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Derelict Greenwich Village Playground Slated for $1.5 Million Facelift

By DNAinfo Staff on July 8, 2010 8:41am

By Nicole Breskin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

GREENWICH VILLAGE — A dilapidated 75-year-old children’s playground in Greenwich Village, better known these days as a hangout for the homeless and rats, is about to undergo a highly-anticipated makeover.

Minetta Playground, which first opened in 1935 on West 3rd Street and Avenue of the Americas, will undergo a $1.5-million makeover when construction breaks ground later this month.

“It’s great news that it’s getting cleaned up, so hopefully not just children, but also the elderly and other community members, can use it more,” said mom Amy McDermott, 36, who has lived in the Village for nearly two decades. “It’s been kind of abandoned and decrepit as long as I can remember.”

Crews have cordoned off the area and have been taking out old playground equipment. Crews are also tackling the rodent problem — as indicated by signs that warn of rat poison use.

Renovation plans for the park include new swings, additional lighting, spray showers, a play house, deck pathway, new benches, game tables and extensive landscaping, according to the Parks Department.

“Thank goodness it’s finally getting renovated,” said Sally Hines, 42, who works down the block as a home healthcare aide, but wouldn’t dream of taking her clients for a break to Minetta Playground. “That playground was horrible, dirty and filthy. I never went in and I never would.”

A spokeswoman for the Parks Department said the makeover will increase safety in the playground with new equipment and a more "visually-open" play space.

“Over the years we’re gotten a lot of the local parks renovated, and this one was left for last,” said Tobi Bergman, chair of the Parks Committee for Community Board 2, which oversees the Village. “It’s good that this is finally happening. It was an ugly, huge rat maze.”

A groundbreaking ceremony originally scheduled for last month has now been slated for July 19.

The playground is slated to be finished next summer.