Helping Washington Market Park

Washington Market Community Park needs your help.

The board’s president, Linda Lakhdhir, recently listed all the damage left in the wake of Sept. 11. The basketball court, where heavy emergency equipment was parked, is peeling and has to be resurfaced. Tourists trampled plants, and someone drove over a garden fence.

The tennis court’s net and umpire’s chair, the bulletin board’s window, the fence lock and benches must also be repaired or replaced. And the sandbox needs new sand—the old sand was removed because it was contaminated with asbestos. The cost for the sand is $10,000. Replacing the plants will cost $5,000.

City Councilmember Kathryn Freed had allocated $247,000 for the park but that money got caught in a city budget freeze. "We haven’t been told that we don’t have it, but we haven’t been able to access it," Lakh-dhir said. The park board is applying for a Mellon Foundation grant.

The long-planned reconstruction of the playground, slated to start late last year, will begin soon in the north end of the park. But the timetable for its completion will depend on funding and some elements of the plan may be eliminated.

Tax-deductible contributions should be sent to Washington Market Community Park, Inc., 295 Greenwich St., #227, New York, N.Y. 10007. For further information, call Lakhdhir at 965-9281.