We live a few blocks from McCarren Park. I take Em to the playground there every single day. It’s often trashy, but the past couple of days have taken trashy to an entirely different level.
Earlier today I wrote the following two posts on Twitter:
The state of our playground the last 2 days has me feeling levels of rage I didn’t know were attainable. The filth! Mad enough to spit.
Not sure who I am more angry with: the idiots who don’t clean up after themselves, the parks employees, or myself for putting up with it.
The image below shows the front of the swing set. To the left (off screen) there is a jungle gym and a slide. (Yes, that’s a huge tablecloth.)
Below is a shot looking into the playground. The whole area was this bad. (Check out the broken chairs in the far right.)
Finally, the waste leftover from use of illegal fireworks.
Gothamist wrote a story about the state of Propsect park after July 4th to which I left a comment because I was JUST SO RAGING MAD!
And then later, Gothamist linked to a post on Curbed where a reader sent in pictures and wrote in about the state of McCarren park. So, it’s not just me, which makes me happy, but our anger isn’t changing anything.
I didn’t take pictures while at the playground today, but it was in the same poor shape. There were pizza boxes, hundreds of cans, paper plates, bags of chips, more boxes, balloons, juice boxes, the list goes on and on. I simply can’t do it justice. It was deplorable.
If there’s one trait about a New Yorker that makes me feel crazy, it’s the ability to make excuses about this city to the point of apathy. We overlook things that shouldn’t be overlooked. (Just look at how much a person is willing to pay for a 300 square foot apartment.)
There’s a triple homicide on the same street your million dollar condo sits on? “Let me show you my tall ceilings and private backyard!”
You can’t send your kid to public school because it scored a most horrific rating? “I’m spending 1200 a week to send my kid to private school.”
Your playground is covered in trash and filth and sometimes crack bags? “Kids get hit by cars in the suburbs! And there are sexual predators there.”
There’s an excuse for everything. No joke. Everything.
But I can’t fault any of us for it. I mean, can you imagine if everyone finally realized how much they are willing to let slide in order to live here? You think New Yorkers are mean now? Without that blissful denial, all hell would break loose.
I’m so sick of making excuses for this city and nonchalantly shrugging my shoulders whenever I see something totally uncool. And I’m tired of everyone around me pretending it doesn’t exist as well, like, that’s just the way it’s supposed to be, deal with it or leave. That retort makes me want to punch the person. Why should I deal with this? Why should I deal with a filthy playground? Why should you have to work 70 hours a week just so you can send your kid to private school?
One might say I’m a little more than angry. All it took was a filthy playground.
And so…
I have a favor to ask of you: if you’re a parent and you frequent a playground or park of some kind, can you snap a picture of it for me? Please send them to me via email (mihow @ mihow dot com). Ideally, I’d like put them all together and compare. Please include the name of your town or city.
Mihow 
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