By Cynthia Koons
Martins Field in Flushing ranked as one of the five most dangerous playgrounds in the city based on its unsafe swings and the potential toxicity of its wooden and painted equipment, among other safety criteria, a study released by NYPIRG last week found.
The park is not only one of the five riskiest for children in the city but also one of the 10 most potentially hazardous playgrounds in the state, the nonprofit public interest and advocacy group said.
“The idea behind doing those reports is we’re bringing attention to the ones that are not so good,” said Susan Craine, a consumer advocate for the New York Public Interest Research Group.
Parks Department Commissioner Adrian Benepe said the results of the study were overblown and basically irrelevant.
“Overall, once a year NYPIRG trots out this sort of fear-mongering report about playgrounds being dangerous and toxic,” he said. “We don’t give it much credence. We’re the professionals.”
Martins Field has been the center of the community’s attention for other reasons in the past few years because the playground was built on a former black and native American burial ground.
The city Department of Parks and Recreation has since become involved in the redesign of the property in order to recognize its history as hallowed ground while still maintaining a playground for children to play on.
“If they’re redesigning Martins Field, hopefully they’ll do it without these hazards,” Craine said after she learned of the plan to rebuild the park.
The Parks Department plans include an expansive memorial park with a playground at the northern end of the property, which spans 164th to 165th streets on 46th Avenue in Flushing.
Months of wrangling between descendants of the blacks and native Americans and the neighborhood residents resulted in the compromise.
But until the playground is rebuilt, NYPIRG will be contacting local politicians and city and state agencies to alert them to the hazards in the park.
Out of the seven different hazard indicators, Martins Field ranked poorly in five. Those included unsafe surfaces, inadequate fall zones, toxic playground risk, unsafe equipment height and unsafe swings.
The other two indicators, on which Martins Field playground managed to get passing grades, included head entrapment and clothing entanglement hazards.
Toxic playground risk is determined by the type of treatment on the wood surfaces of the equipment. Pressure-treated wood, in which a chemical barrier prevents termites from eating away at equipment, presents a health concern when arsenic is detected, according to the NYPIRG study. Arsenic is classified as a carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In 2002 the state banned from playgrounds the use of chemically treated wood that may have arsenic on it.
Other potential toxins include peeling, chipped or cracked paint, lead paint and treated wood.
The NYPIRG study said chipped and peeling paint was found at the park. There was no conclusive evidence of arsenic in the playground.
Benepe said the Parks Department has not used lead-based paint in its parks for more than 25 years. Nor does the department use the type of chemically treated wood that NYPIRG has deemed dangerous. Where there is existing treated wood, Benepe said it has been painted over enough times to not be hazardous anymore.
The other violations, ranging from swings that are aligned too closely or equipment that is too high, were assessed in a survey conducted by the organization’s volunteers.
The results came as no surprise to City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), who has led the initiative to broker a compromise in the reconstruction of the park and the creation of a memorial.
“The playground at Martins Field is absolutely abominable and we clearly need to completely overhaul the playground,” he said. “A new playground will be built on the northern end of that location where it has not been conclusively determined that human remains exist.”
He expects the new facility to be completed by next spring.
A Parks Department spokesman said the agency would break ground on the project in August. The new playground will include tot equipment made from rubberized materials, not pressure-treated wood.
“It’s really just the worst kind of fear mongering,” Benepe said of the NYPIRG study. “The good news for Martins Field is that it’s due for a full restoration and it’s funded and its construction will begin in August.”
Reach reporter Cynthia Koons by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 141.
