Is the pressure campaign working?
The 18th Avenue Park – used by thousands of Boro Park residents each week – was open on Monday morning following a showdown between a local community activist and the NYC parks Department, and following a protest on Sunday in Flatbush by three elected officials representing the Jewish community.
Heshy Tischler of Boro Park has been a vocal critic of NYC Mayor DeBlasio, demanding that the city reopen parks following an announcement by Governor Cuomo saying that as far as he was concerned, all park could be reopened. Cuomo said it was up to local municipalities to make that decision. DeBlasio decided to keep them shut, and Tischler has been on a mission protesting the closure. Last week he was seen with around 100 children protesting in Williamsburg, and on Sunday in Boro Park.
This morning, there were three Parks Department Officers placed at the parks entrance to keep children out, but Tischler demanded they leave, and that is exactly what they did. See the video below of the interaction.
Earlier on Monday YWN reported that a park that Hasidic children were kicked out of on at least three occasions had its doors welded shut!
Meanwhile, a large group of parents with strollers, children on bikes and on foot, and even seniors, stood together with Senator Felder, Assemblyman Eichenstein and Councilman Yeger on Sunday morning at the locked entrance of Kolbert Park in the heart of Flatbush – on Avenue L and East 18th Street. With signs in hand they delivered a unified message to Mayor de Blasio- open our parks, playgrounds and schoolyards!
“Everything essential to children and healthy development is shut down. Playgrounds-not essential. Camps-not essential. Schools-not essential. It’s outrageous not to prioritize their reopening considering how essential they are. Children across this city are outside playing, we cannot and will not stop that from happening. What we can do is give them a safe space, a contained space, where parents can watch them and do their best as parents to keep them safe. I believe that parents do a better job of that than the government, any day. Keeping these playgrounds chained while kids are playing in the streets, is unconscionable,” said Senator Felder.
“After being cramped in city apartments for the last three months, playgrounds and schoolyards are essential to our children. They need a safe space to play that is safe,” said Assemblyman Eichenstein. “I was honored to stand with Senator Felder and Councilman Yeger at Kolbert Park in Midwood, calling on Mayor de Blasio to end the madness and give our children the one thing they are asking for-playgrounds. The Mayor must immediately reopen our playgrounds.”
“Kolbert was my childhood park; the place my siblings and I, and later our children, spent thousands of hours. Former Councilman David Greenfield and I devoted years to ensure its much needed $4 million renovation. But for nearly three months we’ve endured the heartbreaking sight of a chained park, with children longingly looking through the gates. Enough is enough. Not everyone lives near Prospect Park or Central Park. Our neighborhood parks are small oases in a concrete city. It’s time to restore New York City’s parks to New Yorkers and to take the chains off our parks,” said Councilman Yeger.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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18 Responses
deblazio doesn’t understand this language. he understands the language called ‘riot- ese’
Mayor DiBlasio………kids are crying out…WE CANT BREATHE…..
time to put your ego aside and start governing fair…..If protesters are allowed to Loot Macys and other stores withour any worries why cant our kids play for a few hours in the park….???????????
Why does YWN keep writing about parks, when that is not the issue? ALL PARKS IN NYC ARE OPEN. ALL PLAYGROUNDS ARE CLOSED. Not commenting on WHY playgrounds are closed, and whether they should be, but the fact is that they are, while parks are open. And yet YWN seems to have great difficulty understanding that simple fact.
Goyim don’t get it. They have one or two kids who spend most of their waking hours plugged in. Movies Nintendo Xbox internet. iPhone iPad. So maybe they’re not happy but they have something do keep them entertained. What are Jewish families supposed to do? Locked up for months with large families and limited activities.
Is there any rabbinical (read TORAH) backing to these demonstrations?
If there are, why aren’t we seeing any letters or hearing any announcements?
If there aren’t, why are G-d fearing people participating?
@Milhouse – In case you can’t see clearly, this entire park is closed, gated, locked. Children need a safe place to breathe some fresh air, as do the many seniors who spend time sitting safely in the park. With no place else to go, they are in less safe places on the streets because for how much longer can anyone be locked up in a small apartment?
There is rabbinical background
@millhouse
Most yeshivishe people refer to a playground as a park.
@Milhouse Please put on your glasses and see for yourself. The gated backrounds look like PARKS to me, not playgrounds. BTW, we (or most of us) CAN HEAR YOU WITHOUT CAPS!!!!!
This entire park is gated because there is no way to lock the playground areas and expect the kids to stay out of it. Unfortunately, clustering together with or without mask isn’t going to convince anyone to open our parks.
mr israeli chareidi we jews can stick up for our rights of discrimination theese are not protests were sticking up for our rights and heshy tischler i give him full credit and he is a tzadik hashem should help him to support the jewish community
I’m all for opening the parks (one way or another) but I’d be a lot happier about all this if those kids on scooters and bikes ↑ were all wearing helmets.
Mr. Gav
For Jews, “sticking up for our rights” is something we do in tefilla to the One who grants us those priveleges. Protesting is a form of hishtadlus which should only be exercised with the approval of daas Torah especially since the stakes are so high should it fail.
I assume that Mr. Tischler, as well as the rest of the y’rei Shomayim that we’ve seen protesting the past few days, are doing the right thing. I just wanted to find out why we haven’t seen the letters from the Rabbonim supporting this hishtadlus because without them people might think that this is something one does whenever they feel like it.
DR, Lamdan, and Momsi, that is NOT A PARK. There is no park at Ave L and East 18th. All there is there is the Kolbert Playground.
Pekak, since when? And if so, so what? If people are so ignorant they can’t even read a sign, how is that the city’s fault? The fact remains that the city is being 100% consistent and not favoring anyone. There are no closed parks, and no open playgrounds. Except the ones that people have illegally broken into and are trespassing in.
Gav, what right are you sticking up for? What gives you the right to have the playgrounds open? They belong to the city, not to you.
18th Ave Park Is Open
The pictures are not from any park, or anywhere on 18th Ave. They are from the Kolbert PLAYGROUND, which is nowhere near 18th Ave.
YWN has been straight up gaslighting and lying a to its readership on this issue. This is not some anti-semitic, “socialist De-Blasio” conspiracy to shut down “jewish” playgrounds. Every single playground in NYC is closed while parks are open. Just because YWN has shamelessly decided to lie to its readership doesn’t make it true. Shame on YWN for taking advantage of their readership during such a difficult time.
Only a bunch of yutzs like Felder and Yeager would show up for a lock breaking in a suit and tie