Drunk tennis fans get a pass

From the NY Post:

Parks Department officers are under strict orders not to issue summonses for public drinking, urination and other offenses around Arthur Ashe Stadium so as not to spoil the fun for tournament-goers, it was revealed Thursday.

In the past, Parks Enforcement Patrol officers usually wrote hundreds of tickets during the two-week tennis championship, said Geoffrey Croft, the head of NYC Park Advocates.

But this year, officers were specifically told by the head of the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park command, “Don’t write summonses during the US Open,” Croft said.

“Talk about a Tale of Two Cities — it’s selective enforcement,” one officer told Croft, who writes the blog “A Walk in the Park.”

“Crime is going up and summonses are down. We’re being hindered from doing our job. The US Open is calling the shots.”

The head of the union that represents the PEP officers, Joseph Puleo, accused the city of “using our officers as political pawns and allowing crimes to be committed without coverage.”

Parks playing with PEP officer numbers

From the Queens Chronicle:

At a March 3 City Council hearing about the mayor’s planned increase of 67 Parks Enforcement Patrol officers for the fiscal year 2017 budget, Parks Department Commissioner Mitchell Silver spoke about the planned allocation of officers for Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

“We have six dedicated to the Flushing Meadows Corona Park; there will be an addition of eight, which will make 14,” he said.

According to a Parks Department spokesman, the park has 12 PEP officers reporting out of it, six of whom are dedicated to patrolling the park.

In addition, a department spokeswoman said, there are four city seasonal aid officers and three urban park rangers assigned to the aquatic center in the park, in addition to five job training participants who are assigned to the Al Oerter Recreation Center.

Behind only Central Park, which has a police precinct dedicated to it, FMCP has the second-highest crime rate out of any park in New York City.

But according to a supervisory officer, the numbers provided by the department are inaccurate.

According to the source, who preferred to speak on the basis of anonymity, there are two CSA officers assigned to the aquatic center and one assigned to the Al Oerter Recreational Center, three UPRs assigned to the aquatic center and three PEPs that report out of the park but don’t patrol it. (Though four normally report there but work elsewhere, the officer said, one has recently been temporarily reassigned to Rockaway Beach.) He also did not challenge the number of JTPs, as he “does not deal with them.”

However, he said that there are no officers whose patrol is focused solely on Flushing Meadows Corona Park as a whole, rather than specific sites inside of it.

“There aren’t any dedicated to the park,” the supervisor said, clarifying that he meant officers dedicated to the park as a whole, rather than the aquatic center or the Al Oerter Recreation Center. “It’s all smoke and mirrors,” he added, referring to the information given to the public by the park agency.

“They’re misrepresenting it,” Parks Enforcement Union Local 983 President Joe Puleo said, referring to the staffing levels claimed by the Parks Department. Elected officials, he added, may be getting the wrong impression of the actual situation.

NYC Park Advocates President Geoffrey Croft put it even more bluntly.

“That’s a bold-faced lie,” Croft said, referring to Silver’s City Council testimony about the park and its officer staffing.

Druggie playground to be locked at night

From DNA Info:

The city has begun locking up a local playground overnight after complaints from parents who say they've discovered used condoms, human feces and drug paraphernalia in the play space, officials said Monday.

Sean's Place, located on 38th Street between Broadway and 31st Avenue, is supposed to close at 9 p.m. but has been a "consistent nighttime hangout" according to City Councilman Costa Constantinides.

"Parents [are] coming here in the morning and finding things you shouldn't find in a children's playground," the lawmaker said. "Not every park gets locked, but we knew that this park had to be."

Since Wednesday, members of the city's Parks Enforcement Patrol started locking Sean's Place at night, a Parks Department spokeswoman said.

Imagine locking a playground at night when kids don't use it. What a novel concept!

Lots of parks, but not enough PEP officers

From the Forum:

Despite the fact that city Police Department crime statistics for borough parks have fluctuated over the past year, residents and park goers are still concerned about too-few PEP officers patrolling parks.

