BTHS Rickey Mei

Government 11/4/04

Safety in Public Parks

New York City has more than 1,700 parks, playgrounds, and recreational facilities

throughout the five boroughs. With more than 28,000 acres of land including national

monuments such as The Statue of Liberty, safety is always an issue. New York City

already has a reputation for their incredibly high crime rates and many of these crimes are

committed in public areas such as parks. There are many murder and rape cases in the big

parks where there are many joggers. One of the more famous cases is the rape and attack

on a white female jogger in Central Park on April 19th, 1989. Many people are frightened

by incidents such as this one but there are many ways to prevent instances like this from

occurring. The New York Road Runners Club offers group runs where they put you in

groups of people with your talent level so you don’t get left behind and assaulted.

Another way is to map out your route. Always run in clearings where everyone can see

you. Do not run where there are many bushes so people can hide there and attack you

suddenly.

Another safety issue is playgrounds for little kids. In a city like New York, many

people don’t have the luxury of a backyard so they have to depend on a local playground.

The leading cause for death in playgrounds is strangulation and falls. Many times, the

designs of the equipment is flawed therefore many states has formed together to create

safer parks. Playgrounds must have protective padding to absorb impact in case of falls.

In playgrounds with monkey bars, the padding might not be enough. From personal

experience, falling off the monkey bars with the protective padding can still fracture your

bones.
 Testing of the equipments can be very difficult because of the size of the child,

the clothing that he/she is wearing, etc. Sweaters and jackets that have strings protruding

can be extremely dangerous if it gets caught. During a survey of New York State Parks,

they found that 68% of parks have hazards such as peeling paint and pressure treatment.

The peeling paint poses a threat of lead paint. After thorough testing to see if there is

lead, you have to determine if the amount of lead present will pose a threat to people

especially children under the age of 6. Pressure treatment of wood is dangerous because

the wood is treated with arsenic which is a toxin which can affect the endocrine system.

This can lead to infertility in humans and animals.

The issues that I have talked about are all very important issues and the

government is working very hard to solve these problems but there are many problems

that are much more obvious being ignored. During eighth and ninth period when I have

my major Environmental Science, we occasionally have trips to Fort Greene Park to

study human impact on the environment and I see many problems being ignored.

Anybody can plainly see the potholes and cracks in the running path and with the huge

number of joggers at the park; it is very surprising that they didn’t get the path fixed up

after such a long period of time. As part of the Tech track team, we run there daily during

the Cross Country season and I have seen more than one teammate twist their ankles in

holes deeply covered by grass. Instead of using their budget to fix these paths, I see

workers planting new shrubs and building fences to prevent soil erosion.

I believe that if the paths were fixed up, the joggers will be glad to fork over the

few tax dollars to restore the beauty of the park. I know that the park has a lot of

historical value and the beauty is very important but having a nice looking path can also
make the park better looking.

Making a park safe can be a time and money consuming process. For example, it

took roughly ten years for Central Park to become attractable to visitors. During the

1980’s, Central Park was in such terrible condition that nobody was willing to fund the

clean up project. There was a lot of crime, rape, and gangs there. The park was portrayed

as a place where gangs hung out in many movies but as the condition started getting

better, many people donated money to fix historical monuments and in the late 1980’s,

tax dollars were used to re-green the park, fix the benches, pave new roads, etc. Now the

park has such significance that many major events are held there. Rallies, concerts,

protests are held there frequently due to its importance, beauty, and space. The New York

City Marathon is known worldwide and not only does it pass through all five boroughs,

the last three miles is a hilly course through the newly paved roads of Central Park. With

time, determination, and of course money, we can make parks a safer, better, attractable

place for people to go to.

I think that the government has done an okay job with the safety issues in parks

but like many things, there is room for improvement. This of course means higher taxes

but it is worth it if we can have a better and more rewarding experience. Some of the

things have a bigger budget than others while it is not necessary. I believe that safety is

more important than beauty and some people don’t seem to agree. Anything that is

hazardous should be fixed immediately.

For my political action, I could join a local neighborhood park group that votes on

issues that the parks should solve. Many of these groups vote on how they should use

and if my problem is part of what they are voting on, it would be really meaningful.