the park entrance [photo by Lucien Formichella]
In a public park that’s already been changed for the better, maybe it’s time we leave well enough alone.
I sat on a bench just inside the 122th and Madison entrance of Marcus Garvey park two times. Once was in the midafternoon on a Tuesday, from 3 to 3:30, and the other on a Thursday night from 9:10 to 9:45. The park itself is well lit and nicely spaced. Benches sit in rows about 25 feet cross from one another, and there is a light post every ten to fifteen feet. Outside the gates in the area surrounding 122nd street entrance, there is a bus stop, a school, apartment complexes, and even a pharmacy. The final piece to this wonderful location is that it’s just a few blocks walk from the 6 train, making the park very easy to get to.
view from a bench [photo by Lucien Formichella]
When I got to the park at 3pm, just after school let out, there were five or six kids playing basketball and some older men sitting and playing chess. There were two men who appeared to be homeless, just sitting on a bench with bags of cans piled up next to them, and third man approached me asking for money before walking out of the park. The park itself was quite clean. A crew from the Parks Department came around regularly with a truck for trash, and there was even a garbage truck parked outside the gate. Every once in a while, somebody would walk through the park, either nanny and child, a couple, somebody walking a dog, or a solitary person walking through.
Even at 9pm on a brisk March night, Marcus Garvey park had a handful of people enjoying their surroundings. There are 2 sets of flood lights that shine onto the basketball courts where around ten teenagers play a pickup game. The entire area is well lit. The court has the most powerful lights, but there are twelve other polls in a hundred-foot radius that make walking easy. Even after a day of use, the park remains clean. The garbage truck is still parked outside the gate waiting to be filled with litter. Cans may be full, but not overflowing, and some solar powered recycling bins are blinking by the side of the path. One napkin flips across the blacktop, but there is no sign of accumulated litter.
kids playing basketball [photo by Lucien Formichella]
A cop car rolled briskly through the park two times as I sat there, then drove off. They didn’t stop, but it did break up the peacefulness of the area a little bit. One man walked by with his dog, and two more walked by on their way out of the park. There were no homeless people, or anybody else sitting on benches, except for one man who came and sat down as I was leaving.
an example of great waste management [photo by Lucien Formichella]
The challenge for Marcus Garvey Park seems not so much to be about improvement, but rather maintenance. The area where I sat was well kept and thriving. It would not be surprising if people did drugs in certain areas of the park, but that’s neither a specific issue to this park, nor could it compare to the amount of people laid out on the East Harlem sidewalks. The real danger Marcus Garvey park seems much the same as the danger the neighborhood is facing. New renovations will build interest amongst the wealthy, which could lead to those who currently live there to getting forced out of their homes in the neighborhood. The park would arguably lose value then, since it is not serving those that it did before. The best way to improve Marcus Garvey Park is to maintain, not change; it has already been cleaned up a lot, and now it’s time for those who live by it to enjoy themselves. As long as there are kids playing until closing time and minimal litter, the park will continue to be successful.
benches and chess table [photo by Lucien Formichella]
general outline of the park [photo by Lucien Formichella]
the park at 3pm [photo by Lucien Formichella]
the park at 9pm [photo by Lucien Formichella]
