Showing posts with label Tompkins Square Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tompkins Square Park. Show all posts

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Same gunman suspected in shooting today in Tompkins Square Park, police say

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 


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No injuries were reported after a gunman opened fire early this afternoon near the chess tables at the 7th and A entrance to Tompkins Square Park, police said

NYPD sources, who were not authorized to speak on the record, said there were five to seven shots fired, with a bullet penetrating a window above Niagara across the street.
Police said the suspect, described as a Black male wearing a ski mask and dark clothing, was the same shooter who fired shots that struck two innocent bystanders this past Saturday. "It's a beef," per a police source.

The suspect reportedly fled on a Citi Bike.   
"We're not going to stop until we get him," a police official told us. 

The official said that they were "confident in the direction this investigation is going. The detectives here are world-class and won't rest until the job's completed." 

"We already had increased patrol at the park, including when the shooting happened," the official said.

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Spring calling

On the clock for spring... and some views of Tompkins Square Park courtesy of @davidterranova ...
And nevermind that it was 33 degrees this morning...

Saturday, March 16, 2024

[Updating] 2 people shot in Tompkins Square Park

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Updated 3/19: Police sources, who did not have permission to speak on the record, told us that they have identified the alleged gunman and have photos and video of him circulating internally.

Updated 3/21: The same suspected gunman fired more shorts in Tompkins.


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A dispute in Tompkins Square Park turned violent this afternoon as a gunman fired 5-6 shots, striking two people, including an unintended target — a woman in town visiting her son who's running the NYC Half Marathon tomorrow, police said.

According to NYPD sources in the Park, a fight broke out outside the fence to the playground near Temperance Fountain. Two men were said to be hitting a third man. Police said the victim had a gun in a crossbody bag. He took 5-6 shots, striking two people. At least one, a 53-year-old woman visiting from Illinois, was an unintended victim, police said.

The woman was hit in the hip by a bullet and was taken to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, where she is expected to survive. Her son was at the scene looking for his mom before the NYPD transported him to the hospital. 

A 31-year-old man was hit in the buttocks. His injury was also not considered life-threatening. It's not immediately known if he was one of the men involved in the initial dispute.
The NYPD has blocked off the entrance on Avenue A at Ninth Street ... and put up crime scene tape, keeping people from heading in that direction from Temperance Fountain. Police were continuing to search for the shell casings.

A detective at the scene said the nearby cameras in Tompkins were not operating, so there wasn't any surveillance video from the shooting. 

The gunman is still at large as of 2:30 p.m.
The shots rang out just before 1 p.m., scattering parkgoers enjoying a sunny day in Tompkins.

A significant police presence remains.
Updated 5:18 p.m. 

Initially, we were told only a partial bullet fragment was found in the park but farther away from the scene and more toward the center of Tompkins ... however, evidence collection teams appear to have found additional material ... they were spotted removing it around 4:30 p.m. ...
Crime Stoppers is also seeking information on today's shooting...
Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online. All calls are strictly confidential. 

Tompkins is now fully open, although some NCO officers may still be on patrol.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Meet Belvedere, the Russian tortoise

Photo by Steven

Urban Park Rangers were in Tompkins Square Park today for an educational program... a special guest included this Russian tortoise that someone had abandoned in Central Park. 

The Park Rangers named it Belvedere after the iconic mini castle in Central Park.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Tuesday's parting shot

Photo by Steven 

A pleasant surprise late this afternoon in Tompkins Square Park... with a set by Pinc Louds

BTW, the band is at Knitting Factory at Bakers Falls on Avenue A this coming Saturday...

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Saturday's opening shot

At the entrance to Tompkins Square Park at Seventh Street and Avenue A this morning ... there are two new trees the city recently planted here (replacing this one).

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Parks Department collecting concerns and compliments

Photos by Steven

These signs arrived this past week at Tompkins Square Park (and other public green spaces)...  asking, "How are we doing?"

Specifically: "Report a concern or share a compliment about cleanliness in this area."
Per the sign, you can call (212) NEW-YORK ... text 311-692 or visit this website.

Can't think of any concerns residents may have about Tompkins... 

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Playground reminders in Tompkins Square Park; city to update Community Board 3 on asylum seekers tonight

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Updated: You can watch a playback of the CB3 Board meeting on YouTube here. Zach Iscol starts at the 23-minute mark.
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Signs stating "No adults except in the company of a child" — written in multiple languages — were recently posted on the playgrounds along Avenue B and Seventh Street in Tompkins Square Park...
In recent months, some residents have expressed concerns about the migrants waiting for a new shelter assignment outside the former St. Brigid School on Seventh Street and Avenue B. They have been congregating on the SE corner of Tompkins Square Park, including inside the playgrounds. (This past fall, Mayor Adams began limiting adult migrants' stays in shelters to 30 days before they have to leave and reapply at this so-called East Village reticketing site.) 

The influx of men standing around has caused some residents to no longer visit the playgrounds with their children. It was also made clear that the men were often unaware that they couldn't be inside the playgrounds.

Making matters worse, the city removed the three portable toilets from Tompkins Square Park on Jan. 9, forcing anyone visiting the 10.5-acre property to figure out where to relieve themselves. (The restrooms in the field house are closed until the fall for renovations.) According to residents, the playgrounds have become popular public toilets, with some equipment serving as cover. 

While the signs look official, it's unknown who left them on the playground gates. 

The two playgrounds in this park area received a year-long, $2.7 million upgrade, unveiled in October 2019.

