Celebrate Jane Jacobs, Halt Spread of Billionaire’s Row

Jane Jacobs, the famed urbanist who helped preserve Greenwich Village and wrote the seminal “Death and Life of Great American Cities,” turns 100 this month. Around the time of her birthday every year, the Municipal Art Society hosts a series of walks in her honor. This year, Lisa Mercurio — a member of the East River Fifties Alliance, which advocates for a community-based rezoning to protect the neighborhood between 52nd Street and 59th Street, east of First Avenue, from out-of-scale megatowers — leads a tour of her quiet residential neighborhood. The tour begins in a privately-owned public park between 400 & 410 E. 59th St., btwn. First Ave. & Sutton Pl. May 7, 10 a.m. For more information, visit bit.ly/1VE7SWv, and for details of all of the Jane Jacobs walks this year, visit janeswalk.org. For information on the work of the East River Fifties Alliance, visit erfa.nyc.