EVG's Stacie Joy was at this afternoon's ribbon-cutting ceremony... we'll post the photos and a recap in the morning.
Showing posts with label Tompkins Square Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tompkins Square Park. Show all posts
Monday, April 14, 2025
The Tompkins Square Park field house and restrooms are back in service
A ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially unveil the renovated Tompkins Square Park field house
Top photos from Saturday
To mark the occasion, there's a ribbon-cutting ceremony today (Monday!) at 3 p.m. featuring Susan Donoghue, NYC Department of Parks commissioner, and several local elected officials. The public is invited to the event on the Ninth Street transverse between Avenue A and Avenue B. (Look for the giant ceremonial scissors.)
The reconstruction of the field house that serves the 10.5-acre park included a complete renovation of the building's interior and exterior, upgrading all mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. Accessibility improvements feature reconfigured layouts, new entryways, ADA-compliant ramps, and renovated restrooms and maintenance areas.
The mayor's office funded the $5.6 million renovations, which were much needed because the field house rarely had heat or hot water, and the restrooms made a strong case for exorcism before plumbing.
The space, which includes the Slocum Memorial Fountain, has been closed to the public during renovations.
Here's a look (through the gate) at the area behind the field house from last week ...
The Tompkins Square Park mini pool (yes, Tompkins has a pool) was also out of commission for two consecutive summers. However, the pool was not part of the renovation project, as you can see from this photo from last week...
Expect a new pool in the years ahead, though. Last August, Gov. Hochul announced nearly $150 million in capital grants to fund 37 projects as part of the New York Statewide Investment in More Swimming (NY SWIMS) initiative.
Tompkins Square Park will receive $6.1 million for a new in-ground pool, which will double the current capacity of the above-ground model for children and their guardians. The project's start date has not been announced.
Saturday, April 12, 2025
Saturday's opening shot
Monday, April 7, 2025
Asphalt bungle: Rough walkway still a hazard near Tompkins Square Park field House
Photos Saturday by Steven
It appears workers have finished repaving the area around the renovated (and still closed) Tompkins Square Park field house.
Workers started the job on Wednesday, and one crew member said it would take two weeks to complete. (Two weeks usually means eight weeks.)
The new asphalt only extends the length of the field house and the area near the ping-pong table...
As these photos from yesterday show, the pocked pavement along the Ninth Street walkway — on both sides of the field house — remains unchanged. It's treacherous terrain for anyone with mobility issues and a long-overdue improvement that would benefit all parkgoers.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Asphalt jungle: New pathways for the Tompkins Square Park field house
Photos by Steven
While the reconstruction of the Tompkins Square Park field house is complete (100% complete, per the Parks website)... there is still work to be done around the structure.
This morning, workers arrived to replace the pavement surrounding the field house, a project that one of the crew members said would take two weeks to complete. (And a task made more manageable without the construction trailer in the way.)
Also... at some point, the city should consider repaving all the pathways in the Park...
Man sentenced for 2 March 2024 shootings in Tompkins Square Park
Photo from March 16, 2024, by Stacie Joy
A man who terrorized parkgoers during two daylight shootings in Tompkins Square Park over five days in March 2024 has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The sentence for Waldemar Alverio handed down yesterday in New York Supreme Criminal Court includes five years of post-release supervision, according to Manhattan D.A. Bragg's office. Alverio faced multiple charges, including three counts of An Attempt to Commit the Crime of Murder in the Second Degree and two counts of Assault in the First Degree.
On March 16, 2024, at 12:45 p.m., two men allegedly chased, punched and kicked Alverio. As they ran off, Alverio unzipped his bag and pulled out a gun, firing at them five times, per court documents.
Alverio struck one of the two men in the buttocks, fracturing his pelvis and lodging a bullet in his hip. Alverio also shot a bystander, a 53-year-old tourist, fracturing her right hip, which had to be surgically replaced. The D.A.'s office last year said that she would need "months of physical therapy as she learns how to walk again."
Five days later, on March 21, Alverio returned to Tompkins Square Park just after noon, approached a group in the park, and shot at them five times.
