Number 2 may soon be the number one problem for neighbors of Tompkins Square Park.
An increasing amount of people are relieving themselves around the East Village park and between cars parked along Avenue B and East 7th Street, disgusted residents said.
The perfect poop storm was sparked in November in the notorious vagrant-friendly park when a broken pipe and malfunctioning boiler in the basement of the field house forced the public restrooms to close, Dan Kastanis, a Parks Department spokesman said.
“These people need to start wearing diapers,” said Sam Nahshal, 32, who works at the East Village New Deli on Avenue A, adding that he’s now unfortunately seen his “fair share” of human poop in the 10 1/2-acre park.
“The park is home for a lot of transients…It’s a stinky business,” Nahshal said.
“Could it get any worse?” wondered Heather Doll, 37, who owns a dog walking company, about human poop in the park and the surrounding area. “It’s bad.”
With the nearest working public restroom at McKinley Playground on East 4th Street, Doll said a manager at a building closer to the park is now forced to put up with tons of crap.
“Every single day there’s a human pile of poop outside the building,” she added. “Some guy has chosen that as his bathroom.”
The fecal matter doesn’t appear like it will resolve any time soon.
The busted bathrooms were never addressed and now an 18-month-long fieldhouse renovation kicks off in the park next month, evgrieve.com reported.
Parks opted to wait for the restoration to make the restroom repairs, the agency spokesman said.
“We understand that this closure will be an inconvenience for parkgoers, and we ask those looking to access restrooms at a public Parks facility to use those located at the nearby McKinley Playground,” Kastanis continued.
Judging by past experience, officials did not see portable toilets as a short-term solution, because they were “very difficult to clean and maintain, and have frequently been the targets of vandalism.”
“It’s a sh–show… I haven’t seen conditions this bad since the 80s,” said longtime area denizen Garrett Rosso, 62. He hailed the “skeleton crew” Parks Department workers as the “unsung heroes,” because they “basically have to put on Hazmat suits to clean up.”
Added Rosso: “We are really getting hit with it over here. And nobody is speaking up for the residents.”
