W68: Food Drive, Longest Table, Safety Forum
September and October Special Events Announcements
Message from the Block Association President
Shaen Begleiter
Together with the Leadership Steering Committee, we hope everyone had a marvelous summer, and we welcome all back to the full-time enjoyment of West 68th Street as we transition into fall. Try to be involved. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.
Please be informed .........
Construction News
The last few months have been difficult, with considerable construction and disruption from Amsterdam Avenue to Central Park West.
On the park block, installation of the required new gas main is nearing completion. Steel plates on both the sidewalk and roadway are being removed — no more irritating clanking noise! — as new concrete sidewalk patches are installed and temporary asphalt covers the roadway trenches.
Permanent roadway asphalt is expected to be installed in early October. This is a Con Edison project, and the Block Association has been advocating for a complete roadway resurfacing, rather than simply patching the areas that were excavated. We are now told that full resurfacing is under consideration — a marked improvement from Con Edison’s original plan of roadway patchwork.
West 68th Street Neighbors — “The Best in the West”
FOOD DRIVE 2026 — Monday, September 21. Time 8 am till 2:30 pm.
Drop off at 40 West 68th Street (York Prep building).
All contributions will go to City Harvest. See below for details.
Every year, our street fills a City Harvest truck. This year should be no different !
LONGEST TABLE — Sunday, October 11, 3–5 PM
Registration is a must. See below for details.
Our Longest Table Committee, led by Patty Traub and Kathleen Casey, together with many volunteers, has been busy creating a very special community-building event. Hundreds of neighbors will gather on West 68th Street to share diverse potluck food, conversation and, most importantly, the pleasure of getting to know one another.
Involvement Beyond West 68th Street
ABC Site (bounded by West 67th to W 66th Streets, Columbus to CPW)
We continue to be active participants in the ABC Site Community Task Force organized by Community Board 7, which has monitored demolition activity and will continue to monitor construction in the upcoming years. Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, a Block Association partner, hosted an emergency community meeting last month concerning asbestos-related work at the site. At that meeting, the community learned about the mishandling of non-airborne, encapsulated asbestos, which resulted in DEP stopping work for approximately three weeks while the problem was addressed.
UWS QUALITY OF LIFE ISSUES FORUM — Wednesday, September 30, 6–7:30 PM
See below for details.
Who better to learn from about quality-of-life issues — and how streets are dealing with them — than from fellow Upper West Side residents?
While West 68th Street has certainly had its share of safety and security concerns, we have been fortunate not to experience some of the more difficult issues confronting neighbors farther uptown.
In some areas, times are “a-changing.” Let’s learn what has been happening, what other neighborhoods are experiencing, and what we as residents can do to help maintain and improve the quality of life in our area.
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Monday, September 21....8 am till 2:30 pm
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