In the News: Dog Run at Risk of Sinkhole

••• “Two City agencies that have separate jurisdiction over adjacent halves of the same plot of land in Tribeca have allowed a potentially unsafe condition to fester for several years, according to a recent discussion at Community Board 1.” It’s about the dog run and playground on Warren Street, which were improperly built by the developer of 200 Chambers. The Department of Education did work on half of the rehabilitation, but the Parks Department hasn’t done anything. —Broadsheet

••• Here’s something no one mentioned when I was at the new Foundrae jewelry boutique: “Owner Beth Bugdaycay plans to add a men’s clothing line.” UPDATE 4/10: “Beth is not launching a men’s clothing line,” emailed a rep. “She is launching something special, but not clothing, which we will announce this summer.” —Crain’s

••• Info on City Hall Park’s next sculpture show: “B. Wurtz: Kitchen Trees also relates to food. Mr. Wurtz, whose past work has included experimentation with common materials, will create five new sculptures for display in City Hall Park in Manhattan. The sculptures will take the form of trees, and will be created using common kitchen items including colanders, pots and pans. The exhibition will open August 7. It is the first public commission of the sculptor’s career, despite his decades-long presence in New York.” —New York Times

••• “The De Blasio administration announced today that it’s making progress on the new ferry landing coming to the Soundview neighborhood of the Bronx, the first and only ferry stop announced for the borough to date. In addition to its launching pier at Clason Point in the Bronx, the Soundview ferry will stop at a new landing at East 90th Street as well as make stops at the existing landings at East 34th Street and Wall Street/Pier 11. The Lower East Side route will also launch this summer and run from Wall St./Pier 11 to Long Island City making stops at Corlears Hook, Stuyvesant Town, and East 34th Street.” —Curbed

 

8 Comments

  1. Isn’t the dog run private property? There’s a lock on the entrance gate and requires with a membership fee charge.

    http://www.dogownersoftribeca.com/

    • The Broadsheet says that Manhattan Youth’s Bob Townley said the Parks Department owns it. If that’s true, I don’t know why the membership restriction would exist. Perhaps someone out there with a longer memory than mine can clear it up.

  2. if memory serves, the dog run predates ps 234 and 200 chambers street. it’s private in the same way that washington market park used to be private. it’s similar to those private gardens that exist on empty lots in the east village. membership is open to everyone. the city government wasn’t funding anything back then and these facilities were started by citizens with there own money on vacant city owned land with permission. the parks department didn’t get involved until later.

  3. Judging by a historical aerial picture I saw, it appears the school was built with an empty asphalt surface where the playground and dog run are now.

    The real question is that if it is private (which it seems to be given the fencing, the key code, and the membership fee), why is the city responsible for anything?

    If it is public, then it should be open to be public for all recreational uses, especially in an area where there is such a need for open public spaces.

    • again, i admit my memory might be imperfect but i’m pretty sure the dog run was on that asphalt lot behind ps234 and it went all the way through to chambers street. when 234 was built the only playground was in front of the school. when 234 expanded into the annex space at 200 chambers, the dog run was divided in half by the access corridor. at that time, the dog run people gave up half of the dog park to create the ps 234 backyard. i believe the dog run became member only in order to finance the maintenance because the city didn’t want to pay to keep it clean and the neighborhood was concerned that it could become a health hazard.

      my point is that the dog run, as far as i know, has always been a good neighbor and the membership aspect was never intended to be exclusive. now that there are other dog runs in the neighborhood, perhaps it’s time for the city to revisit the issue.

  4. I was thinking that any art would be better than the last round in the park, but I’m not having a good feel about kitchen trees. http://gothamtogo.com/b-wurtz-kitchen-trees/

  5. Years ago I used to take my dog to this run and a really menacing fellow who lived at 99/101 Warren created a terrible division between neighbors and locals with dogs. He accosted an elderly man and his dog (the dog was a barker) and taped him and threatened him.
    I stopped going after he somehow managed to take over the running of the dog run, put a new lock on, and basically drained a lot of the old school charms out of the place.
    I heard he moved out and is probably upsetting his new neighbors elsewhere.
    Word on the street was that 200 Chambers is responsible for its upkeep because they gained extra buildable square footage if they did so, but I am not sure.

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