Group Gives City Athletic Fields an F in New Parks Report

The city’s playgrounds, courts and ballfields received poor marks in a report released today by the nonprofit New Yorkers for Parks, “Spotlight on Recreation: A Report Card on Parks Project.”

Between June and August of 2007, the group inspected 49 randomly selected parks in the five boroughs, three times each, and found fields strewn with broken glass and litter, and many public spaces that were locked or closed to the public with no explanation.

Though the group found that graffiti is generally removed quickly, maintenance repair work was unfinished, done with mismatched materials, or generally sloppy at many of the sites. Conditions in all three categories of recreation fields surveyed had declined since the group last conducted a survey in 2006.

Athletic fields scored the worst with an F rating, while the group gave a C-minus to ball courts and a C-plus to playgrounds.