Prospect Park gets pretty rundown during the day, and the place needs its beauty sleep, so, like most other parks around town, the city closes it from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. This information is clearly posted on signs... inside the park, which an area man discovered only after getting a summons from four cops who watched him enter the park and—instead of warning him—issued him a summons.
Around 1:35 a.m. on Friday, local artist Daniel Goers (who created a colorful "bird town" in Fort Greene Park last year) entered the park with his Ecuadorean companion. Plog reports that the two were "quickly summoned by four police officers. Unsure of what he had done wrong, he repeatedly asked for an explanation only to be ordered to turn over his identification. He was finally handed a summons for entering the park after hours and told it would probably be dismissed when he appeared in court." His Ecuadorean friend was let off with a warning.
Geoffrey Croft at NYC Park Advocates tells us, "Posting park hours larger and in more locations is advisable. However, if Mr. Goers account is accurate he should have been issued a warning instead of a ticket. Issuing those types of summons is done at the discretion of the officers. With park crime up 24% city-wide I'm certain those city resources could have been used more productively." Goers plans to fight the summons, and says, "They could have just told me the park was closed but instead they let me walk right in." But at least this park-goer's learned his lesson, eh? [Via Plog]
