Crack comeback in Astoria playground

Found the used glass pipe at the Astoria Heights Playground  this morning Saturday, April 22 around 9.45am.  The grounds porter immediately assisted with its removal, but here we go again with the public drug use and trash left behind for anyone to find.  We stopped other parents from bare-handling out of concern for their safety.  Tiffany Cabán and DI Gorman of precinct 114 have absolutely no connection to the community they represent and it is exhausting. 

My toddler does not need to worry about his Playground being a drug den, again.

Your thoughts Astoria/Queens?

Rego Park school playground defiled with nazi graffiti

QNS


Police may have a hate crime on their hands after a Rego Park elementary school was tagged with antisemitic graffiti overnight on Friday depicting swastikas and other Nazi symbolism.
 
David Aronov, a representative from Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz’s office, said their office got a call about the markings left in the playground on Friday afternoon as school staff noticed and paid a visit with state Senator Toby Ann Stavisky to P.S. 139, located at 93-06 63rd Drive, to see it for themselves.

 
“I am horrified, disgusted, and nauseated, to say the least, of what I have witnessed today,” Koslowitz wrote in a Twitter post. “Nazi imagery and anti-Semitic slurs were drawn at the P.S. 139 Playground in Rego Park. I was on the scene today and most of the imagery has been washed away. Enough is enough!”
 
Aronov said the 112th Precinct was called to investigate, though many of the markings had been washed away by the time police arrived to take the report.
One drawing, reminiscent of the Nazi Wehrmacht eagle, is believed to have taken a little longer to create, Aronov said, leading them to believe the work was done sometime in the night.

I found this last one interesting. The hatemongers decided to scrawl the Soviet Union's old hammer and sickle too for some reason, then suddenly got conscientious and scratched the word Jews. As if all those swastikas weren't significant enough.






Update:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered State Police to help find the vandals who scrawled dozens of Swastikas and other anti-Semitic symbols and “Heil Hitler” in a Queens schoolyard.

The Nazi symbols and slogan were discovered on Friday at Public School 139 by a school custodian who reported it to the NYPD, Education Department officials said.

"I am appalled and disgusted by the Swastikas and other anti-Semitic symbols of hate that were scrawled in a Queens schoolyard,” Cuomo said in a statement on Sunday.

"In New York, we have zero tolerance for such vile acts of anti-Semitism. I am directing the State Police Hate Crimes Task Force to immediately assist the NYPD in the investigation of this hideous act and hold those accountable to the full extent of the law.”

 Yeah, Andy, send the state troopers to get these vandals. Such a dumbass exhibitionist. Fix the subway idiot.






 

St. Albans comfort station renovation delayed

From the Times Ledger:

On the eve of LL Cool J’s 14th annual basketball camp in St. Albans, elected officials from southeast Queens and Comptroller Scott Stringer blasted the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation at a news conference for failing to fix a comfort station for three years.

“It’s time to wake up and get your act together,” Stringer said. “The kids should be running through the sprinkler and they should be able to use the bathroom in the safest way possible.”

According to officials from LL Cool J’s free basketball camp, nearly 200 campers are expected to attend the camp every weekend in August.

The comfort station, which is located on Daniel O’Connell Playground at 113-01 196th St., received nearly $1.2 million from former Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) and was expected to break ground in August 2015, with the project’s estimated completion time August 2016, according to officials at the Aug. 3 news conference.

“I’m disappointed to be back here on the same issue,” said Comrie, now a state senator. “LL Cool J, who grew up in this community and played in this park – this is his 14th year providing a free program for an entire month for young people in the community — and we have to give them port-a-potties that are not maintained.”

The updated comfort station was supposed to be fully renovated and include ADA-compliant bathrooms, energy-efficient light fixtures, and a slate roof, according to the officials. Instead, there were problems with the vendor hired to do the upgrades in 2016, and in 2017 the contractor had been removed after more than $400,000 of the original contract was spent. According to NYC Park’s Capital Project Tracker, money was spent on designing a new comfort station, procuring materials and doing 38 percent of construction work.

City's war on parks continues

From the NY Times:

The latest battle between New York’s preservationists and developers is being waged over a 1.5-acre parcel of jungle gym and soccer and baseball fields, known as the Marx Brothers Playground.

Preservationists say there is no question that the space is a park. The city parks department has maintained the lot, wedged between 96th and 97th Streets on Second Avenue, since 1947. The department’s leaf symbol adorns a plaque affixed to the gate.

But city officials, who plan to partner with the developer AvalonBay to turn the site into a 68-story tower with school facilities, retail space and a mix of market-rate and affordable housing, insist the space is a playground.

