“If you are white, you enjoy freedom, rights and all the privileges that come with it, Richards said to a group of young people as he canvassed for votes in the neighborhood. “But if you are Black, you have to struggle daily to gain your freedom, rights and justice in this country. The current protests across are a testimony that blacks in the US are still not free,” he said. 

Richards is one of nine candidates running for District 49. 

Richards moved to Staten Island over 20 years ago after graduating from high school in Africa. His father is Liberian and his mother is Ghanaian.  As a child he spent time in a refugee camp in Ghana. He later studied law and has been a public defender attorney for almost a decade in the borough 

Richards said, since declaring his intention to run for office, he has been a  victim of a hate crime.

Through his public defender job he has seen and heard first hand how police have been unfairly treating African Americans in Staten Island. 

“There is a relationship between low education and crime,” he said. “Most of the crimes committed like drugs consumption, gang violence, drunk driving are committed more by high school dropouts. This means, the more educated a Black man is, the less likely for him or her to commit these crimes in the community.”

As he knocked on doors, searching for votes, Richards told African American and African residents that over policing is impacting negatively the community.

“Due to the over policing of black communities, cops will see more crimes in those communities than in the white majority neighborhoods whose population is more than the blacks,” he said. “That’s why my agenda is to reform the criminal justice system and push for the rights of minorities in decision making processes.”

In a 2019 Center survey conducted by Pew research center,  84% of Black adults said they believe that they are treated less fairly.

Richards said African Americans  are also disproportionately affected by the coronavirus.

“Blacks are frontline workers more than other races,” he said.”They are the less privileged and those suffering from poverty and unemployment than all others.”

Richards urged the community to think critically about the next election as the fate of Black America is at stake.

“We can protest from January to December, but if we don’t vote for the right people in the election, our suffering will stay the same,” he said.  

Voter Lassanah Gray, said that Staten Island needs a selfless representative that will be able to deliver the high expectations of  the borough’s African Americans. 

He said he is supporting Richards because of his work in the community defending poor black people in conflict with the law. 

The post Staten Island city council candidate canvasses the black community on eve of Independence Day appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

That was the cry of the day as hundreds of  Black Lives Matters protesters in Staten Island were joined by city officials to paint Black Lives Matters  in Richmond Terrace.  It was the borough’s way of marking the commemoration of Juneteenth yesterday. 

The murals were painted close to  Staten Island Ferry,  Borough Hall, 120th Police Precinct and the Staten Island Supreme Court. The street is considered the gateway to Staten Island.

Juneteenth is the date Galveston, Texas slaves were told that they were free. This was two years after slaves were freed through the Emancipation Proclamation. 

Mayor Bill De Blasio told the crowd that the city is committed to fight racial injustice.

“We are working on strategies to form a racial justice and reconciliation commission,” he said. “It will be similar to other Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s in other parts of the world to know what went wrong and how can it be corrected with a deep historical reflection.”

District Councilwoman Debi Rose, remembered the murder of Eric Garner who died while in a chokehold by police for selling loose cigarretes near the ferry.  The officer was never charged. 

“It was here at this point where Eric Garner was killed in 2014 by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo through an aggressive and illegal chokehold,” she said.  “So painting here today is to call on the authorities to end injustice and racial biases.”

Amoy Barnes, a city council candidate said the street murals should remind residents  that people of color have been suffering for too long and it’s time for words to be put into practice. 

“Black Lives Matter is a movement not a moment,’’ Barnes said. “There is a need for consistency, enactment of legislations, voting, census participation and other actions to ensure inequality and injustice against blacks are fought.” 

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 “Park-Hill used to be dangerous for us the African migrants. African Americans refused to welcome us. Some of us were harassed and arrested. Over 45 of our colleagues who retaliated were charged to court and some were deported” Freeman said. 

Freeman recalled how he was chased one night by a street gang for refusing to greet them. 

“In the process, I lost my $50 in my possession,” he said.  

Years down the line, tension has lessened between the two communities in Staten island because the African migrant’s community here grew to over 50,000 and a realization that what drove them apart should bind them together.

Alex Moore is the CEO of 1847 night club on Bay street in Staten Island. Its name is derived from July 26, 1847 when an African American from Virginia, Joseph Jenkins Roberts declared the colony of Liberia as an independent republic. It’s a key meeting point for members of both communities on Staten Island.

