Per the petition:
The East River Park Track will soon close through at least 2026 and undergo a complete reconstruction ... The designs for the new track do not include sports lighting. Now is the time for our community to organize and petition our city to incorporate lighting into this fully funded reconstruction project, ensuring the rebuilt track meets the needs of the community now and in the future.
The volunteers state:
• The track in its current and future planned form has inadequate lighting, which creates risks of personal harm and athletic injuries after dark
• Many of New Yorker City's 8+ million residents rely on evening hours to exercise due to work or school schedules. Lighting ensures the track remains open and usable year-round.
• Maximize Public Investment: Adding lighting during the ESCR project reconstruction is far more cost-effective than retrofitting later. This ensures the track reaches its full potential as a safe, accessible, and well-used public space.
And The East River Park Track is one of only two regulation tracks open to the public in Manhattan and the only one located south of 135th Street (the other regulation track is located at Riverbank State Park on the Upper West Side). It is a vital community resource that deserves to be ready to meet the community’s needs for safe all-year-round use after its reconstruction.
The group's effort received a boost last week when Community Board 3 passed a resolution in favor of the lighting, writing:
... Community Board 3 supports the efforts of community advocates in ensuring that the track remains a safe, accessible, and well-lit public resource year-round while also addressing environmental concerns related to lighting.
Find the petition here.
Carlina Rivera on this?
ReplyDeleteZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
just wondering the same thing... another Rivera failure to act on behalf of our community.
DeleteSo you consider Carlina Rivera responsible for the fact that the track does not have lighting - this is the pre-ESCR track but I guess she's your default bogeyman.
DeleteCarlina! How nice to hear from you! How (and where) have you been?
DeleteThanks for sharing Grieve, I added my name to the petition!
ReplyDeleteThat track is used by so many people each night, it is a shame they didn't plan to add lights to the new track in the first place (wtf?)
Thanks for this! Added my name. I went running Tuesday night and the lights were off. Why is this? Are they only scheduled to be for games?
ReplyDeleteLights seem like a no brainer. The track in Williamsburg has stadium light.
ReplyDeleteThere used to be a little bit of lighting from nearby lampposts. But the generator with lights is on only when paying permit groups are there—I believe. (I used to but haven’t used the track at night in years.)
ReplyDeleteBut are the plans showing there isn’t even usual lampposts? I hadn’t thought to look at that in the plans!!
Thank you for including the link for the petition to add lights.
ReplyDeleteHow about putting in more lighting now?? Last time I was at the park, I counted about a dozen street lamps that were out, starting from the entrance at the 10th Street overpass. The generator lights were out at the track too, even tho people were out there running at 8 pm. Really made me feel like NYC could give a shit about us on the east side. I know there is construction going on, but it's not safe like this.
ReplyDeletep.s. to Janet above.... Carlina's office could take a lot more interest in what's going on at the East River and all our parks. You call it the "pre-ESCR track" and yet this existing track is still heavily in use. Why are we letting people run in the dark? With all the construction fencing, the sightlines are blocked, and its kind of scary at night
ReplyDeleteNo brainer. Especially with criminal winter sunset times of 4:30pm.
ReplyDelete