Chelsea Green

It's not often one gets to be present at the official opening of a new park. But on July 25, 2019, I attended the ribbon-cutting of Chelsea Green Park.

Finally a reality after almost a decade of activism by Chelsea locals, this onetime Sanitation Department facility is now a quarter-acre playground and mini-park beneath a huge brick wall (and potential movie screen) on West 20th Street in Manhattan.

Dignitaries spoke as children and their minders checked out the new facilities.

NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver


NYC City Council Speaker Cory Johnson

State Senator Brad Hoylman got in a political dig, noting that Republican control of the Senate had prevented him from securing state funding for projects like Chelsea Green in the past, but now that the Democrats were in charge that would change.

Many Manhattan residents have well-maintained parks near their homes. We've documented countless examples on this blog. But the densely packed island also has neighborhoods without parks. This part of Chelsea, with very little open space, is one. In fact, City Council Speaker Cory Johnson noted that Chelsea ranks next-to-last in public open space among all 59 New York City Community Board districts.

So back in 2010 local residents Matt Weiss and Sally Green formed a group to push for a park on this site, originally referred to as the 20th Street Park Project. After much tenacious effort, and slow buy-in from the community, city officials, and a private donor, the first new park in Chelsea in 40 years is now open. Weiss and Greenspan's joint statement said, as reported by Curbed (who, naturally, published their coverage the very next day): "This park is a testament to the power of grassroots activism and a can-do New York spirit."

Sally Greenspan (center) and Matt Weiss (right)

In addition to the play structures, Chelsea Green Park has shaded benches, plantings, trees, and space for performances and public art displays. There's also a "passive turf area," a circle of artificial turf that I thought might be a fountain or a wading pool when I peered through the fence the week before opening. But no, it's just a circle of green awaiting creative use. What did the designers picture happening in there? Sunbathing? Sumo wrestling? Witchy rituals? I suppose I could ask.

But it's nicer to just walk by now and then and see what's up. Today, for example: lunchtime, a pleasant weekday in early August. Activity: running and toddling. Good enough.

All photos © Jon Sobel, Critical Lens Media

Clement Clarke Moore Park

As it's named for Clement C. Moore, author of the famous poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (popularly known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"), it's only fitting that the name of Clement Clarke Moore Park is itself a micro-poem:

Clement Clarke
Moore Park

There, you see? And who says a poem needs a verb?

Moore's family estate, which includes what is now the General Theological Seminary, was once a farm. Moore's grandfather, Captain Thomas Clarke, bought the property in 1750 and named it Chelsea, the name borne now by the whole neighborhood.

So I figure this little corner park, though mostly just playgrounds, is worth a mention because of that connection to the history of the area. Also, the surrounding trees sure do look nice in bloom in the spring.

Stopping by again on a warm summer afternoon, I found all the gates mysteriously closed, and all but one locked – yet there were people inside, a scattering of tiny children and their caretakers. Feeling unwelcome, I stayed outside the iron fence.

Just across Tenth Avenue you can see the High Line. But there's no serenity on the street. Although we're several blocks south of the tremendous Hudson Yards development now under construction, the traffic backups make Tenth a noisy crawl of trucks, buses and cars all day long.

It's hard to imagine the Hudson River is just one further block west. But maybe that's just what this spouting seal is doing. Though surrounded by colorful offerings left him by the local toddlers, he pines for the open water.