Whose Bright Idea Is This? NYC Park Benches With Missing Sitting Slats
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Millions of tax dollars have been spent to improve a Lower East Side park, but the benches still have no seats.
That prompted CBS2's Meg Baker to ask "whose bright idea is this?"
There was clearly something wrong on Thursday as Baker stood inside the bench, but was not able to sit on it because it had no seat. She found about a dozen more broken benches along Allen Mall park and learned it had been that way for two years.
Walking down the mall between Delancey and Broome streets, it's hard to find a proper seat. Just ask New Yorkers.
"It's very bad. It's very bad," one person said.
"It makes it very difficult to sit, for one thing, but it's not really inviting. That's just saying 'we don't really care about the community enough to be able to fix the benches,'" David Brooks added.
One bench after the other was broken or missing slats of wood, a mess that has been in place since 2013, Baker reported.
"Everything is unfinished. They started something and they did nothing to fix it. I mean they threw in some bright colored chairs. That's about it," Daniel Coleman said.
Coleman was referring to a reconstruction project started by the New York City Parks Department in 2012. He said fixing the benches is way past due.
"If I want to sit down, just relax across street, I would like that to happen," Coleman said.
Others agreed.
"That's part of the community. They have to be fixed for the community," Jeremy Campbell said.
Neighbors have taken matters into their own hands, installing plywood and other remedies to sit down, Baker reported.
"We would really like to use space because we work right on the corner. So it would be nice to get it fixed so we can come and sit down for lunch," Ying Tan said.
The Allen Mall project took a year and cost more than $6 million. Baker contacted the Parks Department for answers. The agency would not give an on-camera interview, but said the original wood slats for the seats were defective. The wood was improperly treated and was not from an approved supplier.
The agency said replacement slats have been ordered and are expected by the end of September.
And so residents have been waiting more than two years for seats. CBS2 will follow up to see if the benches are fixed in September.
The replacement wood slats will come at no cost to NYC Parks.
