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PODCAST: 'Mayor' of Gramercy Park Explains Why You're Not Allowed Inside

By Gwynne Hogan | June 17, 2016 7:35am
 Arlene Harrison is the Mayor of Gramercy Park. She is the keeper of the keys and makes the rules.
Gramercy Park Mayor
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Each episode of This is New York brings you a conversation with a DNAinfo reporter, followed by a story central to their beat.

Today we're headed to Gramercy Park with editor Heather Holland and reporter Amy Zimmer, both of whom have covered the area extensively. Heather is now a DNAinfo editor and Amy is a real estate and education writer.

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Gramercy Park, that secluded, beautiful and extremely exclusive greenspace, is one of just two private parks in New York City. The other is in Sunnyside, Queens.

Each lot surrounding the park has to pay annual maintenance fees for the space — in 2014 it was $7,500. The annual fee gets each lot two keys and residents of those buildings can choose to buy an additional key of their own for $350 more.

When the park was first built in 1831 it was designated as private property.

In this episode of This is New York, the park's unofficial mayor Arlene Harrison talks about the constant battle to keep the park private and pristine.