East River State Park May Close Until April!

We were dismayed to learn late last week that the East River State Park may close for the winter because of the State budget crunch. This park has rapidly become part of the community and closing it even for a season threatens the progress we've made here over the past few years. It should be noted that other neighborhood's parks are facing program cuts, not total closures. It seems highly counter-productive to close a park that struggled to open.


We're confident there is some way to keep the park open in an affordable and safe way. City parks is able to operate parks without a staff member on site at all times, perhaps this is the way that the State will have to run this park for the winter.

Assembly Member Lentol seems to be leading the charge to keep the park open. In the meantime, readers are urged to send letters to Governor Patterson and the State Parks Department urging them to keep the park open for the winter:

Send letters to Governor Patterson online

Send snail mail to State Parks:
Rachel Gordon
Director, New York City Region
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
163 West 125th Street, 17th floor
New York, NY 10027

Photo by Steve & Sara via Creative Commons License