FINANCIAL DISTRICT — Kids clad in bathing suits, ready to splash around at Lower Manhattan’s beach-themed Imagination Playground, have been left high and dry.
The playground, a unique $4.5 million space designed pro-bono by lauded architect David Rockwell, quickly became a favorite among parents and kids when it opened in 2010.
But the fountains, which are supposed to be turned on Memorial Day weekend each year, are still dry. The Parks Department said because of a tough winter, the water features experienced some cracks and they are working to repair them now.
“This is boring!” declared 6-year-old Anisa Butler after she ran through a sandy pit earlier this week — realizing that the water fountains she loves weren’t working.
Anisa’s mom, Tiffany Butler, said she travels from Murray Hill to the special playground, at the intersection of John Street at South Street, designed with water fountains, a boardwalk, sand and large foam movable parts, to give her kids “a beach day.”
“It’s really disappointing,” said Butler. “Half the park is made for the fountains and it’s just going to waste — we would have gone someplace else.”
Butler’s frustrations were echoed by many parents in the park, which sits right across from the tall, historic ships docked at the South Street Seaport. They said last summer they experienced similar spotty service with the fountains.
The Parks Department expects the water features to be turned on in mid-June.
“After having been turned off for the winter season, the spray showers in Imagination Playground currently require minor repairs before we turn them on for the warm weather,” said Bill Castro, the parks' Manhattan Borough Commissioner.
In the interim, the Parks Department has set up a sprinkler that showers kids from a perch atop a bright red tower in the park.
But several parents said they were concerned that the issue would be a continual problem, leaving the park without the cooling fountain water in the heat of summer.
Emma Markham, a local parent with a 4-year-old and 2-year-old, said that since Hurricane Sandy three years ago, the water features haven’t worked smoothly each summer.
“[The Parks Department] knows that summer is coming, and there are so many kids here that use this play,” she said.
“The temporary sprinkler isn’t really a substitute, it's just a Band-Aid since it just sprays down on kids running around and isn’t really a good idea for the younger kids.
“It just doesn’t make sense to not have this ready to work when half of the park is designed to be used for the water features."
The playground — designed to help spark children’s creativity — needs thousands of dollars a year in maintenance, according to the Parks Department.
Parks officials said that $1 million of private funding was raised when the park opened and has been used to fund park staff — special play leaders — for four years, and that the park currently has sufficient funds for maintenance.
"We've been concerned for a long time now about the park's continued maintenance," said Amanda Byron Zink, a local parent who also runs a dog spa in the Seaport.
"We're afraid that some of the pieces in the park aren't being maintained or replaced properly — and the water is a big issue. It's something that should have already been fixed."
