The city will limit access to two parks in Manhattan and Brooklyn as part of a new strategy to enforce social distancing, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday.
NYPD officers will limit the number of people allowed to enter parts of Hudson River Park, where photos of closely-spaced crowds circulated widely on social media last weekend. They will also keep numbers down at Domino Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
“We had some parks last weekend that were more crowded than they should have been,” de Blasio told reporters Friday. “It wasn’t just some stray individuals — it was really just the physical reality of the park.”
De Blasio said the limitations might be expanded to other parks.
“Why are we doing this? Because it saves lives,” de Blasio said. “You’re going in, you’re going in for a limited period of time. We’re not going to let it get too crowded.”
Under rules imposed to stem the spread of coronavirus, New Yorkers are not allowed to get together with anyone they do not live with, and people must stay six feet apart from everyone except their house-mates.
At Hudson River Park’s Pier 45 and 46, officers will “proactively” limit the number of people allowed to enter. When capacity is reached, people already in the the park may be asked to leave.
Officers will be “asking people to move out and make more space and make sure there’s turnover,” de Blasio said. “We’re going to try that approach, see if it that gets us closer to where we need to be.”
Domino Park will have an increased NYPD presence to “make sure the numbers are kept smaller,” the mayor said.
The move comes as the mayor is fending off charges that enforcement efforts are unfairly targeting black and Latino New Yorkers, who have received the vast majority of summonses for social distancing violations. He’s now targeting two parks where crowds of mostly-white sun seekers have drawn attention and fueled criticism about disparate treatment.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to questions on how many people will be allowed to enter each park, or how long park goers will be allowed to say.
But de Blasio said other parks could get the same treatment as the pandemic stretches on.
“It’s something we can apply to more and more places if it works,” he said. “We’re going to do a certain amount of experimentation here.”
