UES Construction Blight Gets Beautified By 60 Fifth Graders

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A longtime blight on York Avenue got a major visual upgrade yesterday, thanks to a collaboration between a local public school and the city.

The project, which is a mix of Con Ed gas and steam work, and eventually some city sewer work down the line, has been a fenced-off open construction site on York Avenue near East 62nd Street for several years now, after blowing past an initial completion date of 2017.

But now, instead of an eyesore, the site now features artworks created by 60 fifth graders from P.S. 183, who proudly pointed to their works now adorning the site as Upper East Siders slowed down to admire.

The collaboration, first proposed to the school by Council Member Julie Menin, tasked students to paint scenes from the city or to answer the question "What NYC means to you?"

P.S. 183 Principal Martin Woodward told Patch that when Menin came to their classroom, the students were on board right away.

"She reached out asking for us to help beautify the space," Woodward said, "and the fifth graders were really interested."

Menin first set out to spruce up the blight after hearing complaints from constituents. She told Patch that back when she served on a downtown Community Board after 9/11, she had led an effort to get local artists to make "art fences" out of the hundreds of construction sites that dominated a recovering lower Manhattan.

So when she heard of these York Avenue fences, her first thought last fall was: "can we beautify? And can we involve the local school?" she told Patch on Tuesday.

"I wanted to have the students express what the city means to them," she said, "and they were so excited to get involved."

At Tuesday's unveiling, Menin told the crowd that her visual-artist mother "instilled in me from a young age the importance of art and how it can improve people's lives."

"I am thrilled to give P.S. 183 students a creative outlet to express themselves, while also helping the community. The appearance of public spaces have a tremendous effect on our quality of life and there is no reason for children and families to continue to see a construction site in our community," Menin said.

NYC Department of Design and Construction Commissioner Thomas Foley told Patch that the goals of the project were two-fold.

"We wanted to beautify the space," Foley said, "and also create engagement with the students around city infrastructure."

One student artist, Jillian, 10, said she painted the Empire State because "it's tall and pretty and it's what New York City is known for." She painted an apple at the top of the city icon.

Another P.S. 183 student, Reid, 10, painted a scene of a busy Manhattan street.

"I wanted to focus on how there are so many different things," she told Patch. "Like a lot of taxis and food carts, and the Chrysler Building."

Andrew, also 10, also drew the Chrysler Building. Unlike his classmates, he decided to do an intimate detail study of the building's distinctive top, giving the tower purple accents and framing it in the lush colors of a Manhattan sunset.

While the construction, which spans from East 61st Street to East 63rd Street, will continue until 2024, Menin said she is working with Foley and DDS to help the project finally find closure.

Foley said that the city is going to learn from Menin's art fence idea and look at other DDS sites for other potential student art collaborations.

"Maybe this site at City Hall could be next," Foley told Patch, "that would be amazing."

And hopefully the agency won't find huge hurdle for future beautification projects. The cost, Foley said, was only a few thousand dollars in all.

"It cost less than $5,000, but really — it's priceless."