Harlem’s St. Nicholas Park is considered a hub for community activity. During the summer months, people gather in the park by the hundreds, sitting and talking about the latest news, participating in neighborhood basketball tournaments, celebrating birthdays, playing chess and having barbecues.
However, according to residents, the city has let the park that sits between 128th and 141st streets on St. Nicholas Avenue turn into a very dirty place, particularly when it comes to the park’s restrooms. Despite the conditions, those who use the public park roll up their sleeves and clean the area on a regular basis in order to maintain its use.
Resident Oliver McClendon has been especially vocal about the park’s unkempt condition, which could be blamed on the slashing of city budgets and layoffs at the Department of Parks and Recreation. Numerous calls to the city and 311 have failed. McClendon, a 56-year-old retired bricklayer, lives across the street from the nearly 23-acre park and goes out every morning as early as 7 a.m. to clean up.
According to the parks department, there are six people on staff exclusively to maintain the park. It is also serviced daily by a mobile crew that cleans the parks of West Harlem, trash is removed on a daily basis by a packer crew and a Central Park Conservancy crew comes once a week to trim the lawn at West 135th Street. These maintenance efforts are bolstered by alternative sentencing crews.
“The maintenance of the park is done by those who use the park,” McClendon said. “There is one city parks worker who works here, and about four times a week people from the court system sentenced to community service come and clean up, but they do a minimal job.”
Much of the weekend activity in St. Nicholas Park usually happens between 140th and 141st streets, where basketball and handball courts, playgrounds, chess and picnic tables are located. The area is below the hill to which the Hamilton Grange National Memorial was relocated in 2008. The house was home to American founding father Alexander Hamilton and is slated to be opened to the public in September.
That side of the park appeared to be well maintained, with new plants and flowers in place to prepare for the numerous tourists that are expected to see the house starting next month.
McClendon said, “It’s embarrassing. When tourists from Europe come to Harlem and use the restroom in St. Nicholas Park, they can’t stand the smell. They snatch their children away from the restroom.”
On a walking tour of the park, McClendon showed the AmNews the restrooms he said are often riddled with feces and urine on the walls before he or other residents clean them for use. He said the bathrooms get in that condition when intoxicated individuals use them. Both the men’s and women’s restrooms have just one stall, and the men’s room has a urinal.
“The urinal has been backed up for months and it can’t be used,” McClendon said. “The drain is clogged with debris,” so much that McClendon put a barrier up on the door to prevent people from using the bathroom. He said a park official removed the barrier.
Both bathrooms also lack working hand dryers, soap and toilet paper, which residents usually provide. McClendon reported that the park official, who he said was a white man named “Danny,” told him, “You people need to learn to take care of your community better.”
At 5 p.m. the bathrooms are locked, according to McClendon, who said that after that time the park’s population usually doubles from 200 people to around 400 or 500 people, forcing people to relieve themselves outside on the wall.
Garbage pickup is also an issue, he said, with trash piling up near cans and not being picked up for three to four days.
McClendon said that St. Nicholas is a peaceful park with no fighting or violence and is a place that the city should take care of.
“We don’t have an fights or disputes out here, and the older folks keep order,” he said. “We have a group of guys that are more than willing to clean the park. We need resources. We’re not looking for salary. They’ve got us living like a third world country.”
Shortly after the walk-through McClendon informed the AmNews that reaction by a park supervisor prompted a cleanup the following day.
The parks department responded to the Amnews, saying, “If any members of the community are interested in volunteering at St. Nicholas Park, we encourage them to contact us and we will help provide the resources and logistics for any potential volunteer projects.”