“We play both African and hip-hop music because we serve the two parties. We screen football, African movies and even serve both African and American dishes. This shows we are one and the same,”Moore said.  

Abraham Tucker is the president of the Liberian community in Staten Island. With black people facing  racism and police brutality, Tucker said  there is a need for both communities to work together. 

“What affects one, affects the other,” he said.  “The racists and the police are not targeting African Americans alone, they are targeting blacks.”

Al Peters  is an African American activist who operates a studio for arts and culture. He blamed Western education as the factor that divides what he called ‘Continent African born’ and ‘American born Africans’. 

“When Black history is taught in schools, they make it sound like, the existence of Black people started from slavery,” he said. “No, it didn’t. It started way back when we were Kings and Queens in our villages. Until the slave masters destroyed that peaceful life.”

Peters  said that some African Americans viewed the arrival of African migrants in the U.S. as a threat because they believe they will take their jobs from them. Cultural differences he believes also played a part. 

“But all that is as a result of the slavery mentality of the mind placed in our brothers by the colonial powers,” he said. “The same who are still killing black people, the oppressors. This is now the right time to work together and fight for justice,” he said.

Peters said he uses his studio and art  to inform both communities about peace, freedom and love for one another.

“These days, we attend parties, night clubs and chill as a family together which was unheard of in the past” he said.

Over the years, music, sports and intermarriages have played a part in improving the relationship between the two communities. 

The Lutheran church in Staten Island attracts worshippers from both the African and African American community.

“We even organized intermarriages between both communities,” said Zizi Kendakai, the  assistant pastor of the church.  “When we arrived here, the community was hostile. But prayers and the choir music got them attracted to this church and we are now united as one family.”

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together”, he said quoting from Psalms 133 of the Bible. 

 These words would lead to everlasting peace between the communities if they live by them, he said.

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Christiana Jabbie the head of  Being Human organization has joined Wendy De Shong Neuhalfen who is the CEO of New Direction Services to feed vulnerable communities in Staten Island as COVID-19 ravages the borough.  

“This is a time when we all need to come together and support our communities,” De Shong said. “Since the virus struck, people have been sitting home jobless and starving. It’s important to work together and help one another.”

The two agencies have been providing food for hundreds of vulnerable communities in Park Hill, Clifton and other areas of Staten Island New York throughout the lockdown. The neighborhoods are home to largely migrants, African Americans and less privileged communities. 

 The borough now has the second highest rate of documented infections, just behind the Bronx, with 21 cases per 1,000 people, according to data from the city health department.

Almost 380,000 New Yorkers have tested positive for the virus as of June 4  and 11,000 of them live on Staten Island. 

“At this stage, with so many cases coming in across the five boroughs every day, it’s hard to pinpoint what’s going on in Staten Island,” said Patrick Gallahue, a spokesman for the New York city’s Department of Health and Hygiene.    “We need to pay close attention to that borough.”

Neuhalfen, the CEO of New Direction Services said she founded the agency 20 years ago to address food insecurity among the elderly and the less privileged on Staten Island. The pandemic led her to scale up the agency’s response to help the community. They have been supporting over 1,000 families weekly.

“This is a time when we all need to come together and support our communities,” she said.

 Jabbie said they give out hundreds of bags of food, cartoons of eggs, vegetables, fruits and other consumables weekly as a way of giving hope. 

“The Park-Hill community needs this food because it’s a middle-class community,” she said. “It deserves more support because it does not have access to support given to other boroughs in New York city as a result of its location.”

The volunteers of the two organizations worked tirelessly to interact with dozens of beneficiaries during the distribution. But they never ignored safety  regulations.

“All our beneficiaries and our volunteers must wear their masks and follow the six feet distancing,” Jabbie said.  “We don’t allow overcrowding and any risky health practice during the process.”

The food distribution also includes awareness messages on Covid-19 to avoid practices that will spread the virus. 

Janet Freeman, a Liberian American living in Staten Island, appreciates the food support. She said it has saved her a lot of stress in trying to buy food since she lost her job in a local pub recently due to the virus.  Freeman believes the neighborhood is neglected by the city authorities. 

“We have to take the long journey to Manhattan or Brooklyn for jobs, leisure and other key city facilities,” she said. “Sometimes, we feel like we are not in New York. Covid-19 has even made our situation worse.”

The organizers said food donations will continue even when the pandemic ends.

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On Staten Island – the city’s most conservative borough – voters are hoping to make an impact on one of the most crucial presidential primaries in decades.

