Already trash-strewn for years, Sara D. Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side is now home to violence and open drug use.
On a recent early weekday afternoon, The Post observed a half-dozen people passed out in the seven-block green-space strip that runs from Canal to Houston streets.
One man was slumped over on a bench; another lay on the ground. A needle was seen under a bench by a soccer field.
One parkgoer smoked marijuana out of an arm-length pipe he called “Moo Horn.”
Garbage blew across a field where a group of middle-aged women practiced tai-chi. A fight between two men outside a deli across from the park also broke out.
Violence is becoming more common.
On Oct. 16, a man stabbed a delivery guy to death. The victim had been resting on a park bench when the suspect stole his electric bike.
The same day, a man stabbed a stranger in the chest in the park, putting him in critical condition. A baggie of angel dust was found in the suspect’s wallet.
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer raised the alarm about the park’s growing violence and “long-standing poor condition” in an Oct. 19 letter to the Parks Department.
Brewer called for brighter lighting, more frequent trash pickup, benches with armrests “to deter sleeping” — and needle-disposal boxes.
A “recent sweep” by the 5th Precinct netted 50 used needles in the single block between Broome and Delancey, Brewer’s letter said.
The Robert Moses-built park was named for the mother of Franklin Delano Roosevelt — over her objections.
“Since we sent the letter, they have been trying. We were pretty harsh in our letter — there are a lot of parks that have problems,” Brewer told The Post.
In an Oct. 29 letter to Brewer, Parks Commissioner Gabrielle Fialkoff acknowledged that Sara D. Roosevelt has “more challenges than most parks due to the large numbers of homeless individuals.”
Fialkoff said the department was “committed” to improving conditions in the park — including through Parks enforcement patrols, the renovation of Rivington Playground, planning more “positive” activities, installing needle receptacles, and removing benches from “The Pit,” an area of the park of Broome St. where drug-dealing is common.
