The New York Post
“We may be liberal but this has gone too far,” lamented Steven Hill, who has called the neighborhood home since 1980. “There have always been drugs in the park, mostly pot, but what’s emerged this spring is like nothing we’ve ever seen before.”
Washington Square Park’s northwest corner was overtaken in recent months by a crack-and-heroin-filled “drug den,” while boisterous, booze-soaked raves around the central fountain have kept neighbors up until the wee hours and left the historic green space trashed each morning.
The city responded to more than a month of complaints and numerous Post queries by erecting barriers on Tuesday, closing off the northwest corner to both legal and illegal uses, while cops in recent nights have boosted their presence.
ut neighbors are still incensed by the condition of the park and what they believe are token efforts by the city to return it to lawfulness.
“The zombies are now near the fountain, as well as next to the chess [southwest] corner. They’ve simply moved up about 200 meters from the now shuttered end of the park,” one angry neighbor emailed The Post on Wednesday. “I think all hell is going to break loose.”
The Post toured the park this week, after the “drug den” was closed, and still found the flower beds littered with syringes and scores of empty drug capsules. A park gardener told Hill he found two dozen syringes while tending the grounds Wednesday morning.
