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Vandals Wreck Brand-New Queens Playground, Cause $100K In Damages
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 21, 2012
Modified Mar 21, 2012
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NBC New York
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 21, 2012
Modified Mar 21, 2012
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Ugh, sometimes people are just the worst. Because why would anyone want to destroy a brand, new playground scheduled to open for this summer? Far Rockaway residents are devastated as some idiot(s) decided to drive a front loader into the playground and to rip away slides and other play equipment. Community board district manager Jonathan Gaska said, "They just wrecked most of the playground. Pretty much every piece of equipment was damaged. So you almost have to replace almost everything."
View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.
Basically, someone drove the front loader 100 feet into the park and hit everything in its path. Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski told NY1 that the opening might be delayed, "We know that we lost a number of the slides, the platforms, some of the fencing, the climbing apparatuses have been damaged... Some of the damages, the upright poles that were damaged will require us to re-excavate the concrete and set the footings all over again, so this is major."
Gaska told WCBS 2, "I don’t know if it’s a disgruntled employee but it’s someone who obviously has been around construction sites before and knew how to start the equipment and operate the equipment. This was someone who knew how to use heavy equipment and really did a lot of damage. It could’ve been a lot worse, they could’ve brought the heavy equipment to the park house they’re building and you could have damage in the millions."
One parent said to NBC New York that her family was looking forward to the playground but this incident is "hurting the community, hurting the people who live here and the people who come to visit."
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awful
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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