As promised by the Jewish Community elected officials, two more community parks were opened in defiance of NYC mayor Bill DeBlasio. NYS Senator Simcha Felder on Monday night tweeted: “We’ve asked nicely and waited patiently. We’ve made every logical argument. The people have spoken and they’re running out of patience. If @nycmayor won’t open ALL our playgrounds @SEichenstein @KalmanYeger and I will cut the locks open ourselves. Sure enough, the trio arrived at the park on Avenue L and East 18 on Tuesday morning and were joined by Heshy “ParkBuster” Tischler. A man with a saw took to the lock, and 3 minutes later, the park was opened and filling with mothers and children happily using the playground. The group then went to a park in Boro Park and did the same. A joint statement given to YWN by Felder, Eichenstein and Yeger says “Individually, each of us exhausted every avenue of diplomacy in our effort to open our playgrounds for the families and children in our city. We advocated sincerely and respectfully, hoping for a willing partner.  On Sunday we stood here together, surrounded by children and families suffering under an inequitable, nonsensical policy, as they made a heartfelt plea. For the last time, we urged the Mayor to open these gates and clearly stated our intention to unlock them and rightfully return the parks to the children. The people have spoken and they are sick and tired of being ignored. With everything going on in the world, why is our Mayor intent on making criminals of mothers and children in need of a safe space to play? If they lock these gates, we will cut them open again tomorrow, because we serve the people. Who do you serve, Mr. Mayor?” Meanwhile, at a press conference this morning, NYC mayor DeBlasio said “We’re not going to allow people to take the law into their own hands. It just doesn’t work. So people are not allowed to open up a playground that is not yet available to the public.” As YWN reported on Monday, “The ParkBuster” cut the locks at the Middleton Playground (Lynch Park) in Williamsburg, as well as the “Bedford Playground”, on Bedford Ave. and South 9th Street. This came on the heels of the NYC Parks Department literally sending a crew to the Lynch park to weld the doors shut. Following the Williamsburg stunt, incident, the videos went viral, and gained national attention. Senator Ted Cruz tweeted “Bravo” in a response to a tweet about the lock-breaking. And on Monday night, GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted the video and wrote “Total double standard → New York’s mayor appears to be discriminating against Jewish funerals, schools, and playgrounds in enforcing his coronavirus shutdown. If Americans can protest, families should have access to their neighborhood parks.” We stood together on Sunday and demanded @NYCMayor open our playgrounds. Apparently it landed on deaf ears. This park does not belong to any particular official. This park belongs to our community. Today we returned playgrounds to our children who desperately need them pic.twitter.com/TTkazMdpId — Simcha Eichenstein (@SEichenstein) June 16, 2020 (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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