From the Queens Chronicle:
NYPD officer Sean McDonald moved to Astoria as a child from his native Ireland. While still a rookie, McDonald, who was assigned to the 44th Precinct in Queens, was killed in 1994 in the line of duty. By the following year, Astoria residents along with city officials dedicated a park in his honor, named affectionately, Sean’s Place.
Now 17 years later, the Astoria park that bears McDonald’s name, located on 38th Street between 31st Avenue and Broadway, is facing a major trash and after-hours problem. The park’s gates used to be locked at night by a resident volunteer but aren’t any longer.
Now late-night drinking and other activities inside the park yield glass bottles, discarded drug items, piles of vomit, spots of urine and used condoms.
“This problem is related to the fact that the park gates remain open 24/7 and the cleaning crews don’t get there until mid- or late morning,” said Gabe Gross, a concerned community activist who started a Facebook group named “Friends of Sean’s Place,” to help garner communityinterest in its plight. Gross also posted a video to YouTube last June of the garbage he found while at the park on a typical morning.
10 comments:
Parks Dept is lazy and inefficient. Most of their cleaning staff are community service workers, unpaid, so why do you think most of Queens parks look like crap 24/7?
Lock the park again, Duh!
The parks in Manhattan look great because are supported by leading people in the community who are giving back to it.
The problem in Astoria is that there are lots of people earning a lot of money from the community, but instead of giving something back, they taking money out of the the community
It leadership likes to 'donate' by 'securing public funds' which is bullshit.
We need the Vallones and their developer buddies to start to step up to the plate and give back to the community the moneys they are earning from it - and most importantly, the locals to start to expect this.
Any unlocked public space is a disaster
just waiting to happen.
i.e.
The reason that Central Park is so well cared for is
the wealthy people that surround it.
It's their front lawn.
They get $$$$$$ donations
in the hundreds of millions!
Are any of the owners of those Astorian Euro Trash cafes willing to donate as little as 1% to secure that little park?
The cops in the 1144pct need to give this park special attention.
FYI: The 44 Precinct is located in the west Bronx. P.O. McDonald served there.
Anonymous said...
Lock the park again, Duh!
Saturday, September 08, 2012
Have the Police Dept lock the Park - preventive measures reduce or minimize the problem - potential for crime.
Back in the day ,the cops in the local pct would have handled this,it was a brotherhood.Now the pd is just a collection of people far far flung parts of the world.They care only about their homeland and a paycheck............
Whats stated about Astoria park here is nothing compared to Corona park. Take a walk over to the Westinghouse Time Capsule monument. All the benches are stained with urine and feces. Needles, bottles & trash and condoms are all around and under the foot bridges crossing the GCP. Bums sleeping on the lawns everywhere.
This goes on 50 weeks a year, not a cop, security or park employee in sight.
In regards to Flushing Meadows, it is considered a "cooping prone location" by the Queens North Patrol Borough. That means that out of concern that cops might choose the park to hide out and goof off, the NYPD has restricted them from going into the park unless they were directed there for a particular event, or to handle a particular service call.
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