Hunter College Officially Re-Opens Poses Park to the Public

On Friday, June 6, Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab, together with public officials, community leaders, students and neighbors gathered in Poses Park for a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the re-opening of the park to the community for the first time since 2009.

"It's a great pleasure to welcome all of you and to thank you," said Raab, who spoke along with  City Councilman Daniel Garodnick, New York State Assembly Member Dan Quart and Nick Viest, chairman of Community Board 8. "We are so proud and grateful to be part of the Upper East Side community."

Garodonick, noting the lack of access to parks in the area, told the crowd, "When you have an opportunity like this one, to open a little slice of space for New Yorkers to enjoy, you got to grab it, you got to go for it, and that's why we're so grateful to Hunter College for helping us expand our limited open space on the Upper East Side."

Left to right: Dan Quart, New York State Assembly Member; Jennifer J. Raab, Hunter College President; Daniel Garodnick, City Council Member; Peggy Price, Co-chair, Community Board 8 Parks Committee; and Nick Viest, Chairman of Community Board 8.

The park, on the south side of 68th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues,features benches, a bike rack and "Mother Italy," a bronze sculpture by Giuseppe Massari. The park was named for Jack I Poses, the former Chairman of the City University Construction Fund, and was built after his death  in 1982 with a $25,000 donation from his wife, Lillian, a 1927 alumna of Hunter who died in 1994.