Ugly Lawn In UES Park Will Get Green Upgrade, City Says

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — An unsightly lawn in an East Side park will be greenified through new grass plantings and irrigation work, city officials announced Friday, heeding a demand by neighborhood advocates to fix up the drab space.

The lawn fills the space under the East River 60th Street Pavilion: a red-painted steel structure that opened in 1995 and is also known as the Alice Aycock Pavilion, for the sculptor who designed it. It is part of Andrew Haswell Green Park, a small but popular open space that runs along the East River up to 63rd Street, and also includes a dog run.

But neighbors have complained for years that the lawn has deteriorated from a green space into a "bare-bones, hard-packed dirt playing field," as one resident put it last year. The problem stemmed largely from a lack of irrigation to help water the lawn.

On Friday, City Councilmember Julie Menin announced that the city had agreed to re-sod the lawn this spring, and at some point, install valve boxes and ground hydrants that would connect to existing water lines and bring in much-needed moisture.

Meanwhile, Andrew Haswell Green's dog run, whose faulty drainage system had prompted complaints, will be resurfaced and connected to existing sewer lines, according to Menin — though the timing and funding source of that work was unclear.

The park and the pavilion were already set to be renovated and expanded as part of the city's $100 million project to extend the East River Greenway down to East 53rd Street, past its current terminus at 61st Street. Last year, Community Board 8 had pressed the city to improve the Aycock lawn during those renovations.

It appears that the new renovations will be separate from that project, which is slated to wrap up in 2023.

"It’s not only important to have open space, but to have it maintained well in order for use," Menin said in a statement on Friday. "The district already has so little open space, and this is a win for the thousands of New Yorkers who utilize Andrew Haswell Green Park."

The upcoming work was also praised by Jennifer Ratner, board chair of Friends of the East River Esplanade, which had pushed for improvements to the park.

"In the past few years, the conditions of the lawn at the Aycock Pavilion have unfortunately deteriorated and now requires proper resodding and irrigation hookups," Ratner said. "With such a lack of open space in our district, Friends of the East River Esplanade is thrilled that Council Member Menin was able to get the Parks Department to commit to fix these issues and restore the condition of the lawn."

Related coverage:

• Water Decaying Lawn On East River Esplanade, UES Board Tells City
• East Side's Clara Coffey Park Reopens After Yearlong Closure
• East River Esplanade Extension Moving Ahead, City Says
• Put A Gym On The East River Esplanade, Upper East Side Group Says