We continually hear from our community and UN visitors that Dag Hammarskjold Plaza does not feel
safe. While NYPD police focus on violent crime, enforcement of park rules and regulations is sadly
lacking. We urge the Mayor and City Council to allocate $79.7M in the FY26 budget to restore and
strengthen NYC Parks’ workforce and programs, including funding for Parks Enforcement Patrol
(PEP).These uniformed officers, authorized to issue summons and make arrests, are necessary to
ensure safety and quality of life to the local and tourist population served by NYC parks and
playgrounds.

Despite the high-density population of the UN/Turtle Bay neighborhood, we never see a PEP officer in parks serving our area. Continual budget cuts and woefully inadequate funding of the NYC park
system (DPR) has made PEP officers an endangered species!

PEP Officers ensure fair and consistent enforcement of park rules, enhancing quality of life and public trust and preventing an environment of disorder.

The concentration of shelters in the midtown east area enables shelter occupants to frequent local
parks where they can freely engage in rowdy, obscene and illicit behavior. Project Renewal’s expansion of the nearby Providence Women’s Shelter for substance abuse and mental illness will open a street-side drug intake center and additional housing for both male and female adults. Meanwhile, the Vanderbilt YMCA’s hotel facility, one block west of Dag Plaza, was converted to a homeless shelter during the pandemic and continues in this capacity. While treatment facilities are clearly needed, the general public and tax payers’ safety and quality of life are at stake.

Park volunteers encounter discarded syringes, liquor bottles, human feces, graffiti. Offenders are
hostile and pose a threat to the general public Homeless encampments are on the rise despite calls to 311.

Public health and hygiene requres clean, safe open space.

PEP officers are critical to solving this looming crisis.

At this writing, Hammarskjold Plaza is undergoing a $4 million capital renovation which includes a
newly designed ADA compliant patio and benches inside the park’s Katharine Hepburn Garden.
Unfortunately, we believe the amenity will encourage illegal activities due to 0 visibility from the Plaza where NYPD patrol the park block of East 47th Street in vehicles.
Our nonprofit 501c3 has transformed the Plaza and its garden into a midtown oasis, but we have grave concerns about the future. As the city invests in new and expanded parks and parks programs,
it must also invest in the personnel who keep these spaces safe, usable, and thriving.

Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza is a tax-exempt nonprofit 501c3 organization. Office: 224 E. 47 St.
Rm. 304, NYC 10017. Email: fdhp@hammarskjoldplaza.org ~ website: dagplaza.org