That seemingly minor quibble of semantics is crucial. Parks require the State Legislature’s and the governor’s approval before they can be modified. Playgrounds do not.

Funny thing is that the Parks Dept's own website calls it a PARK.

Is it time for Newtown Playground to be recognized as a burial ground?

From the Queens Chronicle:

Lifelong Elmhurst resident Marialena Giampino grew up hearing stories about the neighborhood’s settlers and how they are buried underneath Newtown Playground at the intersection of 56th Avenue and 92nd Street.

She thinks it’s about time the city and community officially recognize the history below the slides and climbing equipment.

“The goal is to get some type of memorial or plaque commemorating the people buried there,” Giampino said. “To the normal person who maybe isn’t from Elmhurst, they don’t know what’s there.”

According to a 1932 city report on cemeteries, provided to the Chronicle by Giampino, at least 86 people were buried at what was called Old Newtown Cemetery.

The first funeral took place in 1729, about 75 years after the neighborhood was founded and more than four decades prior to the American Revolution.

Some of the neighborhood’s most prominent residents were buried there, with entire families interred alongside each other on the site.

Eventually, the cemetery served as a potter’s field — the final resting place for unknown or indigent residents — until about 1880, with the Parks Department taking over the location in 1917.

A decade later, the surviving headstones were all laid flat and covered with soil so playground equipment and a drinking fountain could be installed.

Giampino brought up the site’s history to Community Board 4, of which she is a member, last week, saying now would be the perfect time to memorialize those who are buried there.

Brand new playground unusable

Locked! Why?

Sinkhole.

This is behind the expansion building for PS305 in Ridgewood. It opened last September.

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!

Astoria Park potties have been contaminating the East River since the '30s

From QNS.com:

Parents were dismayed earlier this month when they realized that the bathrooms in Astoria Park’s Charybdis Playground would be closed for a second summer due to plumbing problems.

City workers discovered last spring that sewage from the playground and Astoria pool bathrooms had been seeping into the East River since the 1930’s, according to Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski.

The discovery was made when construction of a new amphitheater began at the park’s neglected diving pool. Designers working on the project found that pipes from the playground and pool concession were not connected to city pipes, Lewandowski said at the monthly Astoria Parks Alliance meeting on Tuesday.

“The pool and playground were built in the 1930s at a time when people were unfortunately not as environmentally conscious as we are now,” a spokesperson for the Parks Department said.

The Parks Department brought in portable toilets to Charybdis Playground last summer and will do the same this summer. The new bathrooms are not expected to be completed until 2019. Bathrooms at the pool were fixed to ensure the pool could operate last summer, the spokesperson said.

At least Little Bay Park finally got their new potties.

Parents want playground potties repaired

From DNA Info:

The bathrooms at a playground in Astoria Park are still closed after being shuttered because of a plumbing issue this summer — and local parents are calling on the city to get them fixed before the warm weather returns.

More than 300 people signed an online petition as of Friday morning asking the Parks Department to reopen the restrooms at Charybdis Playground, a popular play space near the waterfront.

Though the playground’s bathrooms are always closed during the winter, parents are worried they will have to spend another summer without them if repairs aren't finished soon, according to the petition.

Close call prompts petition

From DNA Info:

When Alexa Weitzman lost sight of her 20-month-old son on Sunday for several seconds while playing at a popular neighborhood playground, her heart sank, she said.

As she looked around Katzman Playground, at Yellowstone Park, she saw that its three gates, adjacent to busy streets, including Yellowstone Boulevard, were wide open.

The toddler was quickly located, but the Forest Hills mom said the experience prompted her to start an online petition on Change.org on that same day, in which she asked the Parks Department to install a locking mechanism on the gates.

Leaf blowing blows!

"I wrote to you five years ago about a problem that we had with the constant use of leaf blowers at Maurice A. Fitzgerald Playground on Atlantic Avenue & 106 Street in Ozone Park. This is a situation that we’ve been trying to correct since 2003. Unfortunately, the problem not only still exists, but has gotten worse! Filing complaints via 311 have been completely useless.

A recent complaint that I filed about their daily usage (which, this year, started in April) elicited a letter from Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski in which she apologized “for the noise and inconvenience however, leaf blowers are a necessary tool”. “Inconvenience”??? How about a daily noisy nuisance that we are forced to endure for hours? Last year, they even used them on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving!! The Parks Dept. couldn’t have given us or their workers a break from this nonsense for even one day?? As for “necessary tool” leaf blowers are nothing if not inefficient and ineffective. In fact, leaf blowers were banned in parts of California back in 2013 because of the noise and air pollution that they produce, for their “trespass” in homes and the adverse effect they have on one’s health.

