Wednesday, September 22, 2021

After a few days away, barricades return to the Tompkins Square Park chess tables

For a few days over the weekend and until yesterday, the chess tables in Tompkins Square Park were free from the police barricades surrounding this area since Aug. 31. (Top photo from Sunday.)

The unofficial word from this corner of Seventh Street and Avenue A was that a Park regular moved and tossed the barricades.  

In any event, workers put barricades back into place yesterday...
... and fastened them together this time ...
Some residents had complained about the encampment here... with activity around the chess tables that included drug use and fencing stolen goods. The city had cleared out this space several times this summer, starting back in June.

Photos by Steven

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

There was parade of police cars as well as an FDNY ambulance, all with flashing lights,slowly cruising through the park yesterday afternoon

Choresh Wald said...

The park is full of garbage regardless of it’s permanent residents. Playgrounds are dirty, water fountain drainage is clogged. The piles of trash spilling out of the compactors because they are not regularly emptied. People try their best not to litter but when there’s literally nowhere to put the trash in there’s litter everywhere. At the same time Parks Department supervisors are driving around the park, multiple times a day, blocking pedestrian paths, flashing lights, looking very important. Neglect everywhere.

Anonymous said...

This is exactly the condition of the Park when I was a child many decades ago...Nothing ever changes in NYC.

Anonymous said...

This park is now, sadly, the embodiment of de Blasio's incompetence, and of the "we do what we want" idiots who think they own the place. If one were to judge civilization based on TSP, one would conclude that we are circling the drain.

Anonymous said...

So now a whole section of the PUBLIC park is closed for...what, exactly? The people who were targets of the complaints are still there, no one is helping them or the issues that keep them there. Meanwhile, police drive through the park to intimidate people, then sit in their cars right next to the encampment looking at their phones. What a joke.

Anonymous said...

This park feels Soviet. Trotsky used to work on st Marks place

Anonymous said...

Shame on DeBlahsio and the city for the condition of essential outdoor public greenspaces especially during health crisis. Clearly they just don’t care.

Anonymous said...

The barricades were there already on Monday afternoon.
Also on Monday afternoon, an Uber car crossing inside the park from B to A on 9th St, I kid you not!

Anonymous said...

A billion dollars for the Dummy in Gracie's Thrive program and yet exactly no one is doing just that. No money for Parks and Sanitation? Always blaming his failures on Covid? Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out Big Bird!

Anonymous said...

There needs to be like 10 times the garbage cans or someone cleaning the cans 10 times a day in and around the park ..

Did all the junkies leave the park? Or just right outside now ?

I have lived in area 25 years and never saw so many junkies as now!

JAMES said...

12:40..I prefer to call him the Pointy-Headed Liberal who cant park his bike straight (Sorry I know I'm quoting a bad guy, George Wallace, but in D'Assio's case it fits).

Anonymous said...

Filthy and smells like dog poop; so surprised since the Park was so well tended a little over a year ago by that wonderful woman who cared about the landscaping.

Anonymous said...

We are sick of drugs and all the crap in the park

Anonymous said...

Too many junkies in the park and everywhere. Needles, aggressive behavior and bullsh*t. The worst part is people who are truly down and out and need help get lumped in with the junkie scum

Anonymous said...

DeBlassio's policies created this and so many other messes that could have been easily mitigated with swift action but ole bungling bill wanted to be down with the people whie picking their pockets January can't come soon enough

Anon said...

I second this comment as well.

--OlympiasEpiriot (for some reason I had to post only as a Google account or anon)