BY SEAN EGAN | “The neighborhood has certainly changed over the last 25, 30 years,” said the West 400 Block Association’s Allen Oster. “The population has changed. There’s a million kids here now, and that’s a great thing for the neighborhood. Unfortunately, there just isn’t enough open space for everybody.”
It’s a common refrain among locals who are raising kids with boundless energy and few nearby options to burn it off. Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen are notoriously park-starved, a situation which will be somewhat improved by the forthcoming construction of a so-called “micro-park” being built on a lot at W. 20th St. (btw. Sixth & Seventh Aves.) — after Friends of 20th Street Park (20thstreetpark.org) spent years engaging electeds, interacting with the NYC Parks Department, and raising funds through, among other things, a 2014 victory in Council District 3’s Participatory Budgeting process. The park is expected to open in 2019.
In the more immediate future, however, several existing locations are slated for renovation and improvement: Clement Clarke Moore Park (10th Ave., btw. W. 21st & 22nd Sts.), Mathews-Palmer Playground (W. 45th St., btw. Ninth & 10th Aves.), and Chelsea Waterside Park Playground — aka Chelsea Waterside Play Area (at W. 24th St. & 11th Ave.). While the improvements are much-needed, the resulting overlap in the spaces’ closure could result in challenges to locals who rely on the parks — challenges with no clear, current solutions.
Clement Clarke Moore Park’s new designs were the latest to be finalized, as Parks Department officials presented finished renderings to the public at a March Community Board 4 meeting. The plans include new planters and safety surfacing. Also, the drainage issues that have been plaguing the park for years in its water play area are slated to be fixed, as the pool area will be leveled out.
“In addition to the two water seals, they’re going to be putting in some more of these jets that will be squirting out from the surface, so we’ll have some more water activity in the pool area,” explained Oster, referring to the popular seal-shaped play fountains that inspired the area’s unofficial name: “Seal Park.”
“We’re going to jazz up the planting areas. There’s going to be new play equipment installed,” Oster noted, adding that the new equipment would be ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) accessible.
“[Mathews-Palmer Park] was being frequented more by adults doing illicit activities and smoking and doing drugs of sorts, so it wasn’t feeling like a welcoming space for kids and families,” observed Chana Widawski of the Hell’s Kitchen Commons. “The design is supposed to be conducive to more kind of community events and being able to sit around and socialize and to be accessible to people of all ages.”
Improvements the Parks Department has planned for the space include repairs to the existing handball and basketball courts, new play equipment, water play areas, a theater space (including a stage and instruments), more seating, and better lighting and entrances. The playground renovations are slated to happen concurrently with the restoration of Arnold Belkin’s mural “Against Domestic Colonialism,” which members of the Hell’s Kitchen Commons have been advocating for years.
Operating outside of the Parks Department system, Greg Wasserman of the Friends of Hudson River Park had to get the ball rolling with the Hudson River Park Trust when he began to notice Chelsea Waterside Play Area falling into a state of disrepair.
“The playground is basically 15 years old and the average playground lasts about that period of time. So really, if you think about design life, we’re in the tail end of when those things are typically designed for, and its age is starting to show through,” Wasserman elaborated, noting that the safety surface is suffering from wear and tear, and drainage has been a longstanding issue. “The kids have learned that they can clog that drain and basically fill up a portion of the playground to function as pool, which is obviously not what it was designed for.”
Now, at the tail end of a long fundraising process (still ongoing at tinyurl.com/jwyvdkb), Wasserman and the Trust have a “truly incredible design” in place. The entire playground is centered around the concept of “imaginary play,” and uses no traditional play equipment — instead opting for unique amenities like repurposed sculpted animal heads from an old slaughterhouse. The centerpiece is a large, colorful structure known as “pipefish tower,” a piece of play equipment designed to resemble the native Hudson sea life and a pier pillar.
“It’s really just a neat way to take average kids’ play — running and climbing and doing all the things that kids want to do — but doing it on something different that’s also tied to the park, which I find exciting,” explained Wasserman. “For a lot of people nearby, the public playgrounds are all they have, so we want to make sure that people have the opportunity to use something really special.”
While all involved are looking forward to the improvements the construction will bring, they’re less enthused by the issues that will arise from the concurrent shutdowns of these already all-too-rare recreational green spaces. According to the Parks Department’s website (nycgovparks.org), both the Clement Clarke Moore Park and Mathews-Palmer projects are scheduled to take about a year to complete, with work beginning in the fall for the former and this spring for the latter. By contrast, work on Chelsea Waterside Play Area is expected to take only six months to complete, and would be under construction in the off-peak fall and winter seasons.
“To be honest, I don’t know what these families and kids are going to do,” Oster commented. “Once these parks shut down it’s going to really be a problem in terms of keeping these kids busy — outside of letting them run around in the street. It’ll be a challenge, I’m sure.”
“We’re making sure the Trust is coordinating with the people in Parks, and making sure that we’re all aware of the various timelines and how they intersect,” Wasserman noted, explaining that the Trust team, ensuring the “construction timeline is accelerated” by doing as much advance work as possible. “I’m a neighborhood parent with two young kids, and so we all want to make sure that the kids have places to play.”
“The idea is we hope lots of neighbors will step up to help organize and forge collaborations and create the types of programming we’ve done in Mathews-Palmer park in parks and public spaces all around the area,” Widawski elaborated of her group’s contingency plan.
“I guess maybe over the summer or sometime around there, maybe we can look at the rec center,” Oster suggested, referring to the Parks Department’s Chelsea Recreation Center (430 W. 25th St., btw. Ninth & 10 Aves.). Oster also speculated about PS11’s playground (on W. 21st St., btw. Eighth & Ninth Aves.) as a potential option. “Maybe with the help of some parents, maybe some of the schools, maybe we can figure out some programs, some time slots for kids.”
Nonetheless, the trio believe that the closures will eventually pay dividends that make the inconvenience worth it.
“I think it’ll be a safer park for kids to be in,” Oster said, expressing hope that the changes will result in “a little bit more use by the adults in the neighborhood, alongside the kids.”
“We want people in the neighborhood to be excited about it, and use it and 15 years from now want it to still be heavily loved and used,” said Wasserman of the Waterside Play Area. “We’re really hoping when it opens everyone just says ‘Wow, this isn’t just another playground,’ and it really becomes somewhere kids really ask to go to and play.”
“With more and more development happening in this neighborhood and around this city we’re living in a concrete jungle,” mused Widawski. “My hope is that we have more and more green space in the city; that our parks become really like outdoor community centers for us to be able to gather and socialize and connect with each other. I think it’s good for our individual personal health; I think it’s good for our communal health and well-being. Our public space is critical, and even more important right now.”
