Report: City full of dangerous playgrounds
THE CITY Housing Authority’s failure to maintain its playgrounds has turned kid zones into danger zones, with scary conditions that could result in serious injury to children, the city controller charged Wednesday.
A ghastly playground slide that could slice open a child’s leg and a spiral pole with a broken, jagged edge were among the visibly hazardous conditions Controller Scott Stringer found at 72 NYCHA playgrounds citywide.
Stringer’s team visited all 788 NYCHA playgrounds over the last few months, finding unsatisfactory conditions at 549, or 70%, of them.
“All children — whether they live in public housing or in luxury condos — deserve to play in a safe space that encourages their growth,” Stringer (photo) said. “Right now, NYCHA is failing to inspect and repair their playgrounds, which means the authority is sitting on a catastrophe waiting to happen.”
To make matters worse, a sampling of playground inspection reports at 25 developments revealed the authority often records and relays conditions inaccurately.
Twelve developments filed no playground inspection reports at all.
“Inaccurate inspection reports seem to be routine with this agency,” Stringer said, noting recent revelations about NYCHA falsely claiming it was performing required lead paint inspections.
At the Throggs Neck Houses in the Bronx, Stringer told NYCHA about a damaged play structure platform, a bench and a spiral slide. A week later, NYCHA workers filed a report claiming the condition of the equipment was “good.” Confronted by auditors, NYCHA admitted the equipment had been removed, blocked off or was set to be repaired. Auditors found a particularly alarming condition at the Jackson Houses in the Bronx, the same development Gov. Cuomo visited last week to rail against conditions inside apartments there. In July, they found a steel slide with metal edges separating from the platform, creating a razor-like edges at the top and bottom.
On Wednesday the slide had been fixed, but tenant Russell Alston, 45, a retired caretaker, was well aware of its nefarious history.
“Few people get nicked on it. Others get cut on the bars,” he said. “People in this zip code know the city isn’t doing anything. We are at the bottom of the totem pole. They think, ‘Why fix something that is just going to break again?’ ”
He admitted he’s “skeptical” about letting his sons, ages 3 and 4, play there — “and I got tough, tough boys.”
On Wednesday, NYCHA spokeswoman Jasmine Blake said the agency has accepted most of Stringer’s suggestions, including automating inspections via an internal computer system that will also be used for follow-up tracking.
“NYCHA is committed to providing safe, clean and connected communities for everyone who lives in public housing,” Blake said.