What’s crazy is that even in the rain workers are out there with the leaf blowers. At that point they become giant hair dryers that must dry the leaves before they can move them with the device. On top of that, even after being tormented for six hours with the noise, the storm drains around the park still aren’t cleaned. I guess that is better than last year when they blew all of the leaves from the sidewalk and curb across the street so that their job became ours. Better still is after they blow the leaves in a pile, they don’t collect them but leave the there for the wind to disperse them so that the cycle can start anew the next day!

To add to the insanity is the park’s workers using leaf blowers as toys. Last summer two workers were using them to play air hockey with a wadded-up lump of paper. Another sat on a park bench with her cell phone in one hand and a leaf blower in the other. She had it pointing skywards as it it were a Star Wars light saber and just sat there revving the damned engine while she texted.

We are forced to suffer many quality of life problems from the Maurice A. Fitzgerald Playground such as the constant aroma of pot, loud music from the cars that cruise or hang around the park, firecrackers shot off at night year-round and basketball at 4 AM (the park is kept open for our “benefit”)… The daily use of the leaf blowers is adding insult to injury and demonstrates a complete disregard for all of the park’s neighbors. The solution is very simple: stop using them NOW. Commissioner Lewandowski has the authority and obligation to make this happen. I’m certain that she wouldn’t want to be subjected to this daily abuse, so why the hell should we??

Parks are supposed to provide us a bit of relief from our daily stress, not add significantly to it. “inconvenience”? how dare you be so condescending to us, Ms. Lewandowski? The daily din from these leaf blowers is an unnecessary obtrusive aggravation. Their usage needs to be ceased. Use a rake and broom – and lock up the place at night!!!" - Karl

Playground equipment gets burning hot in summer

Taking matters into their own hands

From Cleanup Jamaica Queens:

Fathers Day weekend and yet another Saturday where Jamaica residents who are fed up with inaction by local elected officials (like Senator Leroy Comrie) and unanswered calls by Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and staff, take matters in their own hands and take over the abandoned park/empty lot at 109th Ave & 171st Street in Jamaica, which has become an eyesore of overgrown weeds, garbage, broken down rusted playground equipment, remnants of what were once benches in the first phase of cleaning up this lot which is owned by a real estate company David Landau-Crown Realty of Brooklyn, who refuses to take care of this property.

So Jamaica resident & community advocate Pamela Hazel along with other activists like Gene Sassine, Larry Love, Lyle Braxton, a man who goes by OK and a couple other residents took matters into their own hands and did the first phase of this cleanup by cutting weeds and branches that are going out into the sidewalk. Other clean-up phases will follow.

Ridgewood Playground needs some work

From the Queens Courier:

Things aren’t so rosy at Rosemary’s Playground in Ridgewood, according to mothers Stephanie Sauer and Caroline Stark, who frequent the park with their children on a daily basis.

“This is the closest park for residents of this neighborhood,” Sauer said. “There are a lot of parents with young children that visit the park, as well as people of all ages and races.”

These two moms are looking for improvements to be made at Rosemary’s Playground so their playground can be comparable to other parks around the area. They addressed the issues directly to Community Board 5 during its meeting last week.

“I am wondering why this one is so neglected,” Sauer said in an interview Monday. “If you go to the park by Grover Cleveland or Juniper Valley Park and see how great those parks are, it makes me wonder why this playground is so ignored.”

Some of the problems Sauer and Stark have noticed at the park include peeling paint along some of the walls and playground equipment, potentially dangerous elevated flower beds, and trash in and around the playground, among several others.

The Queens Courier has a great slideshow that reveals just what a dump this park is. Juniper Park has an army of volunteers that take care of the park. That's not happening in Ridgewood.

Astoria playground potties need an overhaul

From DNA Info:

The restrooms at Charybdis Playground in Astoria Park are in need of a serious makeover, according to parents and a local parks group, who say the lavatories are too small for the crowded play space, and often dirty.

The bathrooms are currently closed for the season due to plumbing issues, and Port-A-Potties have been placed there in the interim, according to the Parks Department.

The Astoria Park Alliance recently held a "visioning session" asking parents and kids what they'd like to see changed at the popular play space. The bathrooms came out at the top of the list, the group said.

Yankee Stadium deal resulted in contaminated parks

From CBS 2:

It has been nine years since the city swapped parkland for parking lots so the Yankees could build a new stadium, and a CBS2 investigation that started a year ago has uncovered a big problem with that deal.

As CBS2’s Jessica Schneider reported, the new parks are contaminated.

Kids play in the shadow of Yankee Stadium, at the Yankee Pocket Parks — just a few blocks away on River Avenue. Most of their parents have no idea the property is contaminated.

