This weekend marks the start of many pre-Lunar New Year Festivities in the city. The New Year begins on February 7 (more information here), and there will be the firecracker ceremony and cultural festival in Chatham Square on that day, plus the Lunar New Year Parade and Festival in Chinatown on February 10. There is also a Lunar New Year Parade in Flushing on February 9. Today through Monday, the Museum of Chinese in America......

Two years ago, we wondered if there was a big list of all the fountains in New York City. We haven't made that much progress with the list, but at least now we have a list of the "display fountains" the Parks Department maintains. And it's interesting - Brooklyn only has three while Staten Island has eight. Of course, there are many fountains outside of the Parks Department's jurisdiction (for instance, the fountain outside......

Today, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will be kicking off another year of "Lighten Up Brooklyn" with a walk around Brooklyn Heights. "Lighten Up Brooklyn" was started a few years ago to encourage Brooklynites to lose weight and make their lifestyles healthier. And since he had stents put into his arteries last year, Lighten Up Brooklyn is a big deal to Markowitz. From his office's press release:Markowitz, who underwent a stent procedure last summer,......

The city launched a new Public Space Recycling pilot program yesterday that puts blue and green recycling cans in high traffic areas in hopes that people will dump their newspapers and empty glass bottles in their instead of regular trash bins. The program will start in April and last through June, and Mayor Bloomberg said, "The most important thing is, if this works, it will let us do something much more ambitious citywide and really......

While Chinatown's annual Chinese New Year Parade won't be until next weekend, there are still plenty of activities to celebrate the year 4705. If you're heading to Chinatown tomorrow (New Year's Day), be sure to head over to Chatham Square (the intersection of Bowery, Mott and East Broadway) for the New Year’s Day Firecracker Ceremony & Cultural Festival. For the first time since the city banned fireworks (and firecrackers), there will be real firecrackers......

It's the Lunar New Year this weekend, the first day of 4705 being this Sunday. The Year of the Pig is a very good year - pigs are fat and round, which means a prosperous and benevolent year. Some even think it's a good year to have babies, too! Chinatown will be celebrating the Year of the Pig this weekend and for the next few weeks. There's the Flower Market at Columbus Park today......

Like that view up there? Sure you do. We bear good news about it. Soon enough, if the Parks Department gets the bids it expects, you should be able to sit on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and enjoy the awesomeness of that view of the Gotham skyline while you read Gothamist on your laptop. Why? Because on top of the free WiFi that should be appearing in Central and Prospect Parks this spring the......

This Sunday will make the new lunar year, the year 4704, for many Asian cultures, and Chinatown will be hopping. And why not, as it's nice to have another new year when you can (you can start going to gym again religiously - we know you pooped out after four days!). Here are events happening in Chinatown, from Explore Chinatown:3rd Annual Lunar New Year Flower Market Friday, January 27th, Noon - 10:00 p.m. Saturday,......

CELEBRATION: There's nothing like flowers to cheer you up in the dreary month of January. The Museum of Chinese in the Americas presents Arts in Full Bloom at 3rd Annual Lunar New Year Flower Market. The Flower Market reinvents tradition by incorporating performers and artists as the colors and fragrances of auspicious plants and blossoms linger in the air and atmosphere. The flowers are widely used decoratively as symbols of prosperity, fortune and abundance. Friday......

William Dao, Museum of the Chinese in the Americas...

News about one of the city's best resources: Our parks and playgrounds. The watchdog group, New Yorkers for Parks, released their report cards for city parks and while parks have been showing improvements overall, but things could be better: NY4P found that a quarter of NYC neighborhood parks are still failing to meet basic maintenance standards. In addition, the Report Card identified parks features that are “in need” across the board – in all five......