Charybdis Playground bathrooms (Photo: Queens Post)
Nov. 9, 2017 By Tara Law
The bathrooms at a popular playground in Astoria Park will not reopen until 2020, a year later than anticipated, and after being out of service since 2015.
The bathrooms at Charybdis Playground closed two years ago after the Parks Dept. discovered that waste from the bathrooms and the Astoria Pool had been flowing into the East River for decades due to plumbing problems and issues with the sewerage line.
Meghan Lalor, a spokeswoman with the Parks Dept., said a new sewer line is being installed that will be completed by the end of 2018.
But the Parks Dept. is not reopening the bathrooms once the sewage system has been replaced since it has plans to upgrade the rundown restrooms in 2019, as part of a $14.5 million upgrade to the entire playground under the city’s Anchor Parks program.
That program has provided $30 million toward the upgrade of Astoria Park, with phase one going toward overhauling the running track and building a new soccer field, and phase two toward the playground.
The playground design is expected to be completed by spring 2018, with construction planned for spring 2019. Both the playground and the bathroom renovations are slated to be completed by 2020.
Residents have been calling for the bathrooms to be reopened for some time, with a Change.org petition launched in 2016 drawing more than 600 signatures. The petition optimistically called for the bathrooms to be reopened that year.
In the meantime, the Parks Dept. will continue to provide porta potties near the playground during summer. Additional bathrooms are available year-round at the Astoria Park Field House near Astoria Park South and 18th Street.
8 Comments
Yes! Call it THE JEN PEN.
Name the bathroom after jen
I want a bathroom named after me
Why doesn’t the city just use call-a-heads. It might be privatizing but it could be cheaper than the amount they will spend renovating this bathroom
The bathrooms near the tennis courts are in serious need of renovation too. Last summer I had to help a girl get out of a stall that had a jammed door. It’s also really gross that people (men) pee in the bushes around the building when the bathrooms are closed. They need to be open for more hours, year round.
Parks Dept should stop spending money on projects that will require decades of expensive maintanece, and start dealing with the infrastructure more – bathrooms, flooding problems, and erosion control. Charabydis is just one facility where the problems are so obvious, but the whole park needs an overhaul, not more fantasy projects.
So tired of people urinating and defecating throughout the park because of this. It stinks!
Thanks Constantinides.
I thought the soccer field had been cancelled since several new ones were just opened. Very disappointing and a waste of money.
This is one incident where Constamtinides bowed to a very small special interest group that benefits $ from it. The city is going to have to get additional liability insurance too; wonder if they budgeted for that.