Trashy Parks

I love spending time in parks. In 2015, I was fortunate enough to spend about two weeks in Iceland. All of its parks are magnificent. I hiked on the icy ground around glaciers, waterfalls and volcanoes. I got soaked. And loved every second of it. I’d go back in a heartbeat.

New York City has magnificent parks, too. Some are quite famous, i.e. Central and Prospect Parks. However, Iceland’s parks stand out over NYC’s and most other parks. What makes them stand out? No, it is not the beautiful location and the breathtaking mountains of ice. It is the cleanliness.

A few days after I returned from Iceland, I picnicked on the Great Lawn in Central Park. It should be called the “trash-filled great lawn.”   Now, I grew up in NYC and have been to dozens of our parks. The parks have ball fields and hoops to shoot. Some have pools or lakes. Unfortunately, all the parks have one thing in common, garbage everywhere. Way too much of it.

One morning in Iceland, I was walking to a convenience store to buy candy. There was a Coke can on the street nearby. Probably dropped by a tourist. I saw a man walk down his driveway and pick up the can and place it in a trash can. How often do you see that in the USA? Especially NYC. Rarely.

I’ve been stewing on this for a long time. But finally collected my thoughts and photos. Not so long ago, I was with my nephew and brother-in-law walking their miniature schnauzer, Zoe. We were in a Siedenberg Park, Great Kills. It had water, lovely trees, and trash. It was named for a firefighter that fell in 1994. We worked together in a teen job.

Then I went to Bryant Park. We all know the “lion library” is there. It has the giant field where we watch movies or Broadway performers and what else, trash. Too much trash. Flushing Meadows Corona, Yellowstone, and Gerald MacDonald Parks share the same story. Or any park in NYC. Coney Island’s boardwalk and beach where the famous polar bears swim is not any different than our parks. I know the Polar Bear Swim Club tries its hardest to keep its beach and medicinal waters clean.

The question is why is there a plate on the floor of the park only a few feet away from a garbage can? Or a poor turtle swimming in Meadow Lake surrounded by a paper cup, plastic, and aluminum foil. I doubt it is good for the turtle’s health.

I looked up at a tree and saw what I first thought was a kite stuck in it. I looked around for Charlie Brown. I took a photo. When I zoomed in on it in Photoshop, it was garbage that blew into the tree. I found a tire, bottles of spirits, and water. And holes dug by contractors loaded with you guessed it garbage. And of course, I found cigarettes. Lots of them. That awful habit is not even permitted in NYC’s parks. Some were still burning. The Eagle Scout in me stomped them out and also picked up some of the garbage and placed it in the receptacle.

So what should we do? I’ve done beach cleanings and park cleanings in the scouts and when I worked in politics. We did our good turn. We had fun and ate pizza while we worked. But why should we do this? Let’s keep our parks clean.