A Lower Manhattan park has been plagued with violent crime and is falling into disrepair — and some local residents say the city is failing to use promised funding and resources to fix the problems.
Sara D. Roosevelt Park covers a seven-block area spanning from Chinatown to the Lower East Side. The park’s playgrounds, gardens and sports fields were designed to be a refuge in the midst of the dense neighborhoods.
But a large section of the park near Grand Street, called the Lions Gate, has become what local landlord Brian Chin calls “no-go zones” because of open drug dealing, increased crime and fights among people living in the park.
Earlier this month, a 15-year-old homeless youth was charged with fatally stabbing a 25-year-old homeless man, Pasquale Alonso, and wounding another man in the Lions Gate section of the park, according to the NYPD.
Alonso’s murder was the second killing inside the park since 2021, when a delivery worker, Sala Miah, was stabbed in the park by a man who stole his electric bike, according to police.
Conditions in the park drew citywide attention last year, when a homeless man with mental illness who was known to hang around the Lions Gate allegedly followed Christina Yuna Lee into her apartment and stabbed her to death. Her accused killer, Assamad Nash, was found unfit for trial in June.
The murder of Christina Yuna Lee in her apartment raised alarm about conditions in the nearby park.
There have also been more than three dozen felony assaults and robberies within the park since 2019, according to NYPD data.
“You would be shocked how there is no rule of law that applies anymore,” said Chin, who was Lee’s landlord. He helped launch the Sara D. Roosevelt Park Alliance to spur improvements in the area.
The Lions Gate section is covered with litter, including needles. The sidewalks are crumbling and portions of the fencing are collapsing. The parks department has an office inside a stately brick building in the middle of the Lions Gate, next to the field where Alonso was murdered.
In 2021, the park received $15 million through the rezoning of SoHo and NoHo. The state sent $3.3 million last year to revitalize the park, and Mayor Eric Adams allocated another $1.8 million this year.
That’s more than $20 million to fix the problems in the park, yet Chin and other community advocates say they haven’t seen any efforts to address safety concerns, including basic requests for additional lighting, cleaning and police patrols.
Litter and an abandoned Citi Bike inside the park that's long been the subject of complaints from locals.
“You can see the state of disrepair that's happening," Chin said. "There's no ground being broken, there's not even an act of cleanup effort made by the parks department. There's no real movement from the police as well.”
He added, “It seems like the answer is pretty simple: Enforcement within the park, cleaning within the park, and upkeep within the park.”
Parks department spokesperson Kelsey Jean-Baptiste said the city is in the design phase of renovating Sara D. Roosevelt Park. She added that the department's staff coordinate with the Department of Homeless Services and NYPD to address problems, and that the city has added needle drop boxes at the park to reduce drug debris.
“In parks across the city, our staff engage on a daily basis with individuals experiencing drug addiction,” Jean-Baptiste said in a statement. “We work with our partners to offer resources and aid while treating people with compassion and dignity and promoting improved quality of life for all New Yorkers.”
The NYPD did not respond to an inquiry about its response to Alonso’s murder in the park.
Many visitors who come to Sara D. Roosevelt Park limit their time there. Asia Jones, a 21-year-old Brooklynite who attended high school near the park, sat on a bench in the Chinatown section on a recent warm day. She said she’s heard plenty of stories about the dangers.
“I don't stay in the park too long,” Jones said. “I hear at night it gets dangerous. So there’s no reason to be over here.”
K Webster, a longtime community advocate who’s president of the Sara D. Roosevelt Coalition, said she’s well aware of the dangerous environment and carries a shovel with her for protection when making her rounds in the park.
Last year, Webster said she asked the city to build an extra gate at the Hua Mei Bird Garden next to the Lions Gate so that elderly birdwatchers wouldn't be trapped if someone blocked the primary entrance.
Webster said she's also concerned about the wellbeing of the homeless people who live in the park. “There's a whole range of people, including the homeless, who have helped us create this park and build it,” she said. ”We feel like everybody is welcome in this park.”
Chin, the landlord, said he understands major capital projects take time but is frustrated by the lack of communication from the city.
“I guess there might be some delays,” he said. “But at the same time, there also needs to be some accountability.”
The city expects to finish renovating Sara D. Roosevelt Park in March 2025.