“The first thing that goes through my mind — I’m never going into this park again,” said area father Cesar Trinidad.
Trinidad’s 6-year-old daughter, Kayce, has been coming to the park for most of her life. She was shocked.

“They should close it,” Trinidad said.

The city gave the Yankees more than 20 acres of prime parkland on which to build the team’s $1.3 billion new home. As part of the deal, the city built eight new parks and redeveloped several city-owned parking lots to make up for the lost parkland.

The city built a playground for children and a skate park on the new parkland sites. But the problem is that under both lots are abandoned, leaking gas tanks that caused the contamination.

Juniper Valley Park playgrounds are hazardous

From the Queens Courier:

Juniper Valley Park in Middle Village has cost taxpayers at least about $300,000 over the last decade due to personal injuries claims, according to a new report.

The green space tied for second place for playground-related personal injury claims filed against the city from 2005 to 2014, which citywide cost more than $20.6 million, City Comptroller Scott Stringer said.

Stringer’s analysis also found that annual claims in the city rose 53 percent from just 45 incidents in 2005 to 69 last year.

Of the 577 park- and playground-related injury claims over the decade, 111 accidents occurred in Queens. That number is much less than city leader Brooklyn, which set the bar at 209.

Juniper Valley Park had six injury claims filed against the city over the decade for accidents related to missing matting, holes and defective swings. Five of those claims recorded a combined $297,500, according to Stringer’s analysis. The amount of one was not given in the report.

Local residents say Juniper has a numerous issues, including holes, defective equipment, cracks and other trip hazards, and that the Parks Department neglects to take action and fix the park, even though problems have been reported.

Resorts World fixing up playground

From The Forum:

Roger Gendron of the New Hamilton Beach Civic Association could barely contain his excitement when announcing the news at last Thursday’s summer meeting. After years of waiting, his community was finally going to see change at its old, decrepit playground by September and nearby Resorts World agreed to pick up the tab.

"This is really going to go a long way to help this community,” he said. “It’s not just damage from [Hurricane] Sandy. It’s the graffiti that’s out there, too. It’s an eyesore.”

Since Superstorm Sandy swept through the northeast in 2012, the playground at the end of Hamilton Beach has sat in disrepair and disarray. Chipped paint, graffiti, and overturned flooring were only the beginning of the laundry list of things desperately waiting for a fresh start.

And despite the community’s best efforts to get its hands on funding to fix the area, bureaucratic battles between the National Parks Service and city agencies kept the Hamilton Beach playground renovations in flux.

But that all changed when Michelle Stoddart, public relations director for Resorts World Casino, delivered a mockup of the new $40,000 playground to Hamilton Beach residents at last week’s civic meeting showcasing fresh fire engine red slides and a blue and yellow exterior.

“A lot of our staff live in this community and are from this community. We thought it would be a good idea to help,” she said. “This is something we are very excited to get involved with and look forward to seeing it finished.”

Stoddart said Resorts World would be teaming up with Pavers and Road Builders Local 1010 as well as the National Parks Service to reconstruct the playground. The entire deal, she said, was also made possible because of borough elected officials helping grease the wheels.

Has the Queens Machine found religion on historic preservation?

From Sunnyside Post:

State Sen. Mike Gianaris and Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer spoke at the board meeting and expressed their opposition to it. They both said that Sunnyside Gardens was the wrong location for the aluminum house. Furthermore, they questioned the building materials being used for the residential component of the development.

Congressman Joseph Crowley sent a representative to make clear that he opposed it.

Whoa! What's going on here?

Park problems in Vallonia

From the Daily News:

The Astoria Heights Playground is more dumping ground, thanks to bums who leave broken beer bottles, condoms and plastic bags with remnants of cocaine and heroin all over the place.

Fed-up parents — including one who brought a jar of broken glass to a community board meeting Tuesday night — are demanding the city clean up and install a gate at the 30th Rd. playspace to keep it secure at night.

“The reason we moved to this block was because of this park,” said Scott Muldoon, 43, who has a 2-year-old son. “But I’ll walk 10, 15, 20 blocks to take my son to another park because I don’t always feel like it’s safe here.”

The playground also needs new equipment, said City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria).

“Until then, the city needs to perform more basic maintenance to make sure it is a clean and safe place for our kids,” he added.

Even the bathrooms are a problem, said Astoria mom Lea Kotte, 29. She said they smell strongly of urine and aren’t properly cleaned.

“This is our local park (and) I can’t use it,” Kotte said. “There are numerous incidents of babies picking up broken beer bottles and God knows what else.”

Another parent, Brad Lunsford, 42, of Astoria, said he’s found bags that had contained cocaine, marijuana and what he believes was heroin in the park.