The position will report to the Robert Pirani, Executive Director of the Governors Island Alliance, and Maya Borgenicht, GIA’s Director of Public Programs. The work will take place in the Union Square office of GIA/ Regional Plan Association (RPA), with some trips to the Island.

Specific duties include: Contributing to monthly GIA e-newsletter, preparation and support for summer 2012 season programs, assisting with pre-season volunteer events, managing public outreach groups and list serve, and assisting in fund raising efforts for GIA.

Requirements include: excellent organizational and people skills, excellent writing skills and knowledge of MS Word and Excel. Knowledge of Adobe InDesign and Illustrator a plus. Internship duration: January 2012 – May 2012

To apply, please fill out this application. Please also send your resume, cover letter, a 1-2 page writing sample and any additional supporting materials to resumes@rpa.org as PDF attachments with your name and “GIA Internship” in the subject line.

While the Island lies quiet for the winter, big changes are afoot. Phase I of the Park and Public Space Master Plan and critical infrastructure improvements GIA has long advocated are about to become a reality with a groundbreaking next spring. GIA has been critical in moving these plans forward, with advocacy and building a constituency for the Island. But it is your support that makes our work possible. Generous contributions from people like you have enabled us to be a voice for the Island.  

It has been a great year, but there are better years ahead. It’s up to us to make it happen. Historic buildings need on-going stabilization and long-term tenants. The public programs that draw hundreds of thousands to the Island must be subsidized.

In hard economic times, funding for parks and historic preservation are often first to be cut. Competition for support is fierce.

It is more important than ever that we maintain the momentum that has made Governors Island into a new favorite playground for New York City, and to ensure its boundless potential. Click HERE to make a tax-deductible donation to GIA.

Technically, the Alliance has been a corporation since 2002, when it launched a flotilla in the harbor to draw attention to the Island, and needed corporate status for insurance coverage against possible mishaps. (There were none.)

This creation of the original three incorporators – Albert Butzel, John Doswell and Rob Pirani – has now been reinvented with a newly reconstituted board of directors, new officers and a plan to break away from the R.P.A. Meanwhile, the two organizations continue to work together, R.P.A. in key roles as the Alliance’s fiscal agent and provider of staff support, not least the services of Rob Pirani as executive director.

Donna Milrod of Deutsche Bank, will still chair the Alliance’s board. There will be an executive committee and an advisory committee that includes representatives of like minded non-profits, such as New Yorkers for Parks, as well as Island partners FIGMENT and the New York Harbor School. Board members will have three-year terms, staggered so that the terms of roughly one-third will expire every year. High on the to-do list is an application to the Internal Revenue Service for 501(c)3 status, to allow fund-raising as a non-profit. Click here for a list of all 27 board members.

Most of the wall needs repointing at least, and some of it needs replacement. There are also dozens of redundant “outfall” holes to be filled. These are holes in the seawall that drain accumulated water, mostly rain, into the harbor. They also cause problems in reverse, letting harbor water flow in, which is why they’re going to be filled.

And then there’s the ‘facelift’ installation of riprap along the western edge of the Island south of Division Road and the historic district, and all the way down and around the southern curve. Riprap means rocks, lots of them. Their function is to break the force of incoming waves, rather than letting each new wave score a direct hit. Also, riprap costs less than building a wall.

Lest anyone be tempted to climb out on the rocks, forget it. The guard rail that girds the full length of the Island’s perimeter will be there to deter adventurers.  Wave action generated by a long stretch of open water makes this western edge particularly unsafe.

But the wide surface area provided by the jumbled rocks,  and crevices in-between, make it ideal for all sorts of harbor creatures, from algae to mollusks to the fish they attract. The Harbor School has expressed interest in seeding the riprap with oysters and other marine species. The school already maintains a small oyster breeding project near the National Monument dock on Buttermilk Channel. Of course the whole project, including the restoration, is subject to state and federal approval.

Design for the complete seawall project is not yet final, and the official R.F.P. – the request for proposals by prospective contractors – will be issued in the spring.

