By Amy Zimmer
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — Sordid tales of sex and drugs on the bench from Katharine Hepburn's Connecticut estate, imported to the garden inside Dag Hammarskjold Plaza that bears the legendary actress's name, perked the ears of Community Board 6.
After volunteers from Friends of Dag Hammarskjold told DNAinfo about the illicit activity spotted there on a warm February day, Community Board 6 asked police to monitor the green space, according to Gary Papush, who chairs the board's Parks and Landmarks Committee, and who updated residents Tuesday night.
The bench inside the 1.5-acre green space on East 47th Street and Second Avenue offers a secluded hotspot where women from a nearby shelter allegedly engage in illicit behavior, Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza members — who dilligently maintain the jewel of a space — said.
The group's president, Sherrill Kazan, told DNAinfo she saw four women engaging in sexual activity on the bench and two men seeming to stand guard while smoking, at 4:30 in the afternoon.
"It was so blatant," she said. "[While it was] still light out." She added: "It's not the first time, darling."
Project Renewal's New Providence shelter, serving mentally ill or substance-abusing women, opened on East 45 Street in 1998. Residents have pointed fingers at its clients causing problems in the park before.
The NYPD's 17th precinct Captain John Hart told residents at a community meeting last week that the police made three arrests on the very night Kazin had witnessed activity on the bench.
"We can't stop what already happened," Papush told DNAinfo. "Our only concern is the monitoring of the situation [by police], so it doesn't happen in the future."
