Residents want benches back at Keane Sq. Park
A group of Pelham Bay residents demanded Wednesday that the city's Parks Department replace benches in Keane Square Park. They say there's no space to sit in one of the neighborhood's few green spaces
News 12 Staff
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Mar 17, 2016, 2:24 AM
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Updated 2,978 days ago
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A group of Pelham Bay residents demanded Wednesday that the city's Parks Department replace benches in Keane Square Park.
They say there's no space to sit in one of the neighborhood's few green spaces ever since the city removed the benches without warning or explanation.
Some speculate that the Parks Department removed the benches to ward off drug users and homeless people who used them.
Residents say they want them back because the park used to be popular among senior citizens, especially during warm weather.
Community activist Egidio Sementelli is circulating a petition to bring back the benches. About 200 people signed in the first two days.
Supporters of the plan to bring them back have proposed folding benches that can be locked up overnight to prevent abuse, drug activity and vagrancy.
