Put A Gym On The East River Esplanade, Upper East Side Group Says

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A group advocating for improvements to the East River Esplanade is now pushing to install fitness equipment there, after noticing New Yorkers trying to use the pedestrian walkway as a makeshift gym during the pandemic.

"People took their workouts outside and took over playgrounds and parks," said Stacy Papas, executive director of Friends of the East River Esplanade, during a Thursday presentation to a Community Board 8 committee.

Papas presented photos from December, showing bungee cords stretched from a basketball hoop at Carl Schurz Park and ropes dangling from the red Alice Aycock Pavilion on East 60th Street.

"This is dangerous," Papas said. "The sculpture is not made to withstand the added weight of humans or the wear and tear of the climbing ropes."

As a solution, the group is proposing to install permanent, all-weather fitness equipment on the Esplanade — specifically, at Andrew Haswell Green Park, the open space near East 61st Street that is being reconstructed as part of the Esplanade's extension.

An online petition supporting the equipment has garnered more than 400 signatures.

But representatives from the city, who were already at the meeting to discuss the park's renovation, were less than thrilled by the proposal, which they said was incompatible with the Esplanade's extension.

"To suggest that the timing is right to undo a carefully done design at this stage when we're in construction ... is not an accurate statement to make," said Steve Simon, a Parks Department representative.

Installing the equipment would also require a host of permits, meetings and design solicitations, the city speakers said.

Papas, in response, said the group was not seeking to undo the city's work and was open to other locations.

The idea for fitness equipment was developed by neighborhood residents who were inspired by the setup at Astoria Park in Queens, which is complete with pull-up bars, ping pong tables, volleyball courts and more.