join a community of adults and seniors for a total-body workout appropriate for any fitness level. The instructor-led classes are designed to increase flexibility, joint stability, balance, coordination, agility, muscular strength and cardiovascular endurance. Train in a friendly environment doing a workout that will keep you healthy and active!

Free event. Registration not required.
For more information, click here.

Early Spring Gardening

Tuesdays, March 21st — April 25th
3:45pm-5pm
Children’s Garden, Nelson A. Rockefeller Park

Celebrate the coming of spring by working in the soil, digging, planting, and more. Learn about green practices and composting firsthand. For children who enjoy nature and like to get dirty!

For ages 6-10.
Pre-registration required, email registration@bpcparks.org.
Fee: 6 sessions, $120
For more information, click here.

Chess Tournament

Sunday, April 2nd
8:45am
6 River Terrace

Join in for a Swiss-style chess tournament where each participant will have the opportunity to compete, learn and develop their interest in chess.

Awards will be given out. This is a drop-off program
$30 fee, ages 5-12.
To register, email registration@bpcparks.org.

Earth Day Stories for All Ages

Saturday, April 22nd
11am
6 River Terrace

Celebrate Earth Day with us in Battery Park City!
Perry Ground, a traditional storyteller from the Onondaga, Turtle Clan tells: Stories of the Earth, Native American Stories that connect us to the world we live in.

For more information, email registration@bpcparks.org.

Museum of Jewish Heritage

Mah Jongg at MJH

Tuesdays, February 14th – April 4th
2pm — 4pm
36 Battery Place

Mah Jongg, the popular game of skill, strategy and luck, was created in China and has been beloved by Americans since the 1920s. With similarities to rummy card games, mah jongg is played using beautiful tiles by groups of four people.
Join the Battery Park City Authority and the Museum of Jewish Heritage to play mah jongg at gatherings inspired by the exhibition Project Mah Jongg, on view through January.

Novice and experienced adults of all ages are welcome to play free of charge.
RSVP to ann.schwalbenberg@gmail.com or stop by!

Book Launch — On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

Thursday, March 30th
7pm
36 Battery Place

Join Professor Tim Snyder of Yale University as he launches his book, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century: From one of this generations leading historians, this timely new book serves as a warning for 21st century threats to democracy. Snyder dissects the events and values that enabled the rise of Hitler and Stalin and the implementation of their catastrophic policies.

$15, $12 Members. Purchase tickets online here.

New York Premiere — After Auschwitz

Wednesday, March 22nd
7pm — 8:45pm
36 Battery Place

This film profiles six courageous women determined to be more than just survivors in America.
Post screening discussion with director Jon Kean.

$15, $12 Members. Purchase tickets online here.

Family Program — Matzapalooza!

Sunday, April 2nd
10am — 1pm
36 Battery Place

Get ready for Passover with fun interactive workshops and performances as well as a marketplace of artisan purveyors of Passover foods. Enjoy arts-and-crafts activities, including a make-your-own Haggadah and Elijah and Miriam cups an afikomen (hidden matzah) search party; and, a photo booth in which participants can dress up and pose as Passover plagues. Learn Passover songs and much more.

$10, free for children & grandchildren of members.
Tickets available at the door or online here.

The Skyscraper Museum

Family Program: Wind Resistance Workshop

Saturday, March 25th
10:30am — 11:45am
36 Battery Place

How do engineers “confuse the wind”? Kids will be introduced to ideas of aerodynamics and how a building’s shape determines the way wind resistance affects the structure. Using fans and cardboard models, kids will experiment with different forms to change the wind pattern around the building. Kids will learn about different examples of form from buildings in The Skyscraper Museum’s TEN AND TALLER exhibit and their permanent collections.

Ages 6+.
Registration is requested by Friday at 5PM. To sign up for the Family Program newsletter, or for more information and to RSVP, email education@skyscraper.org or call 212-945-6324.
$5 per child; members free. More information here.

Poets House

 

Passwords: Margaret Randall on Cuban Poetry

Thursday, March 23rd
7pm
Kray Hall – 10 River Terrace

Feminist poet, photographer, and social activist Margaret Randall takes audiences on a linguistic journey through Cuba. Editor of Only the Road/Solo el Camino: Eight Decades of Cuban Poetry, the most complete bilingual anthology of Cuban poetry available to an English readership, Randall explores Cuban culture and landscape through its poetry and her own photographic documentation.

$10; $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House members. Click here for more information.

Poets House & Pen Mingle

Tuesday, April 4th
6:30pm — 8:30pm
Poets House — 10 River Terrace

Poets House welcomes PEN American Center for mingling and a celebration of poetry and free expression. Join in for an evening of drinks and engaging conversation hosted by poets House’s workshop leaders.

Click here for more information.

 

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