Spray it ain’t so!
The beloved spray showers used by tiny tots to cool off during the hot summer months in city parks have been reportedly out of service in record numbers at dozens of green spaces this summer – and parents are fuming.
Parks officials recently lamented that the city is grappling with “dozens of sprinkler outages” and the department has “very few staff resources for repairs,” according to emails from the agency obtained by The Post.
A whopping 668 calls have been made to the city Parks department about defective service at more than 250 locations since Memorial Day – the agency’s “target” date for when all of its spray showers should be up and running – marking a 40% increase in complaints compared to the same period last year.
“When a spray shower has an issue, we make every effort to repair it as soon as possible,” a Parks spokesperson told The Post, adding that the “vast majority” of the water features are in operation.
“The severe cold and snow we experienced this winter had an impact on the plumbing fixtures at certain sites.”
Parks touting roughly a dozen or more outages since Memorial Day include Washington Square Park in Manhattan; Astoria Park and Dutch Kills Playground in Queens.
At Mother Cabrini Park in Brooklyn, where winter weather damaged an underground water line and halted all spray functions, the Parks department has marked complaints as resolved — but parents say the water feature still hasn’t been repaired.
“For families that aren’t putting their children in camps, they expect [splash pads] to be able to work for babysitters or stay-at-home parents,” Brooklyn mom Mikaela told The Post.
“At its most basic level, we’re talking about public health.”
“This is a failure to meet basic needs,” argued fellow parent Jessica Setton. “To assume that everyone can just go to a beach or go to another park is unfair.”
“Service requests for water fountain or sprinkler outages are closed after our staff inspects the condition and a work order is created to accomplish repairs,” a Parks spokesperson told one parent.
“Sometimes repairs take an extensive period of time to accomplish depending on the severity of the condition.”
A rep for the agency told The Post that the outage at Mother Cabrini Park “will require excavation,” though a timeline for fixes was not provided.
The city’s water features operate on days when the thermometer hits 80 degrees or higher, according to the NYC Parks website.
The news comes as the City Council is fighting for additional funding for Parks – including hiring an additional 200 Parks Enforcement Patrol officers.
Advocacy group New Yorkers For Parks has further championed adding 150 additional plumbers, electricians and other full-time tradespeople — up from a current tally of roughly 350, including less than 50 plumbers — to fix broken equipment, lights and facilities across 1,700 parks.
“The agency doesn’t have the staff to maintain its infrastructure,” Adam Ganser, executive director of New Yorkers for Parks told The Post, adding that small repairs delayed by short staffing can turn into more expensive, lengthy capital projects down the road.
“It’s particularly acute right now because the agency has lost nearly 600 staffing lines due to pretty drastic cuts by the Adams administration,” he said.
“In a world where the agency is funded, all these issues would’ve been taken care of months ago,” he added, “and people would be out and about enjoying our parks without issue.”
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