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Did Class Resentment Spark Cobble Hill Playground Fire?
By
John Del Signore
Published May 11, 2011
Modified May 11, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published May 11, 2011
Modified May 11, 2011
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Just past midnight on Saturday night, someone set fire to a brand new playground at P.S. 29 in Cobble Hill. FDNY investigators don't seem to have any leads to who was behind the blaze, which boasted 20-foot high flames that took firefighters 20 minutes to extinguish. We're guessing somebody burned down the playground for the insurance money, but some local parents are hinting at a darker motive. "There is a resentment of the school in the neighborhood," one parent anonymous parent tells Brooklyn Paper. "This was done by someone not enjoying the benefits of PS 29." And who pray tell might that be?
Certain teenagers, of course. "There is an element of some poorly behaved late-teenage kids in this neighborhood," resident Naidre Miller tells Brooklyn Paper. "My gut reaction is that it’s malicious vandalism for the sake of it. Hooliganism." This is why we can't have nice playgrounds! A school door was also tagged with graffiti, and area signs were defaced. The fire left the playground slides melted and warped the rubberized play surface, and one school official estimated it could cost as much as $50,000 to repair. It's unclear where they'll find the money.
A Brooklyn Paper reporter visited the site yesterday, and describes "children congregating around its acrid borders to ponder the meaning of it all." Kids, you may very well be witness to Ground Zero of the gentrification wars... Although some skeptics say the playground was brought down in a controlled demolition.
Tagged
BoCoCa
cobble hill
fire
Playground Fire
ps 29
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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