To the Editor:
The Rector Park Lawn has suffered shameful abuse and neglect. I have lived on Rector Place for 28 years. Until recently, the Park lawn has always been a plush carpet on which residents could picnic, sunbathe or play with infants. Now, that carpet is in tatters, with large patches of bare dirt, and, when it rains, mud. I am attaching pictures of the lawn that I took in previous years, and pictures of the lawn that I took today, September 27, 2021.
This past Spring, Community Board 1 forwarded my complaint about treatment of the Park to the BPCA, and on May 4 (i.e. five months ago), the Board forwarded to me a response from the BPCA. The BPCA stated that “a curb valve that supplies water to the area” needs replacing, that BPCA was “continuing to water the space,” but that it was “not as easy as it would be with a water source nearby,” and that BPCA was “keen to get this addressed ASAP.”
In addition to BPCA’s apparent failure to fix the watering problem, there is a second reason for the destruction of the lawn. Ball playing has always been prohibited on this tiny square of grass, but in the last few years there has been a significant increase in people playing sports on the lawn with baseballs, footballs and soccer balls. People, some of whom may not even live on Rector Place, do this despite the fact that, just a three minute walk away, at the east end of Rector Place, there is a large playground with astroturf provided specifically for the purpose of sports. In their note forwarded to me by Community Board 1, the BPCA told me that their Ambassadors “regularly monitor the area,” but I have never seen any Ambassador pay any attention to the ball playing on the park, or, indeed, to anything else about the park, except when I called them to complain about grown men having wooden sword fights on the tiny park. Moreover, just recently, the sign that always has been posted at each corner of the park stating that ball playing is prohibited has been removed, and replaced by a sign that applies generically to all of Battery Park City, and makes only a vague request that visitors treat the landscape respectfully.
The picture that I have here attached shows the result of the BPCA’s attitude.
Richard Joffe
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To the Editor:
Battery Park City’s parks are second-to-none. In speaking with people all across this neighborhood, what continues to resonate is their love of its parks and public spaces – and with it a deep appreciation of the work our staff does in keeping them the most beautiful in New York City. This became even more pronounced during the pandemic, when our parks served as respite for escaping – if only for a few moments – the rigors of the day.
That’s why we opened our parks lawns early during the pandemic, and kept them open late. Usually accessible from mid-April to mid-November, our lawns opened up as the shutdowns began in mid-March 2020, and stayed open through December. And two of our most popular lawns, at Wagner and Rockefeller Parks, stayed open to the public year-round. This isn’t without impact – with less time to heal from months of heavy use, the lawns may not appear as plush this year. But in consultation with the community we determined this tradeoff was well worth the benefit.
Rector Park is no exception. The reduced lawn closure time was exacerbated by an extended, COVID-related delay in issuance of an NYC permit for repair of a valve supplying water to the area. Without the park’s regular irrigation system our staff nonetheless lovingly kept Rector Park – lawns, trees, and flowers all! – manually watered throughout. And what a job they did; here are two pictures taken there on September 29, 2021 to more fully illustrate the park’s appearance. Yes, it will still take some time for the lawn to heal completely, but that valve is now repaired, the irrigation system up and running, and the lawn regularly attended to. BPCA is on it!
Here’s how you can help keep BPC beautiful:
Thank you for your love of Battery Parks City’s parks. We feel the same way.
Nick Sbordone
Battery Park City Authority