News from
As city reopens, playgrounds within
parks keep green space on lockdown
BY RACHEL HOLLIDAY
SMITH
THE CITY
It’s been 10 weeks since local
parks offi cials, upon order of
the governor, closed all the
city’s playgrounds — also shuttering,
in many cases, the parks
around them.
Since then, entire parks and
other green spaces have shut
down to the public because they
include playgrounds or other offlimits
amenities like handball or
basketball courts and dog runs.
In Midwood, Brooklyn, local
kids have taken to playing on a
strip of grass between Kolbert
Playground’s locked gates and the
sidewalk, while empty benches
and open space adjacent to the
play equipment remain behind
lock and key.
In the East Village, the sliver of
green space just north of Houston
Street is locked around First Park
Playground. In the South Bronx,
the whole block around Mullaly
Park’s skate park, playground and
basketball courts is locked, along
with two large lawns and seating
areas.
As summer approaches, it’s
unclear exactly when they’ll all
re-open.
The Parks Department referred
questions about the closures to
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s offi ce. Jane
Meyer, a City Hall spokesperson,
said only Gov. Andrew Cuomo
has the authority to reopen
playgrounds
“We want to open them as
soon as it’s possible and safe,”
she added.
Dani Lever, a spokesperson for
the governor’s offi ce, said a decision
will be made “in the coming
days.”
‘It’s a Slap in the Face’
That’s not soon enough for Catherine
Gasta, a Bedford-Stuyvesant
resident who has walked miles
around her neighborhood
for exercise during the quarantine.
An East Village park on Houston Street was closed during the coronavirus epidemic, June 9, 2020. CARSON KESSLER/THE CITY
Her route takes her past two
open spaces — Raymond Bush
Playground and P.O. Reinaldo
Salgado Playground — that have
been closed for weeks.
“It’s very unfair,” she said.
“These parks are playgrounds,
but they’re enormous.”
Nearby Herbert Von King Park
is open, but so packed that she
avoids it. She was upset when
friends posted photos from Prospect
Park, more than two miles
away.
“To see Prospect Park open
so actively — it’s a slap in the
face,” she said, noting that in her
neighborhood, “you’re making
these people now travel to get to
a park.”
Exactly how much of smaller
parks are cordoned off appears
to vary.
In Fort Greene, for example,
temporary barricades blocked
all entrances to Fulton Street’s
Cuyler Gore Park, which includes
a playground, for weeks. The barricades
have been pushed aside in
recent days.
Meanwhile, a mile and a half
away at Cobble Hill Park, a small
playground is barricaded, but the
rest of the half-acre green space
remains open.
The Parks Department oversees
more than 1,000 playgrounds
in the city, at least a quarter of
which are within a larger park or
open space, according to former
Commissioner Adrian Benepe.
Completely shutting playgrounds,
he said, was a “kind
of knee-jerk response” fueled
by health concerns at the height
of the pandemic. But now he
believes it’s time to rethink that
approach.
“The city, generally, has on and
off switches. It lacks the ability to
handle nuance,” Benepe said. “So,
when they say ‘Close the playgrounds.’
They say, ‘Okay, well,
we only have one fence. And we
don’t think we can fence off the
playground. So, let’s just close the
whole thing — the playing fi eld,
the sitting area, the handball
courts. Just shut it all down.’”
He and two other co-authors
of a recent Daily News op-ed are
urging offi cials to reopen as many
playgrounds — as well as pools
and beaches — as possible this
summer to maintain the “physical
and mental health” of millions of
New Yorkers.
‘Precious Open Space’
Benepe cited the Trust for
Public Land’s map of how park
closures have affected access to
open space going into this summer.
Large swaths of the city —
particularly southern and central
Brooklyn, eastern Bronx and
much of Queens — are farther
than a 10-minute walk from an
open park.
Those playgrounds also provide
“the single biggest element” of
outdoor “cooling infrastructure”
in the city: spray showers and
splash pools for kids, and shade
and air for adults, the former
Parks chief noted.
The Daily News editorial
board on Tuesday joined the call
to reopen playgrounds, asking
whether “the risk of outdoor
transmission on hot summer days
justifi es continuing to deny New
Yorkers access to precious open
space.”
In the East Village, local mom
Lucy Alexander is eagerly awaiting
the reopening of the play space
at First Park. Her daughters, ages
9 and 11, “love that playground,”
but haven’t visited for weeks, she
said.
“Since March, they have stayed
indoors,” she said. “I take them
out for one short run most mornings.
The closed streets make that
easier. We cycle around town on
weekends.”
She understands why the playground
was closed, but is eager
to see it unlocked again — “when
it’s safe.”
“We can’t wait for it to reopen.”
Additional reporting by Carson
Kessler
This story was originally published
on June 9, 2020, by THE
CITY, an independent, nonprofi t
news organization dedicated to
hard-hitting reporting that serves
the people of New York.
10 June 11, 2020 Schneps Media