Members of borough’s the Richmond County Young Republicans met yesterday in the neighborhood, to discuss the election, listen to a Republican guest speaker and conduct a straw poll for the upcoming primary. Leading the event was Eric Campione, the RCYR president, who is active in organizing young Republicans in Staten Island.

“We’re a local club that helps Staten Island stay red, as I like to say.” said Campione. “We try and help political candidates that are Republicans stay on the ballots, and make sure that they get elected.”

Staten Island – with an estimated population of 474,558 in 2015 – is the borough with the highest number of registered Republican voters., In the last 12 general presidential elections, the majority of Staten Island voters have voted for Republican candidates nine times. They will have a chance to vote again.

Ron Castorina, Jr., a Republican who is running for New York State Assembly District 62 in a special election next week, was the night’s guest speaker. He spoke on the island’s heroin epidemic, education, and class issues.

“There are lots of issues in education where I don’t believe we should be giving money away to those who don’t deserve it,” Castorina said. “I do, however, I think we should be enhancing TAP, and we should be assisting those in the middle class to advance and to get ahead.”

Key to middle class issues in the presidential primary have been trade economics and tax plans. The Republican candidates have all argued for lower taxes, with some proposing more radical changes to the system than others.

Under Ted Cruz’s proposed tax plan, the seven personal income tax tiers will be simplified into one personal income tax rate of 10 percent. The plan also states that the first $36,000 of income for families of four will be tax-free. In addition, Cruz’s proposed plan eliminates the corporate income tax and will has a flat rate for business tax at 16 percent.

Propositions for a flat, or fair tax, have been common among Republican candidates for two decades, and have gained popularity among Republican voters.

“[T]here should be some sort of even tax distribution, based on the amount you make,” said George Palesano, a Republican-leaning retired member of the New York City Police Department. “Whether it’s federal tax on business services and no income tax, or everybody pays a flat tax with an equal amount of deductions.”

In contrast, Donald Trump’s proposed tax plan favors those making under $25,000 – and those married filing jointly with a combined income of less than $50,000. According to Trump’s website, this means that 75 million households will manage to avoid filing personal income taxes.

Campione, who helps run a plumbing heating and air conditioning company with his family, seemed to favor Trump’s plan because of this.

“In actuality, his tax plans benefit me because I don’t make that much money,” he said. “So I would be able to pay a lesser tax.”

Both Cruz and Trump’s plans are markedly different from the current 2015 single filer personal income tax brackets – and neither reaches the current rate of 39.6 percent for the top income bracket of over $413,200. Ohio Governor John Kasich has one of the most moderate rates of the proposed tax plans, with top income earners paying 28 percent.

In a straw poll conducted at the meeting, Trump won nine votes, Kasich won four votes, Cruz won one vote, and one was undecided.

“I actually read a poll somewhere a while ago. Trump was polling around 65 percent in the 11^th Congressional district, which is our district,” said RCYR Secretary Patrick Donegan. “So in this small sample size, this is pretty much on target to what Trump was getting there.”

That Staten Island Republicans would favor Trump, and his economic policies, could be a result of the island’s demographics. Staten Island is the wealthiest borough in New York City, and this is especially true of the island’s mostly white, working and middle-class conservative South Shore – that is, neighborhoods below the Staten Island Expressway. Here median incomes range from $72, 495 to $83,441, depending on the neighborhood. In 2012, over three quarters of residents worked on the island itself, with a majority of jobs in health care, retail, and construction sectors.

The desire by many to reform or simplify taxation reflects middle class concerns among Staten Islanders, just one of many class concerns in this year’s presidential primaries.

“I just went and did my taxes, five or six sheets, I gotta save thousands of receipts, and not only that … people that are wealthy have more access to other ways of cutting their taxes,” said Palesano, “To me, that’s not fair.”

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As grey clouds drifted rapidly outside on a cool spring afternoon, Robert Honor sat and stared outside of his wine shop. With jazz music playing in the background, he looked as students, workers, and others passed by on a busy neighborhood street leading to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.

“We needed Cromwell Center before,” said Honor, a resident of the Staten Island neighborhood of St. George. “We need it more than ever.”

Staten Island’s Cromwell Recreation Center was a public park and sports facility that had been demolished in the years following its unexpected collapse in 2010. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation is currently looking into three sites to rebuild the center. Now, neighborhood residents will finally have a chance to see the center, a staple of the neighborhood for decades, be rebuilt near their waterfront – the result of community efforts paralleling that of other neighborhoods in New York City.

