HELL’S KITCHEN — A rat-infested, trash-strewn public plaza maintained by a nearby luxury building is not getting the care it needs as a food kiosk that shuttered there several years ago looks to reopen, neighbors said.
Luxury West 57th Street apartment complex The Sheffield currently owns Balsley Park, a small public plaza at the corner of West 57th Street and Ninth Avenue that has been overrun with rodents, pigeon droppings and empty liquor bottles since the kiosk there closed in 2013, locals complained.
“We’ve been working on [the Balsley Park issue] for more than a year with no clear understanding of who’s responsible for maintaining it or what agency is responsible for [it],” said John Clifford, a resident of the Parc Vendome building on West 57th Street, at Community Board 4's land use committee meeting Wednesday.
“The landscaping keeps getting more hideous,” a resident named Anita added.
The park, which spans a third of an acre, is made up of a few tables and chairs around an empty green kiosk, a swath of concrete and elevated grass, and a children's play area at its south end.
The city departments of Buildings and City Planning both said the 58-story Sheffield, which is located just down the street from the park but not adjacent to it, is responsible for the park’s maintenance.
John Simons, the on-site manager at The Sheffield, said the building sends an employee to the park to clean it up “four times a day,” noting the in-between hours could be when problems arise.
But former longtime Upper West Side councilwoman Ronnie Eldridge, who lives in The Sheffield, said its board had only recently been made aware of issues with the park, and expressed frustration over neighbors’ anger toward her building.
“I don’t think the board of The Sheffield has ever said we don’t consider it our responsibility to maintain this park,” she acknowledged. “We are a [new] board that didn’t even know the [kiosk] permit had expired.
“The only thing we really inherited was the hostility of the people in the neighborhood,” she added.
If The Sheffield’s permit to reopen the kiosk is approved by the City Planning department, the full-time kiosk operator would be responsible for cleaning the area around the food stand and would try to persuade park-goers to heed the signs prohibiting pigeon-feeding, Simons said.
The owners of Kilo, a restaurant down the street from the park, would operate the kiosk if the Sheffield secures its permit. Sandwiches, burritos and Asian-style bowls with vegetarian and gluten-free options are included on the tentative menu, a Kilo representative said at the meeting.
Councilman Corey Johnson’s chief of staff Erik Bottcher said their office has been working with residents who have expressed concerns about issues with homeless people frequenting the park, as well as illegal activities there over the past several months.
"I visited the park today — the park needs TLC, it needs some capital improvements,” Bottcher said at the meeting. “The question is, can The Sheffield work with the residents and really get the park up to where we all think it should be?”
Johnson’s office is planning a park walk-through with members of the City Planning and Buildings departments, representatives from The Sheffield and neighbors to discuss needed upgrades and upkeep for the park, he added.
Residents and CB4 committee members requested that The Sheffield’s management install security cameras on both ends of the park, perform upgrades and carry out regular cleaning and maintenance if The Sheffield gets the kiosk permit, to which Simons agreed.
“We want this park to be a very good spot — as good as possible,” Eldridge added.
CB4's full board will vote on the kiosk permit application in March, but the Department of City Planning will have the final say on the permit.
