CITY ISLAND VIA PELHAM BAY PARK/ORCHARD BEACH,

Another event to Governors Island is scheduled for May 24 and a Forest Park hike is coming up on May 31.

PLEASE READ THE DESCRIPTION OF THIS EVENT CAREFULLY AS WELL AS "WHAT WE'RE ABOUT" ON THIS MEETUP'S HOME PAGE BEFORE YOU RSVP IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SO. I am asking you to please take your RSVP seriously. That does NOT mean you have to go -it means you PLAN to at this time.

IF YOU RSVP AND HAVE NEVER ATTENDED AN EVENT BEFORE WITH THIS GROUP, YOUR E-MAIL IS REQUIRED AS SPECIFIED BELOW WHETHER YOU ARE ON THE WAIT LIST OR THE GOING LIST. I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH.

A MONETARY CONTRIBUTION TO THE EVENT IS REQUIRED BUT THE AMOUNT OF THAT CONTRIBUTION IS UP TO YOU. (See details below.) Most of the events we conduct are free!

I just ask that all attendees be considerate with respect to the RSVP process.

IF YOU HAVE NEVER ATTENDED AN EVENT BEFORE WITH THE GROUP, I AM ASKING FOR YOUR HELP AND COOPERATION AS I PLAN THE EVENT. I AM REQUIRING THAT YOU SEND ME AN E-MAIL TO bsb2@att.net AS SOON AS YOU RSVP, EVEN IF YOU ARE ON THE WAIT LIST, AND PUT YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS IN THE BODY OF YOUR MESSAGE TO ME. THIS WILL HELP ME COMMUNICATE MORE EFFECTIVELY WITH THOSE WHO RSVP. SOMETIMES MEETUP MESSAGES DO NOT GET DELIVERED FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS. IF YOU CAN'T ABIDE BY THIS SIMPLE REQUEST, YOU ARE GOING TO END UP ON THE NOT GOING LIST. (NO GUESTS UNLESS YOU HAVE ATTENDED AN EVENT BEFORE WITH THIS GROUP. )

The wait list for this group does NOT operate in a conventional way. Those on the wait list will NOT be moved to the going list automatically.
I do NOT believe that the Meetup waitlist works well for a number of reasons.

IF APPLICABLE, ALWAYS JOIN THE WAIT LIST WITH LOW PRIORITY WHICH IS FREE. IF THERE IS A WAITLIST, IT APPEARS MEETUP WILL ASK YOU IF YOU WANT TO JOIN MEETUP + BUT IN SMALLER LETTERS AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE YOU CAN CLICK CONTINUE WITH THE FREE PLAN. There is NEVER a need to pay extra to use Meetup's High Priority wait list classification for this group.

ON THIS EVENT, WE WILL REQUIRE A MONETARY CONTRIBUTION - CASH-AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EVENT BUT THE AMOUNT OF THAT CONTRIBUTION IS ENTIRELY UP TO YOU. THERE IS ALWAYS A MONEY BACK GUARANTEE IF YOU FEEL I HAVE NOT EARNED YOUR CONTRIBUTION.

Meetup charges an Organizer like me to run the group, it's not a fortune, although the amount was raised substantially and I spend much time and effort planning and preparing for an event. You can contribute whatever you want at the BEGINNING of an event IN CASH. (On most events, I will NOT accept any monetary contributions).

PLEASE ALSO READ "WHAT WE'RE ABOUT" ON THIS MEETUP'S HOME PAGE WHICH INCLUDES THE WAIVER OF LIABILITY BEFORE YOU RSVP IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SO. (THE WAIVER OF LIABILITY HAS BEEN POSTED SINCE THE INCEPTION OF THIS MEETUP GROUP)

I bet you thought I forgot the description of the event! I didn't-I just wanted to make sure you understand how we do things so you are comfortable with that.

We walk thru wetlands, have lunch at Orchard Beach and then we head for City Island for a comprehensive, fun and relatively fast paced tour of the entire Island.

We begin as a hike and then we morph into a tour when we get to City Island where I'll provide commentary, this will be a fun, fast paced, very scenic and FLAT, approximately 7-8 mile expedition to City Island. We'll be walking through parkland with a brief stop for lunch at the beach before we get to our final destination-City Island.

City Island is a quaint, quiet community with a small village vibe. I’ll try to make it as interesting as possible as we walk from one end of the island to the other as we zig and zag quite a few times to explore unique points of interest. We return to where we started by taking a short bus ride from City Island. (You have to have a metro card, OMNI card or credit card).

Registration is limited to about 20 members or so. There is flexibility here.

No guests please -unless I know you. (If you have attended events with this group in the past, with few cancellations, you can register your guest) I always try to give very strong preference to those members who have attended events within the past year. If you are a first timer your guest can always sign up as a member!

MEETING DETAILS WILL BE SENT BY E-MAIL TO THOSE WHO RSVP NO LATER THAN THE EVENING BEFORE THE HIKE AND PROBABLY SOONER.

THIS EVENT WILL BE EASY TO GET TO IF YOU DRIVE AND THERE IS FREE PARKING. Its a fairly long subway ride on the #6 line, the last stop, for many of you. If the #6 is not running on the weekend of the event-we reschedule.

I WILL PROVIDE GOOD TRAVEL DIRECTIONS BY SUBWAY & CAR (INCLUDING FREE PARKING INFO). THERE MAY BE AN EXPRESS BUS FROM QUEENS TO WHERE WE MEET BUT YOU HAVE TO KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO TAKE THAT BUS.

WE WILL MEET BEFORE 10:30 A.M. WE LEAVE PROMPTLY.

BRING FOOD AND WATER FOR A SHORT LUNCH BREAK AT THE BEACH. THIS GROUP DOES NOT STOP TO BUY FOOD ON ANY EVENT!

To get there by public transportation you are going to have to take a fairly long subway ride to the last stop on the #6 train. The return back to the subway or car will be by a short scenic bus ride from City Island. (You have to have a metro card or OMNI card and you can pay by credit card as well). Again, I’ll send meeting details out no later than the evening before the hike and probably sooner. I’ll include a couple of ideas on where to park if you drive.

IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SO, ON YOUR DESKTOP, PLEASE CLICK ON YOUR PROFILE WHICH IS ON THE TOP RIGHT OF THE SITE, THEN CLICK "SETTINGS", THEN CLICK E-MAIL UPDATES" ON THE LEFT. MAKE SURE YOUR E-MAIL UPDATES ARE ON AND WHERE IT SAYS "UPDATES ABOUT YOU”, CHECK MESSAGES BOX. THIS WILL HELP TO INSURE YOU GET MESSAGES FROM ME. I LIKE TO THINK THOSE MESSAGES ARE IMPORTANT. IT LOOKS LIKE YOU CAN CUSTOMIZE YOUR SETTINGS FOR A SPECIFIC GROUP WHICH MAY BE HELPFUL IF YOU BELONG TO MANY MEETUP GROUPS.

I am also going to ask that people NOT post any comments or questions prior to the event. You have more than enough information to do this once you get the meeting details. No offense, but I don’t need to know-and probably neither does anyone else- what you are doing that day if you can’t make it or what you think the weather will be. You may even think you have some deep insights to something or other but please keep that deepness to yourself. AFTER the event, post as many comments and photos as you like. Please respect my wishes on this.

If the weather is bad we will reschedule. We don't do rain! If the #6 train is not running to the last stop in the Bronx, I will cancel the event and reschedule for May 17.