Meanwhile, as we reported last weekZach Iscol, commissioner of the NYC Emergency Management, will appear before Community Board 3 tonight. Per the invite, he "will update the community on the agency's asylum-seeker operations and community engagement efforts within the confines of CB3." 

Iscol is expected to speak at 7 p.m. (The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.) Only CB3 board members can ask questions. (The deadline for residents to submit questions was this past Friday.)

The meeting will be in person at PS 20, 166 Essex St., just south of Houston, and streamed on YouTube here.  
Previously on EV Grieve: 

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Saturday's parting shot

City kids know how to make a cool snowman with limited snowfall! ... photo today in Tompkins Square Park by Drew...

Saturday's opening shot

A picturesque Tompkins Square Park this morning... thanks to Cecil Scheib for the photo...

Saturday, February 3, 2024

Saturday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Zines for sale outside Tompkins Square Park today by Jasper Krents... find 'em online here.

Sunday, January 28, 2024

The piebald squirrel of Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Steven 

In recent months, there have been sightings of a squirrel with a dappled mix of white, brown and grey —or maybe you see blue and black. (Jeremiah Moss first shared an image of the squirrel on Instagram in late December). 
 
We don't recall seeing it before then... what's known as a piebald squirrel... Steven took these photos yesterday...
Per AZ Animals: "White squirrels are a genetic rarity caused by either albinism or leucism. Although there are over two million Eastern grey squirrels in North America, piebald — also known as pied or leucistic — squirrels make up a small fraction of the total squirrel population." 

The site says that if you see one, "then you can consider yourself lucky."

Saturday, January 27, 2024

The first opossum sighting of 2024 in Tompkins Square Park

Thanks to EVG reader Richard for this up-close shot from yesterday in Tompkins Square Park. 

There have been opossum sightings through the years in the Park (hence its own EVG opossum tag).

And now some facts about these members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia:
Opossums' diet includes all types of bugs and insects, including cockroaches, crickets, and beetles. They also eat mice and rats. Nocturnal opossums are attracted to neighborhoods by the availability of water, pet food left out at night, and overripe, rotting fruit.
Odd that opossums would be attracted to this neighborhood — as we have none of these things!

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Kestrel-eye view of Tompkins Square Park

Thanks to EVG reader Jeremy Schipper for this photo by Tompkins Square Park...

(And one more fire-escape shot and we will have a trends piece!)

Monday, January 22, 2024

Tompkins Square Park remains without restrooms for public use

With reporting by Stacie Joy

As we first reported on Jan. 9, the three porta-potties were whisked away from their temporary home in Tompkins Square Park near the Ninth Street and Avenue A entrance. At the time, we didn't realize that this might be permanent. 

Sources tell us that there are no plans for new ones and that the old porta-potties were constantly trashed and not really the most fun things to use. So, the thinking is, Why replace them with more only to meet the same fate?

A contact at the Parks Department provided us with a porta-potty-worthy comment: "We don't know anything. No one tells us shit."

As previously reported, the restrooms in the Tompkins Square Park field house are closed due to an 18-month (or so) renovation that began last May. The porta potties arrived around the same time ... before an August relocation.

The temporary toilet situation has caused a stink from the get-go.

In February 2023, a Parks official explained that temporary toilets were not part of the contract "and cannot be supplied during construction." The alternative for public use during this period: The restrooms at the McKinley Playground on Fourth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue adjacent to P.S. 63/the Neighborhood School — roughly a seven-minute walk.

By March 2023, though, Community Board 3 noted that porta potties would be on-site after all. 

According to the Parks Department website, work at the field house is 27% complete, with an anticipated wrap-up date of September 2024.

For now, the 10.5-acre public park doesn't have any restroom facilities, which, predictably, has caused an uptick in sightings of (and discovery of afterward of) public urination and defecation from everyone from TSP regulars to asylum seekers waiting near St. Brigid on Seventh Street and Avenue B.

We're told that the McKinley Playground is the default public loo, though there isn't any signage anywhere to inform people of that development.

If the park remains porta-potty free, the situation will only get more fragrant this spring and summer as people will spend more time here with concerts and other warmer-weather social activities, from children's birthday parties to White Claw blanket ragers on the main lawn.

Thursday, January 18, 2024

A bench in honor of the 'Birdman' of Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Steven

A longtime regular of Tompkins Square Park now has a bench dedicated in his memory.

Dennis Edge, an East Village resident since 1970, passed away on Sept. 1. He was 85. For years, he documented the birds of Tompkins Square Park, where he was a regular and welcome presence.

His family, friends and fellow birders came together to make this happen... you can find it by heading into the park at the entrance on Seventh Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...
Meanwhile, throughout February, an exhibit of his urban wildlife photography will be on display at the Loisaida Center, 710 E. Ninth St. just east of Avenue C. 

There is also a bench dedication on the afternoon of Feb. 14.
Dennis' friends wish to thank Loyan Beausoleil for spearheading the GoFundMe and Florence Marcisak for arranging to have the plaque made.

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Tuesday's parting shot

As you likely heard/read, NYC received its biggest snowfall today in 701 days... with a whopping 1.2+ inches... (so we'll likely keep with the "Remembering when it snowed" posts). 

Thanks to EVG reader Bob Smith for this photo today from Tompkins Square Park

Sunday, January 14, 2024

Friday, January 12, 2024

Friday's parting shot

Photo by Steven 

Hey, it's Christo... one of the resident red-tailed hawks on the hunt in Tompkins Square Park this afternoon...