In short, the Island will be a construction site, beginning in Spring. To maximize the time available to get trees planted, buildings razed, waterpipe laid and all the rest, the work week will expand to five days. This means it will be closed to the public on Fridays.
But… It will be open Saturday nights for the first time, in June at least, and maybe longer. As usual, it will also be open Saturdays, Sundays and holiday Mondays, starting on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, May 26.

The terrace of Liggett Hall will be off-limits while it is converted to a garden landscape entrance for the park. Not to worry, FIGMENT’s mini-golf course will have a new home – at the end of the parade grounds, over by the old South Battery fort-cum-officer’s club. The Liggett food station will move there, too. There will be another food area at Picnic Point, the relaxing acres that face on the Statue of Liberty.

Note to Prince Harry: No polo next year. No big concerts either. The south Island fields will be closed. The officers’ houses on Nolan Park and Colonels Row will be closed, too, for rehabbing, but their outdoor spaces remain open. The rest of the Island will also be open, with various spaces closed at different times depending on construction schedules.

In turn, this means new scheduling when the Island re-opens to the public next May 26. To allow maximum time for earthmovers, tree planters and everything else involved in this massive conversion, the Island will be closed on Fridays for the next two seasons… BUT for the first time some sections will be open Saturday nights in June.

In addition to remaking the polo field, the first phase of construction includes restoration of the green spaces in the historic district, re-grading the parade ground to provide flat space for field sports, creation of a new gateway at the Soissons ferry landing and transforming asphalt into green at South Battery. New infrastructure to support the park and redevelopment is also underway.

Each new space will offer something different. Liggett Terrace, most recently occupied by FIGMENT, will create an entry to the new park. Hammock Grove will be planted with trees, paved with paths and hung with hammocks. The Play Lawn will be laid out with turf for two turf ball fields and two fixed backstops sized for regulation softball and Little League.

The plan is to get all of this done next year and the year after. To get the picture, go to www.govislandpark.com.

Some things remain the same while all this is going on: The entire historic district, the promenade and Picnic Point will be open every weekend in season. The National Park Service will continue to offer guided tours of the historic district Wednesday through Friday, and park ranger programs on weekends.

The houses on Nolan Park and Colonels Row will be closed next summer due to necessary stabilization work, but some of the Island’s larger buildings will be available for art exhibits and other programs. The Saturday evening openings will offer a new opportunity for these. Cultural and recreational organizations that want to make the scene go to www.govisland.com to submit proposals.

Philipz had an earlier installation at Picnic Point in 2009, emanating from loudspeakers at Lima Pier. The piece she will now create for the Island will be located outdoors at a spot yet to be designated in the new park area.

The artist is a native of Scotland, living now in Berlin. She won Britain’s Turner Prize last year, an annual award for contemporary art by a British artist under 50. Her earlier works have been presented at the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan and other venues in this country and around the world.

New York’s 1982 Percent for Art law requires that one percent of the budget for eligible city-funded construction projects be spent on artwork for city parks and other facilities. She was selected by a panel under the Percent for Art program: three art professionals, a representative of The Trust (president Leslie Koch), a representative of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and representatives of the Manhattan Borough President’s Office, City Council Member Margaret Chin and Community Board 1.

The two hottest days of the July heat wave fell on a Friday and Saturday, July 22-23. In rainy August there was a 6-inch downpour on a Sunday, August 14. Hurricane Irene forced the Island to shut down completely for a late August weekend (August 27-28) that was to include a Dave Matthews concert that would have drawn tens of thousands. The Trust had hoped to see the total climb above one-half million, but it was not to be.

In the Alliance’s annual survey, about 60 percent of this summer’s visitors were first-timers. More than 60 percent came from Manhattan and Brooklyn and more that 25 percent from beyond the five boroughs. Word of mouth is the Island’s best advertising. It’s how many people find out about the Island. Bike riding was the most popular activity followed by waterfront walks and picnicking.