First an injury on the new and quickly beloved Tire Swing Park had the neighborhood up in arms. Now it’s a wind tunnel of sand being thrown in the faces of Liberty Court terraces at 200 Rector Place, say residents of the building.
According to a report in the Under Cover section of the Downtown Express, the injuries of wind swept sand onto residential balconies have resulted in torn corneas and will inevitably lead to property damages for those apartments facing the newly constructed playground.
In an email sent to Community Board 1,
“About half a cup a day is flying onto the balconies — more comes in through windows, landing of course on everything inside. This includes into peoples’ eyes and into bedding and foodstuffs.â€
Residents of this building have threatened to take action against the sand issue and have aired their grievances with both the New York State Department of Transportation and the Battery Park City Authority Conservancy, who had partnered together to build the new playground.
Liberty Court or 200 Rector Place has had a tough break with the playground area. The area had been previously used as evidence holding post 9/11 and was an area enduring the demolition and construction of the Rector Street bridge and Route 9W construction.
Are you a resident in this building that can speak more to this issue? Let us know if this issue has affected you.
Although I am no longer a resident of this building, I did occupy 17H (which faces the playground) from 2004-2005. At no point in time did we ever experience any issues with flying sand. In fact, my daughter and I attended this park at least twice a day during our year of tenancy, and never had any issues of flying sand or tire swing issues. At that point, the tenants weren’t complaining about the sand, but about the community garden near it. It was ‘too ugly’ for them. This latest complaint is just another shining example of how the local population won’t be happy until the area becomes another patch of grass which all are prohibited to touch. And I’m sure the situation won’t be complete until numerous lawsuits are launched because of the flying sand.
Hi Anne,
I completely agree with you! I think that although this neighborhood is great and full of wonderful amenities, there is always someone who is going to be mad about something else. It’s really hard to please everyone. For sure.
I have lived at 200 Rector for well over a decade and I think a little history might shed some light on the sensitivities of people living in this building. Just after I moved in, West Street underwent a multi-year reconstruction project which was very disruptive and noisy. No sooner had that project finished then the tragedy at the WTC occurred. Living in an apartment overlooking ground zero through the long days and nights during the recovery and then clean-up period was unimaginable. We donated our private gardens to the community gardeners following the aftermath as a temporary measure. Instead of our generosity being appreciated, we were criticized years later when we tried to reclaim them. Of course for the last year or so we have been living through another reconstruction of West Street. In addition, those of us facing West Thames Park just experienced many months of construction, starting early in the morning, sometimes 7 days a week. I think a little context might help make others a little more understanding and actually appreciative of those residents who have stayed here despite these challenges. By the way, my own pet peeve is the ugliness of the new “arbor”, but that is nothing after what we have been through here.
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it