“We are always concerned with park security in Juniper [Valley Park],” said Robert Holden, president of the Juniper Park Civic Association. “We’d like to see more of the PEP officers and urge the mayor and City Council to provide additional funding to hire more officers.”

Holden said that in Juniper there is a “nightly problem” of teens hanging out after the park closes at 9 p.m. and that vandalism has always been an issue.

“We need PEP to patrol the park and protect our beautiful park on a DAILY schedule,” he said, adding that the 104th Precinct is one of the busiest in the city and area cops are logistically unable to give the park the attention that it needs.

But the reality of PEP officers in the city is that they are vastly understaffed and also underpaid, according to their union representative.

Joe Puleo, president of District Council 37’s Local 983, which represents more than 3,000 city workers, including PEP officers, said that there are about 240 publicly-paid PEP officers citywide and another 100 officers paid through private parks organizations.

Queens has only about 20 PEP officers for the entire borough. Puleo added that it is not at all uncommon for people to not see any PEP officers due to their having to cover beaches, such as Rockaway, which is more than seven miles long.

Puleo, a former PEP officer who patrolled Forest Park in the 1990s, said that the reasons for the scarcity of officers are mainly tied to money.

Parks can't keep kids out of FMCP towers

From A Walk in the Park:

Four more teens were caught sneaking up into the Worlds Fair towers NYC Park Advocates has learned.

When Park Enforcement officers arrived this time they found the gate wide-open and the flimsy lock missing. The rusted metal door that leads to the deteriorated staircase was also wide open and the small lock was nowhere to be found.

"The locks magically disappeared," said an officer at the scene.

The kids from nearby Bowne High School made it as far as the first observation deck - 126 feet in the air - Tuesday afternoon at 3:00pm when officers surprised them.

PEP officers detain four teens 126 feet in the air one of the three Worlds Fair Astro Towers observational platforms.

"It's very dangerous up there," an officer said.

"One slip and it's all over.

The officer said one teen mentioned he saw photos people had taken on instagram from the site.

Two 15-year olds and 16-year old were given trespassing summons.

Another 16-year old, who had multiple ID's belonging to other people and a bank card belong to someone else, was arrested.

A long way up to tag!

From A Walk in the Park:

Five knuckle-headed teens were busted hanging out and doing graffiti 226 feet in the air on the observation deck of the Worlds Fair's iconic Astro Towers NYC Park Advocates had learned.

Two girls and three boys broke into the towers and made their way to the very top, spray painting tags along the way.

Two eagle-eyed park cops on patrol in Flushing Meadows Corona Park spotted several figures from about a half mile away walking around the rusted flying saucer-like structures at approximately at 3:30pm on Sunday.

Officers had to use a make-shift ladder made of electrical cords in order to reach the highest peak of observation deck to reach the teens.

Parks crime a numbers game

From the NY Post:

The NYPD is keeping the public in the dark about how many crimes are committed in city parks by releasing stats only from the 31 biggest, according to a top city pol.

‎Felonies in those 31 parks soared 44 percent from April to June this year, compared to the same period last year — and the jump would have been even more frightening if all the crime were accounted for, according to City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr.

As a result, the Queens Democrat said Friday, he is now pushing a new bill that would require the NYPD to provide statistics for crimes in all city parks larger than one acre.

The proposed legislation would raise the number of parks on which the NYPD must turn in figures to 870.

The 2013 April-to-June crime increase is the largest since the NYPD began disclosing the information in 2006 in compliance with a similar Vallone bill. Under‎ that original law, the number of parks on which the NYPD reports quarterly crime statistics to the council was supposed to have increased gradually to have encompassed all 870 parks by now.

But, Vallone said, cops continue to ignore incident numbers in smaller green spaces, citing lack of resources and technology.

