Resident petitions for public park restroom in Kingsbridge Heights

A petition has been started to get a public restroom at Fort Four Park in Kingsbridge Heights. The park features basketballs courts, a playground and benches, but it has not had a bathroom since the

News 12 Staff

Sep 19, 2016, 1:14 AM

Updated 2,787 days ago

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Resident petitions for public park restroom in Kingsbridge Heights
A petition has been started to get a public restroom at Fort Four Park in Kingsbridge Heights.
The park features basketballs courts, a playground and benches, but it has not had a bathroom since the last one was torn down in the late 1980s after a fire.
Liz Thompson, of the Kingsbridge Heights Neighborhood Improvement District, says she hopes to change that.
She says many kids play at the park, but their games are often cut short because they have to go home to use the restroom.
Thompson started a petition and says she's planning on handing it to the Parks Department and local elected officials.
She says she's put several written requests in to Parks Department representatives at community board meetings throughout the years, to no avail.
Parishioners of Our Lady of Angels Church say people are constantly disrupting service to use their bathroom.
"It's not fair," says Joan DeJesus. "We need more bathroom facilities for people to use them out there instead of coming to our church."
When asked why a bathroom was not added to the park during its last rehabilitation, a New York City Parks Department spokesperson said, "Unfortunately, at that time we found out that there wasn't a sanitary connection and that rock excavation would be needed for the foundation. We did not, and still do not, have sufficient funds to complete the necessary work."


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