As predicted, we're paying for developer misdeed

From the Queens Chronicle:

After pressure from parents and one area elected official, the city has agreed to replace the playground at PS 251 in Springfield Gardens, which was destroyed after a private developer installed a sewer line.

City Councilman James Sanders Jr. (D-Laurelton) has been working closely with the Department of Education and the School Construction Authority, according to his chief of staff Donovan Richards, and last week the agencies agreed to install play equipment in the vacant space, which the city paved with new blacktop in September.

Richards said the SCA has created a rendering of what the new playground will look like and intends to issue a request for proposals in January with bidding ending in the spring. The selected construction company will build the playground equipment from scratch and it will be installed next November, according to Richards.

“It will be better than it was before,” he said. “It will have hopscotch and other floor games and stuff.”

Part of the playground area belongs to the Department of Environmental Protection rather than the school, which had further complicated efforts to get new equipment, because the agency claimed it would be in the way, should the sewer line need to be repaired, Richards said, but the DEP reconsidered its position after “prodding” by Sanders.

Once again... WHY ARE WE PAYING FOR THIS? Make the developer pay!