“They’re not violating the law technically, but they’re violating the spirit of it, because we’ve given them seven years to be able to give us this information,” said Vallone, chair of the council’s Public Safety Committee, at a hearing unattended by any NYPD officials.

Representatives of the union representing Parks Enforcement Patrol officers say the new legislation, which would compile data for over 800 additional city parks, doesn’t go far enough.

“We need a true depiction of what’s happening out there,” said Joe Puleo, head of Local 983.

Puleo also wants the NYPD to maintain data on rec centers, pools, beaches and ice-skating rinks, as well as parks and playgrounds smaller than one acre.

“This is where the really violent stuff is happening,” Puleo said of small community playgrounds. “This is where the shootings, the stabbings, are happening.”

Parks Enforcement Patrol currently has only 160 officers assigned to the city’s more than 2,500 parks, playgrounds and facilities.

Alcohol & food sold openly in parks by illegal vendors

From A Walk in the Park:

The city is losing millions of dollars in revenue annually from illegal vendors while the Bloomberg administration does little to combat the problem.

In Flushing Meadows Park it's a wild wild west, cat and mouse game as dozens of illegal vendors work openly in the 900 acre park. Women pushing "invisible babies" do brisk business selling alcohol from covered baby carriages, beer is hidden in sewers to avoid detection, while others sell food, ice cream, drinks and snacks and toys.

Licensed vendors say they can not compete. In Flushing Meadows Park alone ice cream truck concessionaires pay the Parks Department up to $ 32,000 annually in addition to Heath Department fees, liability Insurance, and in the case of Mr. Softee - a $ 3000 annual franchise fee, on top of the $ 85,000 - $ 120,000 required to purchase the trucks.

Mean while illegal vendors sell from make-shift home made push carts, baby carriages and bicycles that by-pass permits and insurance.

Legal vendors also note that the Parks Department sets the prices they are allowed to charge while unlicensed ones are not under the same constraints. Some legal ones have been forced to lower prices in order to try and compete.

Critics also point out that park patrons being allowed access to unlimited amounts of alcohal is a concern for getting behind wheel to drive home.
Illegal vendors take away revenue not only from owners but also from the workers who's salaries are often based on a percentage of what they sell.

Some vendors say they are under the constant threat of violence from illegal vendors while the city does little to protect them. They say you are lucky if law enforcement occasionally conduct sweeps and confiscate illegal items but nothing is constant and certainly there is not a permanent uniform presence needed to deter this activity.

Legal vendors say they constantly complain to the Parks Department's revenue division - who oversee the agency's vast array of concessionaires but their concerns fall on deaf ears. They complain that the city refuses to protect them while being told there's nothing they can do because they don't have the resources to address the issues.

There is not a single dedicated Park Enforcement Patrol (PEP) officer permanently assigned to patrol 900 acres of FMCP, the largest park in Queens.

__________________________________________________________________

I'm sure Holly Leicht of New Yorkers for Parks and Council Member Julissa Ferreras will suggest another conservancy to take care of this...

But seriously folks, it's become much easier and more profitable to do as you please rather than follow the rules in this town. What is the fine for illegal vending even if you were unfortunate enough to get caught?

I urge you to click the link at the top of this post and read the whole story. Illegal gambling, hiding booze in storm drains, legal vendors being harassed and told to vacate the park during the US Open - when they would likely make the most money. It's simply amazing what goes on in our parks. And no one does a damn thing about it.

More park officers on the horizon

From the Daily News:

The city plans to hire 81 new parks enforcement officers to beef up patrols in green spaces across all five boroughs.

City Parks Commissioner Veronica White made the announcement at a civic meeting in Astoria earlier on Tuesday night as residents pressed her about issues in nearby Astoria Park.

In recent years, the number of PEP officers has dwindled to less than 100. And many are tied up at events or parks facilities, leaving few to patrol.

Joseph Puleo of DC 37 Local 983, which represents the officers, called the hires “a step in the right direction” but would like to see the numbers continue to grow.

