Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Reader report: New playground equipment already falling apart in Tompkins Square Park

It seems that the renovated Tompkins Square Park playground on Seventh Street and Avenue B is not made from parts that can withstand a week's worth of East Village kid play.

An East Village parent shared the following photos...

Here's the parent via an email:

One of the tethered swing-seats has already come undone and is swinging freely and dangerously due to a bent bracket and missing locknut. When some kids were playing with the broken unit [Sunday] evening, it nearly clocked my son in the head.

So the parent alerted an NYPD officer who was in the Park. The officer provided the parent with "crime scene" tape to secure the loose seat. The officer also promised to report it to the Parks Department.

Another parent noted a plastic piece that belongs to the playground equipment lying around... with a missing screw...

The equipment is made by a Swedish company call Hags... the contractor who did the work is based in Paramus, N.J.

The playground reopened in the evening on Oct. 4 after a year-long renovation.

The upgrades included the reconstruction of two playgrounds with new safety surfacing, spray showers, seating and fencing. According to the Parks Department website, funding for the reconstruction cost $2.57 million.

Back to the first parent:

This broken gear on a brand new NYC playground is striking fear [the reader recalled this accident] and not a small amount of anger from some parents. And if the $2.5 mil number is accurate, then it really is a crime scene. It's absurd that things would be falling apart after little more than a week.

The parent followed up with this: "Everyone is ecstatic that there are new playgrounds for our kids — we’re just a little dismayed at how things could come apart so quickly."

Updated 8 p.m.

Parent Choresh Wald shared these photos... noting the cheap epoxy that will crack soon ...

... and a sign of rust on the stainless steel even before the arrival of cold weather ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Preliminary thoughts and concerns about the new Tompkins Square Park playground


Anonymous said...

Too bad the city didn't invest in a natural, eco playground using local resources.

Anonymous said...

After this, how can we trust the city to have a good flood plan WITHOUT community input. Save East River Park!
Save East River Park https://www.change.org/p/mayor-bill-de-blasio-save-east-river-park-urge-nyc-to-develop-a-resilient-plan-with-consensus-from-community

Anonymous said...

Just another example of how NYC wastes money on shoddy work and shoddy equipment. I wonder who gave the contract out and if there was some quid pro quo or conflict of interest. Corruption runs deep in government on every level. This should be examined by the Ombudsman or an outside consultant.

james said...

Seems like a few loose nuts and bolts easily fixed. Examine the rest and apply wrench and screw driver as needed. They have been kid tested. The playground on Ave A is a mess needing a do over.

noble neolani said...

This damage was most likely done by adults at night reliving their childhood but this time drunk. This is why members fo the 12th Street Block Assoc created a petition regarding the Park's departments plan to remove the 8 foot fence which secures Joseph Sauer Park and Playground on 12th Street. In case you missed EV Grieve's story last week here is the Change.org petition link. http://chng.it/JZKgTLC64t

You don't have to live on 12th street to sign this so please tell your friends and family, thank you for your support.

Anonymous said...

Who inspected this equipment for safety? I'd call it a joke, but it's extremely dangerous to have kids playing on equipment that can fall apart at any moment.

Agree with the comment above - I have zero trust in the city and its 'plan' to destroy ERP.

Anonymous said...

Hi Anonymous at 10/15 7:33a.m., wondering if you might be right.
Perhaps HAGS, PlayPower Inc. contributed to political campaigns for the deal?
https://www.politico.com/tipsheets/new-york-playbook/2016/05/de-blasios-elite-spreadsheet-poll-shows-corruption-concern-weekend-violence-214550 Article from May 2016, excerpt:
"Parks head denies trash bags tied to de Blasio probe smelled bad -- Post’s Rich Calder: “The city’s parks commissioner, who was partly responsible for a federal probe by giving a no-bid trash-bag contract to one of Mayor de Blasio’s top fund-raisers, says he signed off on the deal unaware the liners failed the smell test years earlier...
He insisted the mayor “absolutely never” pressured him into awarding the no-bid contract to satisfy JAD owner Joseph Dussich, who donated $100,000 to the Campaign for One New York, the nonprofit formed by de Blasio to help promote his progressive agenda."

www.brianleo.com said...

In the toddler park there is a ‘play xylophone’ and it has lost a couple of bars over the weekend. Washers, bolts and pieces of felt were falling off it, posing a choking hazard.

cmarrtyy said...

I'm inclined to go along with Noble's opinion that adults are playing on the equipment at night. And it happens because the playground has easy access - 4' high fences? Parks is so badly run. But then again TSP is on it's way to looking like a vacant lot. This is what is called Park Inequality. We are IGNORED! We are MARGINALIZED. Why? Because we are the EV and we have weak/nonexistent pols.

noble neolani said...

The newly renovated playground within Tompkins SQ Park has been vandalized again, this time swings and other equipment have been purposely destroyed by adults (nightlife in the immediate area). This is due to Parks Department's "Open Parks" plan to lower all parks including playgrounds fences from a secure 8' to an already proven completely insecure 4' fence. Despite full backing by our city's representatives the Parks Department operates as it did in the Robert Moses era, with no regards to residents and communities wants or needs. The Parks Department is a rogue organization which operates outside of our city government and is not subject to voters demands.

2nd Avenue Dave said...

Took the kiddos here yesterday for the first time and was surprised to see so much broken equipment. Also, the little handle/slide/zipline things in the big kid playground do not work. It seems like they forgot to lubricate them??

"Swedish Company" may be the source of the problem. Nice design aesthetic but poorly manufactured.

Anonymous said...