While Alverio did not strike anyone on that day, one bullet smashed through a window and into a bedroom in an apartment building across Seventh Street, and another bullet smashed through a window and lodged in a stairwell in a second building on Seventh Street.
Officers from the 7th Precinct recognized Alverio from a wanted flyer and arrested him on Delancey Street on March 26, 2024.
"Waldemar Alverio is facing accountability for a pair of shootings in Tompkins Square Park that injured two and threatened the safety of many other bystanders. Parks must be safe havens for Manhattanites to gather and spend time with their friends and family, and nobody should have to worry they will be struck by a bullet in the middle of the day," Bragg said in a statement. "Combatting gun violence remains my top priority, and we will continue to prosecute those who use illegal firearms, while also making investments in our communities to address the root causes of shootings."
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Moving on: The construction trailer has left Tompkins Square Park
Photos and reporting yesterday by Stacie Joy
Late Monday night (10:30, a source said!), workers removed the construction trailer from Tompkins Square Park, marking another step toward a construction-free area around the field house.
The trailer arrived on May 5, 2023, as renovations were ramping up. It was plopped down a few convenient feet from the well-used ping-pong table.
An NYC Parks official told us earlier this month that the field house upgrades were complete, and the Park staff was conducting final inspections.
There is still no word on when the area might reopen. The official said they are still working on scheduling a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the upgraded facility.
The reconstruction of the field house included a complete renovation of the building's interior and exterior, upgrading all mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. Accessibility improvements feature reconfigured layouts, new entryways, ADA-compliant ramps, and renovated restrooms and maintenance areas.
The mayor's office funded the $5.6 million renovations, which were much needed because the field house rarely had heat or hot water, and the restrooms could have been used in the first film in the "Saw" franchise.
Sunday, March 23, 2025
Sunday's opening shot
Saturday, March 22, 2025
Saturday's parting shot
Photo by Stacie Joy
Today in Tompkins Square Park — Dana Beal, political and marijuana activist (second on the right)... with members of an anti-tech group (no website!) handing out flyers marked S.H.I.T.P.H.O.N.E. (scathing hatred of information technology and the passionate hemorrhaging of our neo-liberal experience).
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Saturday's opening shot
Monday, March 10, 2025
Sunday, March 9, 2025
Tuesday, March 4, 2025
Tompkins Square Park field house refurbished, reopening nears after final inspections
Photos and reporting yesterday by Stacie Joy
At the start of 2025, NYC Parks officials told us that the nearly 20-month renovations of the Tompkins Square Park field house were expected to be completed by the end of January or early February.
Now that we have entered March, and the fencing still surrounds the structure along the Ninth Street walkway, we asked for an update.
An NYC Parks official told us that the construction has been completed, and the Park staff is conducting final inspections.
There is no word on when that might be. The official said they are still working on scheduling a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the upgraded facility.
The reconstruction of the field house included a complete renovation of the building's interior and exterior, upgrading all mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. Accessibility improvements feature reconfigured layouts, new entryways, ADA-compliant ramps, and renovated restrooms and maintenance areas.
The mayor's office funded the $5.6 million renovations, which were much needed because the field house rarely had heat or hot water. And you know what the restrooms looked like.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Wednesday's parting shot
Saturday, February 22, 2025
Saturday's opening shot
It's a brrrisk start to the day, but temperatures in NYCland will rise to 39 today — and without the gusty winds.
Saturday, February 15, 2025
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Wednesday's opening shot
Photo by Cecil Scheib
A morning view of a snow-dusted (so to speak) Tompkins Square Park...
Sunday, February 9, 2025
Sunday's parting shot
Photo by Peter Brownscombe
Post-snow snow day today in Tompkins Square Park...
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Did the Tompkins Square Park opossum see his or her shadow?
Photos today by Steven
YES! Which means six more weeks of field house reconstruction!
Previous coverage of Opie, aka Nicodemus Punch Sugarpop (including this post), right here.
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Wednesday's parting shot
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