Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Year-long renovations expected soon at Joseph C. Sauer Park on 12th Street; locals want fence to remain at 8 feet



Now that the Tompkins Square Park playgrounds are back open... Joseph C. Sauer Park is expected to close soon for renovations here between Avenue A and Avenue B...



ICYMI from Friday ... while the redesign of the Park is welcome, there is one sticking point: the new, shorter fence the Parks Department plans to install.

So Park and block organizers have launched a petition...



... which reads in part:

Part of the plan however is to remove the current 8 foot high fence and replace it with a 4 foot fence, which will make the park less secure and an unsafe place for children to use.

We are asking for your help to stop the Parks Department from removing the only proven means of securing our park at night. We have the backing of Assemblyman Harvey Epstein, Councilwoman Carlina Rivera and our Community Board.

Find the petition at this link.



According to the Parks Department website, renovations will start in October 2019 and last until October 2020.

Here's a look the renovations to come...



Previously on EV Grieve:
A petition to keep the 8-foot fence at Joseph C. Sauer Park on 12th Street

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, Locals also want this fece lowered to 4 feet high!
I take my kids to Sauer Park after school dismissal and would love to enter the park without having them going through a fence three times their hight. Walking to school, passing by the garden will be so much nicer.
It will be such a beautiful connection between the street and the park, beautify and heal the urban environment. Enough with fear mongering. If the problem is drug addiction and homelessness deal with it. Take it out of the NYPD with their ridiculous huge vans circling the neighborhood make "Homeless outreach unit". Cops are not the solution.

Gojira said...

Okay, Anonymous 6:17 AM, with your grandiose pronouncement "If the problem is drug addiction and homelessness deal with it" - please enlighten us, in your infinite wisdom, on how to do se, given that for decades New York and many other large cities, despite throwing countless man hours, resources and agencies at the issue, have been unable to. If you know something that they don't, by all means, share! And here's a hot flash for ya - your kids will grow up someday and not be "going through a fence three times their h(e)ight", they won't be utilizing the park at all. But because you don't want an eight foot fence, other parents that do should just, oh I don't know, go back to where they came from?

MrNiceGuy said...

is it really that much nicer walking by a 4 foot tall fence than an 8 foot tall fence? The high fence has kept the park safe and clean for years, why change?

Anonymous said...

And dont forget the Moat with crocodiles.

Anonymous said...

Oh goody! Another park closure just in time for East River Park to be torn up.

noble neolani said...

@6:17 AM

Honestly my family has lived directly across from the park for the 36 years and I can tell you that the 8 foot fence made all the difference in keeping out drug users, vandals and keeping the playground from being a literal toilet.

You CANNOT LOCK A 4 FOOT FENCE AT NIGHT.

Homelessness, drug addiction and dumb idiots vandals will be here for the foreseeable future so if you are willing to inspect the ground each time you bring a child here and pick up syringes as my neighbors and friends had to do in this park before the 8 ft fence then make sure you have some good gloves to wear.

Now just to remind everyone our petition to save the fence is on Change.org is here http://chng.it/JZKgTLC64t
Please tell everyone you know to sign it, we are up against the Parks Department and the Mayor so we have a battle on our hands, please help!

Alexis Adler said...

As soon as the tall chainlink was removed from the Tompkins playground, the equipment was tagged and syringes found. I would love to live in a utopia, but having lived on E. 12 Street for almost 4 decades, I can assure you that it is not. We love our block and our playground that the community helped to renovate 25 years ago and was responsible for maintaining the trees and plantings that we desired
, opening and closing as well as turning on and off the sprinkler. These were more hard core times to be sure. But with a wave of NYU students coming into party, finding a place to urinate and vomit will be that much easier. We just want to protect the playground for our kids and grandkids because it will be another 25 years before Parks even considers this park again.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe they would lower the fence so that it is easily hoppable. We already have a problem with teenagers and adults hanging out in the park at night. There were teenagers in there last night.

Anonymous said...

I don’t understand why people don’t listen to long living east villagers about the dangers of accessible playgrounds. They have seen what happens- listen !

Anonymous said...

I just looked closely at the plans. And it appears the bathroom access to the Mary Spink building on 11 th street which supplies affordable units for mentally ill men returning to society after being in an institutional setting. Hmmm. Great idea. So aside from having people jumping the short fence we can look forward to an open gate connection to a building where the guy who attacked women with a hammer in union square four years ago was a resident. Great research city planners.