Mayor Bill de Blasio apparently hates the Jewish community in New York. His actions over the past few months have clearly demonstrated one set of rules for certain New Yorkers, but another harsher set for the orthodox Jewish Communities.
Recently, New York has opened public parks… yet those in the Jewish areas of NYC remain closed… even welded shut.
Leo Goldman was walking past the park Monday morning when he saw workers closing the two entrances to a playground in Williamsburg, a heavily Orthodox neighborhood of Brooklyn. Not just closing, welding.
In a WhatsApp message, Goldman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he tried to open the gate himself.
“It was welded shut. 100%,” he wrote.
But by the afternoon, Goldman said, city workers had removed the welded portion of the gate and chained the playground shut.
The roller coaster ride at Middleton Park was the latest episode in a growing conflict between New York City officials and Orthodox Jews over what to do with their children, restless after three months of lockdown, as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
VIDEO: As @NYCMayor marches with protesters and orders Contact Tracers not to ask people if they were at protests, the City is welding shut a park that is largely used by Hasidim in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. pic.twitter.com/HcAEo4jVA9
— Yossi Gestetner (@YossiGestetner) June 15, 2020
The city has officially closed all playgrounds to children and their families — and sometimes is also barring entrance to surrounding green space — in an effort to slow the spread of disease.
But Orthodox elected officials say the rules are being enforced differently in various parts of the city. In a tweet last week Kalman Yeger, an Orthodox city councilman from Brooklyn, pointed to playgrounds in other parts of Brooklyn that remained open as proof of unequal enforcement.
Around the city @NYCParks are open to the public.
Well, not everywhere. If you live in Midwood, Boro Park or Williamsburg, the city has chained your park, and if you’re in one, you’re treated like a criminal.#EnoughIsEnough. It’s time for @NYCMayorsOffice to unchain our parks! pic.twitter.com/mNFdJMRzki
— Kalman Yeger ונשמרתם מאד לנפשותיכם (@KalmanYeger) June 12, 2020
City officials said Monday that the locks at Middleton had been broken multiple times. The welding — done from the inside, according to videos posted online — was a temporary measure, a Parks Department spokesperson said, because no staff was available to reinstall the chain earlier in the day.
Not long after the welding was removed and the park chained shut, a video was posted to Twitter showing two Orthodox men cutting the chains on a park gate. It was unclear where the video was taken. One man fell backwards as he pulled the chains off the gate. “Come on in, guys,” another said to the waiting crowd as the gates swung open.
Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said city officials could begin allowing children to use playgrounds, but New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was not yet prepared to do so.
On Sunday, Orthodox lawmakers held a rally calling for the city to open playgrounds. That rally followed multiple days of rallies calling on city and state officials to permit camps to operate.
Late last week, Orthodox children blocked the streets of Brooklyn while shouting “We want camp!” The young protesters carried signs that borrowed from the language of recent protests for racial justice with the slogan “No camps, no justice.”
The lawmakers have pointed to the large protests against police brutality as proof that some breaches of social distancing are deemed acceptable, while others are censured.
Their campaign continued on Friday, the same day that Cuomo announced that overnight camps would not be allowed to open in New York state this summer.
The Jewish community in Brooklyn is fighting back against @BilldeBlasio’s discrimination!
Their message to @BilldeBlasio: If you won’t open our parks we will! pic.twitter.com/Uu5aaivNQh
— Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) June 15, 2020
Mayor Bill de Blasio has not yet responded, after frustration over closed parks led protesters in Brooklyn to cut the locks from a local playground.
…
Video shows protesters use a bolt cutter to open the lock to the gate and enter the playground.
Assembly Member Joseph Lentol, who held the rally, issued the following statement:
“When attending today’s rally, I said I believe that the playground should be open and said so very strongly. While I did not see the locks being cut, I understand the frustration which would lead that to happening. Our families do not feel that they are being heard. I see this rally as a peaceful message, with the clipping of the locks as a strong signal that the families are unhappy and fed up. They want activities for their children and they want to be heard. The city must come up with a better plan than cutting off access to playgrounds entirely,” Lento said.
The NYC Parks Department says just like all the playgrounds in the city, Middleton is currently closed.
They say the playground has been broken into at least 25 times in recent weeks.
Due to the repeated breaches, the Parks Department says they welded one of the four entrances shut on Monday morning as a short term fix.
Based Orthodox Jews reject de Blasio’s hypocritical orders to close the park (for social distancing) and cut the locks so their kids can play. pic.twitter.com/msAafBjqY6
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 15, 2020
VIDEO: As @NYCMayor marches with protesters and orders Contact Tracers not to ask people if they were at protests, the City is welding shut a park that is largely used by Hasidim in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. pic.twitter.com/HcAEo4jVA9
— Yossi Gestetner (@YossiGestetner) June 15, 2020
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