TRIBECA — A Jewish group that hopes to build a sukkah in TriBeCa's Duane Park should be allowed to do so in spite of community objections, Borough President Scott Stringer argued this week.
The Chabad of TriBeCa/Soho applied for a city permit to place a sukkah, a traditional hut used to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, in Duane Park for a week next month.
Community Board 1's TriBeCa Committee took a split vote on the proposal Sept. 14, with some board members raising concerns about the placement of a religious object in a public park, but Stringer said in a letter Wednesday that he hoped to see the sukkah go forward.
"It is entirely appropriate for faith communities to be given access to our parks," Stringer wrote in a Sept. 21 letter to Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, "so long as our public spaces afford every faith community an equal opportunity to practice religious observance and such activities have no detrimental impacts on the parks."
Stringer pointed out that the Parks Department has approved sukkahs in Union Square Park and Bryant Park in the past, so Duane Park should be no different.
Stringer's view did not sway Paul Cantor, a TriBeCa Committee member who said religious items do not belong in parks.
"If I want to go to a park, I want to just hang out in a park," Cantor said Wednesday. "I don't want to look at a sukkah, or a nativity scene, or anything religious at all."
The sukkah would measure 12 feet by 14 feet and would be in place from Oct. 12 to 19, said Michael Levine, CB1's director of land use and planning.
The TriBeCa Committee vote on the sukkah was two in favor, one opposed and two abstentions, with abstentions counting as "no" votes, Levine said. However, the committee's vote is just an informal recommendation.
Levine has also heard opposition from Friends of Duane Park, who have a standing policy of no religious objects in the park, Levine said.
Two years ago, CB1 rejected a Christmas tree for Duane Park for the same reasons.
CB1's full board will take up the sukkah proposal at its next meeting Sept. 27. The Parks Department has the final say in granting the permit.
The Parks Department and the Chabad of TriBeCa/Soho did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday afternoon.
