
[EVG photo]
Here are some passages from the article in today's Post:
“I really don’t enjoy the beauty of the park anymore because I’m too scared to walk through it,” said NYU student Christine Gal, 19, who lives nearby. “I would say it has doubled in the last six months.”
And!
A parks worker called the urban oasis “scary,” saying it’s riddled with bums who have drug problems.
And!
One woman is worried about bringing her 6-year-old daughter to the park.
“Some of them are junkies. They’re standing there almost falling down or sitting there slumped over,” the 39-year-old woman said. “My daughters asks, ‘Mommy, why are the men sleeping?’ And that’s not something you want to explain to your child.”
At least one of the five Post reporters who received a byline on the article spent time in the Park yesterday … noting "a herd of homeless people sprawled across the lawn" while "a few feet away, hobos sought shelter under a cluster of trees, snuggling up in sleeping bags."
The Post also found "a similarly seedy scene across town at Washington Square Park."
Anyway! Thoughts on the state of Tompkins Square Park (not the song by Mumford and Sons) this summer? Any different than, say, five years ago?