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Opponents of Controversial UWS Playground Overhaul File Last-Minute Lawsuit

By Emily Frost | July 6, 2015 6:20pm
 The group Friends of Playground 89 has filed another lawsuit against the city over its plans for Playground 89.
Playground 89
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UPPER WEST SIDE — A group that has been fighting the renovation of a local playground for years has filed another lawsuit in an attempt to stop the project.

A group composed of local residents and parents filed the suit — its seventh overall — last week over the city's reconstruction of Playground 89, which has been the site of numerous injuries to kids, sources and a spokeswoman from the city's Law Department told DNAinfo.

The West 89th Street playground, which has been a battleground for parents and residents for more than three years, is used by the adjoining elementary school, P.S. 166, as well as the public during non-school hours. 

The group, Friends of Playground 89, has consistently argued at dozens of public meetings held to discuss the reconstruction that claims that the adventure-style design is dangerous are overblown and inaccurate. The local preservation advocacy group Landmark West also joined in the suit.

An opposing group, which includes several elected officials, has fought for its redesign, which the city's Public Design Commission approved in 2014.

The injunction, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court last week, claims the Parks Department and the Public Design Commission worked "to obscure and conceal details of the proposed redesign,” according to the New York Post.

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Comptroller Scott Stringer and City Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal together contributed $950,000 toward the reconstruction, which they claim will prevent injuries by flattening a sloped section and will make the playground ADA-accessible.

The project, which involves changing the pitch of the playground and adding new play elements, was set to be fast-tracked this summer, a Parks Department spokesman confirmed to DNAinfo in mid-June.

The department aimed to start in early July and have the job finished by the end of September, pending any construction or weather-related issues, the spokesman said. 

"As a parent who has been trying for over four years to get Playground 89 renovated, space that is used primarily by the elementary schoolchildren of PS166, I am deeply disappointed, and at this point disgusted, with FOP89's and Landmark West's punitive and baseless argument against obvious and necessary improvements to an outdated and unmaintained playground," said Christine DiPasquale, a parent at the school who has led the fight for playground renovations.

Neither the Parks Department nor the city Law Department would comment on what the latest suit means for the construction timetable, citing pending litigation. 

Neither Friends of Playground 89 nor Landmark West returned requests for comment. 

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