Geoffrey Croft of New York City Park Advocates, who has also been pushing for more PEP officers, said the new hires still leave the city far below the force of 450 officers it had in the 1990s.

Crimes of opportunity

From A Walk in the Park:

Park Enforcement Police and NYPD and have made multiple arrests for people stealing material from the the Rockaway beach boardwalk destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, NYC Park Advocates has learned.

As aluminum prices continue to rise at least ten thieves have been caught stealing aluminum railings and expensive rain forest Ipe boardwalk wood belonging to the Parks Department.

Police in the 100th Pct. have also written at least a dozen summonses for people stealing items on the street to be sold as scrap metal.

Rockaway Beach a victim of its own success

From the Daily News:

About 7 million people visited the beaches in Rockaway this year, more than double the number of recent years, according to city figures.

They were lured by the waves, sand and a new batch of groumet foods available at the boardwalk concessions.

But while the crowds are good for businesss, local officials said, they are also stretching the already thin police and parks resources to the breaking point.

“We are finally getting what we want,” said John Lepore, president of the Rockaway Chamber of Commerce. “But the maintenance could not keep up. We need to clean up more often and have more security.”

Community Board 14 fired off a letter to Mayor Bloomberg last week, asking him to increase the number of police and parks workers assigned to monitor Rockaway beaches.

They pointed out the boardwalk is still battered from years of use and storms and there are not enough ramps to make the beach accessible to everyone.

“Our beaches are dirty at times due to the shortage of an adequate amount of garbage baskets,” Community Board 14 District Manager Jonathan Gaska wrote in the letter on behalf of the board. “We are also deeply concerned with the lack of adequate police staffing during the summer season.”

The board does give the Parks Department credit for working “miracles” with limited resources but said the administrative “sleight of hand” no longer works.

“Rockaway is treated like a stepchild,” fumed City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park). “You would never see this in Central Park.”

From the Daily News:

Some Rockaway residents are worried that long-awaited beach replenishment plans are washing away.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has already started dredging the East Rockaway Inlet, a move that will provide sand for eroded beaches along the western sections of the peninsula.

But unlike previous years, the sand will not be piped up to the beaches. Instead it will be dumped around Beach 30th St. and then moved separately by Parks Department contractors.

“I’m concerned that if they stockpile it, it will erode away,” said John Cori of Friends of Rockaway Beach, which launched a “Demand the Sand” campaign.

This summer the city announced it dedicated $3 million for a project to move dredged
sand to fill in the battered shoreline between Beach 85th St. and Beach 105th St., centered around Beach 92nd St.

Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder said he was concerned that the dredging project moved so quickly that the Army Corps was unable to work in conjunction with the Parks Department.

In previous years the two agencies worked together on a plan to dredge and then pipe the sand to specific beaches.

Arboricide in Middle Village

From JuniperCivic.com:

On Tuesday, September 4th a Juniper Park Civic Association member called in a report to 311 and the JPCA hotline that a man was in the process of cutting down a NYC Street Tree on 69th Street. A report went into the Queens Department of Parks. John Mueller of the Parks Forestry Division and the Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP) visited the location, 69-01 Juniper Boulevard South and found two street trees cut. One tree was cut at its base while the other a larger red leaf maple, had all of its branches sawed off. The homeowner, Jan Tibor Bogdan, told PEP officers and Mr. Mueller that he cut the trees. Tibor Bogdan dumped the branches he cut into his backyard. The homeowner told Parks officials that one tree was damaged in a storm and the other was diseased. However Parks' John Mueller could find no evidence of disease and was quoted as saying the trees were healthy.

Bottom line: It's the City Council's fault

From Metro:

At a time when four women have been raped in the past month in popular New York City parks, some are calling attention to the dramatically depleted ranks of Parks Enforcement Patrol.

In the 1990s, the city kept on staff 450 Parks Enforcement Patrol officers, according to Joseph Puleo, the vice president of DC 37 Local 983, the union that represents Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP) officers.

