City Asks Lower East Side, Chinatown Residents to Help Redesign Seward Park

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — The city is preparing to reconstruct the edges of Seward Park, located on the border of the Lower East Side and Chinatown, to improve "boundaries and sight lines within and outside the park" and its "connections to adjacent spaces" — and the NYC Parks Department has issued one last call for makeover ideas.

Residents can submit their ideas through Thursday, Dec. 1, using this online form. When responding, city officials are asking residents to consider how the park could interact with surrounding infrastructure such as Schiff Mall, Straus Square and the Library Plaza.

Seward Park is being reconstructed for between $3 million and $10 million, according to city officials, as part of the Parks Without Borders program. The program is aimed at making city parks more accessible by transforming their underused areas and better integrating their borders into the surrounding community.

Once Seward Park's design is solidified, construction should begin within nine months, according to NYC Parks. It will then take between a year and a year-and-a-half for the park to be completed and unveiled in its new-and-improved form.

Lead photo via Google Maps