“As a kid I’d occasionally come to Cromwell Center. Even as late as 10 years ago I was playing basketball there” said Honor, a co-owner of the wine store Honor Wines. “I also was aware that it was also a place that had programs for youth … my children, when they were younger, took advantage of some of the programs at Cromwell Center.”

Robert Honor, store owner and user of Staten Island’s old Cromwell Center. Photo by Dale Isip

Named after Staten Island’s first borough president George Cromwell, Cromwell Recreation Center was built on an existing pier in the Staten Island neighborhood of Tompkinsville starting in 1934. It was part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA), a program that promoted public works construction during the Great Depression. After it opened in 1936 – and a visit from Roosevelt himself in 1939 – it was home to galas, dances, and numerous sports activities and events. In more recent years, the facility housed a weight room, a computer room, and a basketball court.

The center was closed infrequently over the last two decades for repairs. Wood borer worms had eaten away at Pier 6, the structural foundation of the center. In 2000, the weight room was temporarily removed from Cromwell to nearby Lyons Pool, and in April 2010, the center was closed for further repairs to its roof and lobby. In May 2010 the roof collapsed unexpectedly, rendering the facility unusable. In January 2012 the Department of Parks and Recreation announced the center would be demolished.

Efforts by community organizations and elected officials since then have prompted the Parks Department to investigate ways to reinstate the facility in the surrounding area. The Department recommended three sites for the new center: the Staten Island Sanitation Department on nearby Victory Boulevard, the Children’s Aid Society’s Goodhue Center further inland, and finally Lyons Pool, right across the street (Murray Hulbert Avenue) from the original Cromwell Center.

“[City officials] were looking at three different sites, two of those sites – in our opinion as a coalition – are just not viable,” said Kelly Vilar, founder of the neighborhood group Let’s Rebuild Cromwell Recreation Center. “The only site that makes sense is Lyons Pool … it would reach out to the same population and would be able to serve everybody.”

Let’s Rebuild Cromwell, as well as other local residents, are now awaiting the results of a feasibility study, which will be taken into account in addition to a community survey that was distributed in late 2014. The funding for the study was the result of a competitive sealed bid process – a process that allows the city to hire contractors from the private sector – resulting in a two-year contract that began in July 2014 and will end in July of this year.

“We expect to have a report and final recommendations this fall,” said New York City Department of Parks and Recreation press officer Mario Lopez, in a statement, “[this] will help inform the City’s decision making.”

According to the city, the estimated amount of money needed for this study is $678,000, although local media reports put the figure at $700,000. Elected officials such as City Councilwoman Debi Rose, Borough President James Oddo and Richmond County District Attorney Michael McMahon have all expressed their support for a new center. After the study is released, the project will need to undergo a fund raising process of an undetermined length.

“We do not currently have funding for implementation,” said Lopez. “But [we] are actively working to secure funding.”

Bill de Blasio’s push for affordable housing in New York – and the land rezoning to come with it – is one reason why locals are concerned about accessible park and recreation spaces. In an effort to bring 200,000 units of affordable housing to the city, a total of 15 neighborhoods are proposed to be rezoned by the mayor, including some on Staten Island. This has brought concern about over-development among residents.

“People on the North Shore are concerned that the development down here is not just done for tourists,” said Honor. “If this project is not developed properly, we’ll essentially have created a gated community.”

The community push for park development in the face of rezoning on the waterfront parallels that of the Williamsburg-Greenpoint area of Brooklyn. When neighborhood was rezoned in 2005, residents there were promised an expanded Bushwick Inlet Park by then-mayor Michael Bloomberg. The city did not fulfill this promise, and has only responded in the face of extensive activism, including live protests and videos.

“The videos … helped strengthen and grow community support both in our area, but to like minded groups of people in different parts of the city,” said Steven Chelser, activist and co-chair of Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park. “We also engaged the press to hook into our story and run with it, and then most importantly, imposing our issue on the city, and it’s been continual and relentless.”

Though activism on Staten Island has been on a smaller scale, residents are similarly expressing concerns about building park and recreation facilities by the waterfront, ones that could accommodate residents both old and new.

“With all the nearly a billion dollars of development going into this area, it would be nice to see some amenities for the people who live here, and all the new people who will be coming here,” ” said Steven Joseph, a Tompkinsville resident and a supporter of Let’s Rebuild Cromwell.