By 2002, that number had been slashed to just 156. And today, there are only 91 city-funded officers who are available to patrol any and all parks.

...there was one PEP officer manning all of the parks in Queens this summer, while a majority of PEP officers were allocated to beaches and pools.

From the Daily News:

In the days since the attack, elected officials have called upon Mayor Bloomberg to halt any budget cuts to the NYPD or the Parks Department, which employs rangers.

But Bloomberg said Monday that New Yorkers need to accept that “we’re not going to put a cop on every corner.”

“We just can’t afford to do that,” he said. “But crimes continue to come down in the city.”

He said the police budget has not been cut “in a long time” and “the bottom line is we only have so much money.”

From CBS New York:

Elected officials led by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn joined together at Hudson River Park in Lower Manhattan in a show of solidarity and outrage.

“We’re not going to yield one blade of grass to sexual perpetrators. We’re not going to yield one street corner,” Quinn told reporters including WCBS 880′s Jim Smith.

Members of the city council have written a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg in an effort to prevent $100 million in mid-year NYPD budget cuts that could take some officers out of city parks.

From the NY Post:

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn needs a quick catch-up course on the City Charter.

Quinn called a Sunday press conference in the wake of a weekend rape in Hudson River Park to request that Mayor Bloomberg let the NYPD and the Parks Department off the hook when it comes to pending budget cuts.

Bloomberg, looking at substantial revenue shortfalls and related issues, last week told all his commissioners to begin planning for smaller budgets next year.

Said Quinn:

“We simply cannot take away resources from our NYPD at this time with these types of incidents occurring. We also cannot cut back on resources for parks enforcement. They have already been cut to [the] bone.”

On the merits, these are arguable points.

As expressed, though, they pretty much miss the point — which is that Speaker Quinn doesn’t have to ask Mayor Bloomberg for budgetary relief of any sort.

She writes the budget.

Or, at least, she has so much control over the budget-making process that if she wants the NYPD and Parks Department to be held harmless from the coming cuts, she can see to it that they are.

It’s all right there in the City Charter: The mayor proposes, and the council disposes.

Thank you, I couldn't have expressed this better myself. Beware the politicians that do dastardly deeds and then act surprised when there are bad results. The fact is that the mayor has presented budgets this past decade that have decimated the ranks of law enforcement and the Council Members bobbleheaded their way through the rubberstamp process each year with barely a whimper. After each budget was passed, there was Quinn - front and center - taking credit and bragging about how great the agreements were that she worked out. But now that the chickens are coming home to roost, she and others are "shocked and outraged" over how few officers are patrolling parks and that further cuts are proposed? Please give us all a break.

It's YOUR fault we have no cops, and we ain't letting you off the hook that easily.

In the past, there were knock-down, drag-out battles between the City Council and the mayor at budget time. Today's council members are more concerned with photo ops and hosted parties at the mayor's mansion, so they bend over for anything he wants. As you are aware, I am no fan of Bloomberg, but I don't blame him, I blame them. And you should, too. They are supposed to lead and represent the people and they do nothing but kowtow and represent themselves.

Where are Queens' PEP officers?

From the Daily News:

The ranks of city Parks Enforcement Patrol officers are so thin that only one officer is available to patrol all Queens parks this summer, union officials charged.

Most of the borough’s PEP officers have been assigned to busy pools and beachfront areas, leaving acres of parks without a security presence, according to Joseph Puleo of DC 37 Local 983, which represents the officers.

The situation has caught the attention of City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who recently fired off a letter to the Parks Department, asking officials to explain the staffing levels.

“We knew it was bad but I don’t think anyone realized it was this bad,” said Vallone (D-Astoria), who heads the Council’s Public Safety Committee.

“There are more rovers on Mars than there are PEP officers in Queens,” he quipped to the Daily News.

Vallone and Puleo said the lack of PEP officers is especially troublesome since the Police Department does not have enough patrol officers to keep an eye on parks.