UES Park Check in: New Pool Deck at John Jay, New Lights on Esplanade, Slow Going for Ruppert Park

It’s spring: the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, and there is pollen everywhere. Ahead of long, sunny days at the park, here’s a check-in on the status of parks projects on the Upper East Side, shared at April 11 meeting of the Community Board 8 Parks and Waterfront Committee.

John Jay’s new pool deck expected to be ready in time for pool season

With $1.4 million in mayoral funding, the parks department has been renovating the John Jay pool area since November. The project includes building a new concrete deck tinted with beachy colors, reconstructing the drainage system, adding planters and a drinking fountain, fixing the railing and other improvements, according to a parks department presentation from last July.

The renovation is slated to be completed before Memorial Day, “fingers crossed,” said Kaufman. That’s weeks before late June, when outdoor public pools traditionally open for the season. The Parks project tracker shows a more conservative projected completion date of July.

Beauty takes time at Ruppert Park

The first shovel is still far from meeting the ground for the long-overdue reconstruction of Ruppert Park, whose colonies of scurrying rodents have previously earned it the nickname “Rat Park,” Though the $8.9 million project started in October 2021, it has fallen behind its original timeline: construction was initially expected to begin last fall.

The design has been finalized and a construction contract has passed legal review. But the process of soliciting a contractor for the project can only begin after its storm water pollution prevention plan is approved by the city’s environmental protection department, said parks department manager Shena Kaufman.

Community members are eager for the reconstruction to start. Ruppert Park, in its current state, is “fairly ugly,” said community board member Rita Popper. Families are opting to take their kids elsewhere, according to neighborhood resident Boaz Galil. “It’s causing the other playgrounds next to the East River ... and Asphalt Green to overflow with people, toddlers, and kids. So we really need the Rupert Park playground up and running as soon as possible,” he said. According to the park’s project tracker, however, construction won’t begin until after March 2025.

In the meantime, community group Muslim Volunteers for New York, which has stewardship of the park, will continue “planting, mulching, painting, cleaning, sprucing, raking,” among a variety of other beautification and education activities, said member Mubeen Siddiqui. They’re leading a cleanup event on May 18.

East River Esplanade gets more security cameras

Two security cameras will be installed along the East River Esplanade this summer, near Andrew Haswell Green Park at 59th Street, according to Jean Kim, the executive director of Friends of the East River Esplanade. The organization has been working with the parks and police departments for several years to get NYPD-monitored security cameras installed along the esplanade. Kim said there may be up to a dozen more on the way, “depending on funding.”

If the installation goes as planned, the cameras will look over a slate of summer events sponsored by Esplanade Friends: live music performances, movies, kids arts and crafts, free ice cream, and more.

St. Catherine’s Park’s new design will be unveiled next month

The design for St. Catherine Park’s $7.05 million reconstruction will be presented on May 9, during Community Board 8’s Parks and Waterfront Committee meeting. That project began this January, and is slated to be completed in April of next year, according to the parks department’s project tracker. More information to come—members of the public can join the May 9 meeting via the Community Board 8 website.