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Wearing glasses and a fitted cap, Ephraim Diggs sat relaxed at a table in a busy Staten Island presentation hall waiting to hear about the rezoning plans that would bring big changes to his borough.

“I’m giving it another year,” Diggs  of Staten Island said. “If I see that it’s getting overcrowded, I’m moving, I’m getting out.”

But  New York’s current rezoning plans for affordable housing extends far beyond the borough. Staten Island is just one part.

On February 18^th and 20^th, residents of Staten Island’s North Shore – those of the Tompkinsville, St. George, and Stapleton neighborhoods – listened to presentations on the area by the Department of City Planning (DCP) and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and participated in question-and-answer sessions for a zoning area one-half mile south of the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, what city agencies refer to as the “Bay Street Corridor”.

“There is a billion dollars worth of public and private investment coming to this neighborhood now,” said Len Garcia-Duran, director of DCP’s Staten Island office, “We’ve got an opportunity for new residential within walking distances of the ferry terminal in downtown Manhattan, that would attract a lot of folks who are being priced out of Manhattan.”

The area extends from Victory Boulevard in Tompkinsville to Sands Street in Stapleton. The area has a significant width, as it spans between Bay Street and Van Duzer Streets, two thoroughfares on Staten Island’s North Shore. It is currently a manufacturing district, and has been since 1961. City agencies including the DCP and the NYCEDC have held several meetings with the public in regards to proposed changes to the area’s development zone status.

The Bay Street Corridor from Pavement Pieces on Vimeo.

A key issue around the rezoning is the conflict between what residents see as a potential for gentrification and over-development, combined with the city’s insistence that the rezoning would provide required affordable housing in the area.

“In Williamsburg and other areas, they all have affordable housing components voluntarily,” said Garcia-Duran. “What we’re trying to do is demonstrate how we can get new private development done here on Staten Island, with a required affordable housing component.”

In 2005, the neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Greenpoint faced a similar proposed rezoning. Residents of those neighborhoods negotiated a residential neighborhood and park zone, out of a proposed power plant. But  according to some residents, the city has not held to its agreement to set aside adequate park space for the area. Those neighborhoods have since been a place of residential development, albeit with a significant population increase.

“The Williamsburg-Greenpoint rezoning is now held up as what not to do, how not to rezone a community.” said Jens Rasmussen, a community activist and resident of Greenpoint. “If the rezoning is anything like what’s happened here, it will irrevocably change the character of your neighborhood.”

Under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing plan, developers building in rezoned areas would be required to set aside a certain percentage of new units for affordable housing. Because of a community-level resistance to high-density developments, the plan has been rejected at the borough board level on Staten Island. It is also currently facing opposition in the New York City Council for similar, though not entirely identical reasons.

The rezoning phenomenon is currently city-wide, to accommodate for Mayor de Blasio’s proposed 200,000 units of affordable housing. The recent rezoning of East Harlem, for example, is indicative of a process that took months to accomplish.

Back in Staten Island, some residents fear development will affect rent and the nature of businesses in the area.

“At the moment [the Bay Street Corridor] is underutilized, so I think it would be nice to see that strip be more active,” said DB Lampman, artist and co-founder of Staten Island MakerSpace in Stapleton. “We just don’t want to see all the manufacturing being lost.”

In conjunction with projects such as the currently developing New York Wheel and Urby Staten Island, other residents saw the potential for traffic and population density issues along a rezoned Bay Street Corridor.

“I live over there by the ferris wheel – they’re renovating our lot, and they’re renovating the ferry,” said Diggs, a St. George resident. “There’s a lot of building going on. I understand what they are trying to do, to build and upgrade, but in the long run there is going to be overcrowding.”

Some residents don’t want to see this happen on Staten Island.

“I think this Mayor wants more affordable housing,” said Ed Pollio, co-founder of the 5050 Skatepark in Stapleton. “My concern is, if he’s reelected, is he going to push this through without community support? … I don’t think Staten Island is ready for what’s going to happen on the North Shore.”

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“They said it was too much damage… it would cost too much,” said Helena Mahon. “We were just like in limbo this whole time.”

The Mahons lived in the Sandy-damaged house for two and a half years before Habitat for Humanity New York agreed to repair their basement. Construction officially began in October of this year and is expected to finish just in time for the holidays. Michael Gilliard, of Habitat for Humanity, stated that completing their house in time for January has been a real push.

