A neighbor who visits the Greenwood Playground recently learned that Joe, the playground attendant, will no longer be at the playground on a full-time basis because of budget cuts--instead, he will be moved around to other playgrounds as needed, and will be at Greenwood only 2 to 3 times per week. What this means for Greenwood is that the bathrooms will be closed earlier, right around when school lets out.
This is by no means a complaint towards Joe or the Parks Department. My concern is the simple fact that the bathrooms may close right when school lets out and the playground gets packed. The man I talked to also shared the same concerns and told me that when Joe is not at the playground, a Parks Department employee will come close the bathrooms, in conjunction with other playgrounds that also no longer have staff there. The route they have mapped out now means Greenwood's bathrooms will be closed around 3pm.
The suggestion he gave me was to start calling 311 and to rally for the bathrooms to be closed later in the afternoon. I have contacted Friends of Greenwood Playground and they said they will get in touch with their contact at the Parks Department as well.
As the weather is only just starting to warm up, this is only going to become more and more of a problem for people using the playground. Please consider calling 311, or contacting City Councilmember Brad Lander's office through its problem page, email, or his Kensington liason Jessica Turner at Jturner@council.nyc.gov.
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