By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
INWOOD — A group of parents are crying foul over security concerns at the brand new Indian Road Playground in Inwood Hill Park.
The source of the problem? Foul balls from a neighboring baseball field.
Inwood parents who use the playground with their children say that balls regularly soar over the two fences separating the field from the playground, coming dangerously close to their children's heads.
Monique Chang, an Inwood mother who visits the playground with her one-year-old son, said flying balls have come within five to eight feet of them, with one ball soaring directly into the benches near the baby swing area.
"I am starting to think I have a gravitational pull on baseballs," she said.
After a ball reportedly struck one parent last week, parents called 311 with complaints about the lack of fencing and have begun considering petitions and other methods to push for adequate safety measures.
The Parks Department said it is aware of parent concerns at the playground and is looking into methods to improve safety.
"While there currently is netting above the chain link in place, foul balls do still come into the playground," Parks spokesman Phil Abramson wrote in an email. He said the department plans to visit the site next week to do a cost estimate on installing a higher fence.
Such a project would then require the department hire a private contractor to complete the work after enough funds are allocated for the new fence, Abramson said.
For parents in the neighborhood, the work cannot be completed soon enough.
"Basically, it's a question of when someone will get hurt and whether they are physically able to sustain the blunt force trauma of a hard ball," wrote Chang, the Inwood mom, on a Facebook page dedicated to the playground.
