Needles, Beer Cans Found At Edison Park, Councilman Says

EDISON, NJ — Edison Councilman Joseph Coyle blasted the state of the townships parks at last week's council meeting, calling their disrepair "inexcusable."

During a 32-minute presentation, Coyle showed a number of photographs taken recently from Township parks. The photos, some of which are included above, show vulgar graffiti, broken gates, and overflowing garbage, recycling and donation bins. Coyle's photos also showed damage caused by strong storms, including felled tree branches, and lack of upkeep, including overgrown weeds and grass. There are 30 public parks in Edison.

"This is inexcusable. We owe our residents a higher standard, equal value of services to the high taxes they pay," Coyle said.

Closing the parks was not off the table, Anthony Russomanno, the Director of Public Works said at the meeting. "People don’t use parks like they used to use them... To maintain parks when nobody is using them really doesn’t make a lot of sense," Russomanno said.

The issue is not just one of aesthetics, Coyle said. According to Coyle, used needles and dirty diapers have been found by parents at Minnie B. Veal Park, and there are rusting, fallen fences at Dwyer Park, creating a safety issue.

Township Attorney William Northgrave said that he would need more specifics to say whether or not the township could be held liable for injuries sustained at Edison parks.

To address the issue, Coyle said he planning on introducing an ordinance at the Sept. 21 meeting mandating documented weekly park inspections, "immediate quarantining" of unsafe areas, and addressing immediate maintenance problems.

Patch visited Minnie B. Veal Park early Monday morning, and saw more than just an errant water bottle or candy wrapper. Although the used diapers, overfilled clothing bins, and much of the litter Coyle photographed appeared to be cleaned up, Patch still saw several beer bottles, both aluminum and shattered glass, condom wrappers, a BIC lighter, and a empty cigarillo wrappers.

The garbage was not isolated to one part of the park, but the littering was heavier underneath the jungle gym and near a covered patio. The jungle gym had a high amount of littered plastic spoons and straws, while the patio was surrounded by cigarillo wrappers and food wrappers. Additionally, there was a small piece of vulgar graffiti near the tallest slide on the jungle gym.

The jungle gym and swing sets both appeared to be structurally sound, although both looked like they could benefit from a cleaning.

Some of the things Coyle mentioned at Minnie B. Veal, including weeds and a crumbling curb, were being addressed by Department of Public Works employees as Patch was leaving the park. It's not clear if their presence was directly related to Coyle's presentation.

Lead image taken by Katie Kausch by Patch. Other images featured at top provided by Councilman Coyle.