“This is by far our largest and most extensive project,” said Gilliard. The Mahon’s home will be Habitat for Humanity’s 43rd Superstorm Sandy repair project in the New Dorp community but finishing construction on the Mahon’s house has been not been an easy task.

“It’s not as sexy to sell Sandy as it was three years ago,” said Gilliard. “I think the Critical Home Repair Division [of Habitat for Humanity] will continue to perform Sandy work as long as the grant dollars are available – but there’s a burn out on the part of volunteers and donors.”

Habitat for Humanity is a volunteer driven non-profit organization. Gilliard stated that Habitat for Humanity typically loses most of their volunteers directly after Thanksgiving, making the holiday season particularly hard to complete housing projects. Facing low volunteer turn out rates means that Habitat for Humanity has had to purchase paid labour to get these families back into their homes for the holidays.

“It’s kind of what you have to do,” said Gilliard, “There is no legal obligation to get things closed and completed, but it’s a good milestone for us to see people return to their homes by the holidays.”

Habitat for Humanity is not the only organization that repairs homes in Staten Island, New York, and some New Dorp residents have sought assistance from the city’s Build It Back Program and Yellow Boots, a disaster relief organization that provides assistance for the long-term recovery of Staten Island following Superstorm Sandy.
“Our neighbor down here, they went through Yellow Boots. Next door here, the Deli, they had insurance,” said Mahon. “I know one of my friends…she did the [paperwork] and she got reimbursed from Build It Back. Everybody has a different story. It’s amazing.”

The Mahons have lived in their house on New Dorp Lane for the past 38 years. Superstorm Sandy marked the third time their home flooded. Despite this, they have no plans to leave. Some, however, did choose to leave New Dorp after Superstorm Sandy. An estimated 30 to 40 percent of affected residents in New Dorp left the Staten Island community. For Helena and John, Superstorm Sandy has forever changed their neighborhood.

“Before Sandy, if I looked out my window and I saw somebody, I’d know who they were. Now you don’t,” said Mahon. “There are a lot of abandoned houses, which is sad.”
As the holiday season approaches, the Mahons are optimistic about the future of their New Dorp community. They hope New Dorp will be a safe place to work and live for their new neighbors.

“Three years on, I think there is a lot more hope in the neighborhood now,” said Mahon. “I still love the neighbourhood. And the future looks pretty good actually.”

The post A Rebuilt Home for the Holidays appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Vanis Trapp sat on a low wooden post, her back to a large park covered with bright orange colors of fall foliage. She lamented the closure of Von Briesen Park in the Rosebank neighborhood of Staten Island due to the 2015 New York City Marathon.

“In the old days, I just sat, watched, enjoyed [the marathon].” said Trapp, 59. “I just want to sit down.”

A heavy police presence surrounded Rosebank today as morning preparations for the marathon drew to a close.

Intersection of School Road and Bay Street in Rosebank, Staten Island, shortly before the 2015 New York City Marathon. Photo by Dale Isip.

Large shuttle buses assisted runners on their way from the Staten Island Ferry Terminal to Fort Wadsworth, the starting point of the marathon, as police barricades lined the intersection of Bay Street and School Road.

Police closed certain public areas near Fort Wadsworth to accomodate
the NYPD Running Club,and the FDNY Running Club including Von Briesen Park. Neighborhood residents were disappointed that they could not use the park during the marathon as in previous years.

“Usually, this park was for the runners to get their heads together,” said Trapp, a Stapleton resident. “It wasn’t for a police group. I can’t even sit in the park now.”

Linda Mompalao, a Rosebank resident, was walking her dog, Buddy, to the park. She also could not enter the park, and thought the difference this year was, at the very least, strange.

“We’ve always been able to go up, into the park, and see the runners go over the bridge,” Mompalao said. “This is a city park, and the federal park guy is saying we can’t go in. That’s interesting.”

Park rangers and police officers were turning away people with without identification bands. In addition to Van Briesen Park, Fort Wadsworth itself was accessible only to runners, police officers, and park rangers.

Security precautions were likely in place due to recent bombings and acts of terrorism at similar events.

“It’s different, more police presence, different organization, more security.” said Terresa Daniels, 53, a Rosebank resident. “They probably know something that we don’t know. But with what’s been going on, what are you going to do?”

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