Is there any evidence that drunken adults broke this stuff, or that this heretofore unproven drunken adult playground vandalism is a direct consequence of lower fences, or that drunken adults stealing away to vandalize playgrounds late at night is itself a direct consequence of a "rogue" parks department that is "marginalizing" east villagers, or that any of this has to do with the east river park? The sheer number of logical fallacies here is dizzying.

To the extent that all of these conspiracy-centric comments refer to one another, repeat similar words and phrases, use all caps acronyms, and share the same tone, it would appear that they're all coming from the same person. Please don't believe the hype.

Anonymous said...

Hi 4:26p.m.
Both East River and Tompkins Square Parks are run by the Park's Dept.
East River Park had a section of it renovated that cost millions and was closed for 10 years.
The Park's Dept. has a new plan to tear it all down.
The Tompkins Square Park playground had a renovation that cost millions and was closed for one year. The equipment is falling apart and unsafe for children.

HAGS is capped because that is how it appears on the equipment in the above pic.
JAD is capped because that is how it appears in the quoted article.

I'm not sure why you think there's a conspiracy of one person.
I'm seeing many others posting here that share my concerns.

XTC said...

TSP playground looks equipment looks like it's been tampered with. Unless some kiddies have a lithium battery screw gun those screws and bolts are almost impossible to remove and I've never seen them fall out.

However this nothing compared to the marble tile installation of the main floor of the WTC transit hub. At least 30% of the tiles are chipped, damaged, stained or broken-especially the sides and corners. The peak of the retractable roof also leaks like a bitch when it rains. As a temporary repair they have used, no joke, PVC coated duct tape. All of this is brought to you by the legalized extortion of the Port Authority of NY/ NJ.

sophocles said...

I don't see why screws should loosen in a week even if 200-pound drunks were playing on the equipment. I also doubt sabotage by someone with a torx screwdriver out to harm children. Most likely the screws were not properly tightened. But how to explain the bent bracket? I am sure HAGS would come out and inspect and repair the equipment as necessary, if we were in the U.K...

Anonymous said...

The neighborhood has very limited green space.
No one was allowed into a large section of TSP for a whole year.
I don't know how long that job would've taken but we saw months and months of little to no work activity.
Now that it's been finally unveiled it seems to be falling apart.
Someone should have to answer to this or there's no accountability whatsoever.

noble neolani said...

@4:26 PM
Some of us posting here have lived in the city/neighborhood for the past 40 years and we have seen what happens when things are not locked up, bolted down and designed by people who don't understand this is the real world and not a utopia that only exist in a CAD program.

Yes it is adults and my guess drunk ones easily climbing over the new 4' fence around this playground. I live across from Sauer Park and ever night when the gates are locked at 9 sometime 10 PM the Parks worker has to yell to get older teenagers out of the park. In the morning a clean up crew comes each day to clean up the trash from nocked over trash cans from the previous night.

There is also a constant flow on 12th Street each weekend night of young adults heading to and from bars on the Avenues, some piss along the way, imagine what a 4' fence would enable them to do.

Crusties, homeless and drug addicts unfortunately are still here despite the city's best attempt to gentrify them away instead of putting resources in drug treatment, affordable housing and shelters.

The work coming from these multi-million dollar renovations is shoddy and do not reflect the cost.
New York has alway had a corrupt system, there is more money here now than ever and you believe there are no shady deals going on here you are being a bit naive.

Anonymous said...

Even assuming drunk adults did this, the playground equipment should be sturdy enough to handle rough treatment. This is plain old shoddy work. I can't believe it took $2.5M and a year to produce such unacceptable results.

Anonymous said...

Dear Carlina Rivera and Gale Brewer,

The brand new playground equipment in Tompkins Square Park is already causing hazardous situations due to the improper installation and/or the inadequate quality of the equipment used.

Your immediate attention is urgently requested by a large group of us local parents, who have been reporting the situation to local media.

Here is the recent reporting on the EV Grieve website (you will note the many comments by readers):


We are truly dismayed. The proof and evidence is in those photographs: our local government officials are failing us.

DIRECT QUESTIONS (please provide answers):

1) Who is accountable?
2) To whom do we report things falling apart (and what do we do with the numerous loose equipment parts we are finding on the playground)?
3) What was the bidding process (details)?
4) At the extreme cost in time and money for getting the new playgrounds built, how is it possible that it is already in shoddy and dangerous condition, in little more than a week?
5) Are we to expect the same from your East River Park Plans?

NYPD has been notified about the playground, and days later, nothing has been done.

FYI, the New York Times, New York Post, New York Daily News, and other mainstream newspapers, are all cc'd on this email.

You have now been informed of this potential liability, and will bear responsibility for any injuries or tragedies if they happen.

We really want to appreciate and enjoy the new playgrounds, we really do. But please address this dangerous situation immediately, before any children get hurt.

We are truly dismayed.

Rich Folster
New York, NY 10009

Anonymous said...

This is a very good letter.
Thank you Rich!

noble neolani said...

Please don't overlook the new 4' fence has made this vandalism happen while the replaced 8' fence protected the kids and the playground since the early 90's.

SR said...

Are the loose parts secured to be reinstalled? Workers are coming tomorrow to make the necessary repairs.

Please advise.

Scuba Diva said...

Can't help thinking about the old SNL skit about "Mainway Toys," the subject of an exposé of "Unsafe Toys for Children". One of the items was "Bag O' Glass," which was a bag of jagged pieces of glass.

Anonymous said...

noble neolani - it doesn't matter if it's drunk adults or kids doing the damage. The park equipment legal requirements generally require that adults can participate on the equipment with their kids without damaging the equipment or themselves. If it can't withstand adult use - it is a danger to the community and liable to lawsuits. If those drunk adults are injured, they can still sue the city, whether or not they were breaking rules. The equipment is faulty REGARDLESS of who was utilizing it during at the time the damage took place.