By Gus Saltonstall
In the past couple of months, signs have appeared on grates throughout Riverside Park in the West 90s and 100s, all reading: “Danger — Do Not Stand on Grating.”
West Side Rag has received multiple emails about the new signs, many wanting to know if is there a new danger, or was it there all along?
“Were they [the grates] not dangerous before, but are now? (certainly we steered our son and dogs clear, but both have run over them),” an Upper West Side mom wrote to the Rag. “And if they are really dangerous, ie one could collapse, are these little signs sufficient?”
Another reader noted that these grates have stood for decades within the park without the warning signs.
“These gratings have been part of the park for generations, and children have long played on them — so the new signs stood out,” the tipster wrote in an email. “Do you know if there has been a specific incident, inspection finding, or policy change that prompted their installation?”
In our quest to get an answer on who and why the signs were installed, the Rag first reached out to the Riverside Park Conservancy, which redirected us to the New York City Parks Department.
The spokesperson from the Parks Department then moved us on to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which informed the Rag that Amtrak had installed the signs on grating above its Freedom Tunnel line. The line runs under Riverside Park from around West 72nd to 124th streets.
Here’s what Jason Abrams, an Amtrak spokesperson, said about the reasoning for the new signs.
“We have been placing these warning signs on all of the Riverside Park gratings as a precautionary measure to discourage parkgoers from standing and or jumping on them,” Abrams wrote in an email. “While the current condition of the gratings remains safe, having large groups congregate and jump on them could create an unsafe, hazardous condition.”
The Rag followed up by asking if anything specific recently had triggered the need for the signs, given that the grates have been there for decades without the warnings.
“Just as a precautionary measure,” Abrams responded.
To sum up: Amtrak is saying that while the Riverside Park gratings “remain safe,” a large number of people standing on the grates or jumping on them could make them “unsafe.” But the danger signs still remain only “precautionary.”
Expect more of the signs to go up throughout the Upper West Side stretch of Riverside Park.
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My teenage brain now wants to get some friends together to all jump on the grate and see if we can cave it in.
Some lawyer told them to CYA.
There is a guy I have met in Riverside Park who knows exactly what time the trains will pass. It is really impressive. Not rocket science to figure out but still impressive.
I’m not sure that putting small “danger no standing” signs on the multiple large gratings Amtrak has throughout the whole park gives them good legal ground to stand on if something bad happens. It’s more like, you knew these were dangerous.
I try to avoid walking on any gratings in NYC, falling into the “Freedom Tunnel” (who thinks of these names?) is a minor concern, electrocution by ConEd is my real concern.
The Freedom Tunnel is named for the famous graffiti writer named Freedom who used to write on the 1 train and made famous murals in the tunnel underneath the grates in the park that were illuminated by the light above. Look Martha Cooper’s photos of his work. Truly remarkable. Today it’s a graffiti hall of fame for writers around the city/world.
Thank you.
I’m sure you know of the inadvertently ironical use of “Freedom” attached to places around NYC over the last 20 years. Eg: “Freedom Place” between West End Ave and Riverside Blvd.
Hmmm. Why does methink there’s some other reason behind the “clear as a bell” explanation. .
I’ve always liked seeing little kids lying face down on those grates watching the train go by…
Time for an update on the rehabilitation of the Overbuild (aka the “tunnel”)?
So, the grates are safe but they’re not safe, says Amtrak.
60 years ago my dad would warn us to stay off the grates.
They’ve been suspect for decades.
Its the city attorneys doing some CYA. With all the years of deferred maintenance if something happens you can not hold the city and/or its depts libel for damages
Putting a little sign like that on a large grating in a public park isn’t going to help you one bit in court if someone falls through.
That’s not totally true. It can be used to argue that the “reasonable person” would know they were taking a risk and they were warned.
It’s in a public park where kids are running around.
What is The Freedom Tunnel Line? Thanks
There go my plans for the weekend
These warning signs are a good thing. Better safe than sorry. The point is to be proactive going forward. We all know that these gratings are necessary but are an attractive nuisance for children. Neil
It prob is dangerous for bikes. That is all that matters.
These are a bad idea, crying “wolf” and encouraging people to ignore warning signs..
Riverside Park from 96-120 is in perilous shape. Those repairs are not coming to fruition and neither parks NOR the Conservancy are doing ANYTHING to address the sinkholes and rampant erosion on the upper and lower levels. There’s new damage to one of the grates by the astroturf soccer field on 100th street that just became evident in the past week.
Is no one going to prioritize repairs? Just random handicapped entrances that are redundant or a $100 million boathouse? Are we only going to act when half the retaining wall slides down the slope??????
Correct. Instead they are spending a small fortune rebuilding River Run when a low cost touch-up would be sufficient. And I’m sure Gale Brewer, Micah Lasher, Jumaane Williams, and all of the rest of them will have big smiles on their faces for that ribbon cutting as well.
Actually I just got the RPC newsletter last week, and there is a new project to tackle this: “Thanks to support from local advocates and our community, NYC Parks is undertaking a major drainage overhaul, deploying $25 million in City capital funding to execute a multi-layered strategy, the culmination of a multi-year engineering and design process.
The new design for the park between 108th and 116th Streets will go into construction in late 2025, addressing erosion, pooling and infrastructure that’s nearly 90 years old. The upgrades include restored storm drains, new swales, and a first for Riverside Park: wet meadows – native planting zones that absorb water, reduce runoff, and support pollinators and small wildlife.
What used to be soggy lawn will become a sustainable solution built to handle the storms of tomorrow.”
Thanks for posting this. People rant a lot on WSR, but are often ill-informed. You can already see major improvement to several of the sinkholes.
So the sinkholes that have gotten visibly worse over the past five years are a figment of the imagination? The increasingly exposed tree roots on the slopes from 100th street north on the lower level? The retaining wall crumbling bit by bit?
The De Blasio folks announced a similar repair plan, for those of us with long memories. Plus ca change……
This seems like a perfectly reasonable action by Amtrak in a world where people ride on top of trains, try to pet buffalos, take selfies on cliff edges, try to wade in geysers and so forth.
If they really are dangerous they need to be fixed. What moron came up with this plan of unifying the park.
Unlikely that you’ve gotten the whole story. There must have been some accident. RP Conservancy and Parks Dept. should be on top of this.
When I was a toddler, nothing could compare with the thrill of standing on a grate in the Mall, feeling the oncoming tremble and then the roar and gusts of iron air as a train rushed through the tunnel under my feet.
There’s always that iconic picture of Marilyn Monroe standing on a subway grate with the wind blowing her skirt up. AI says it was on Lexington between 51st and 52nd Streets. It once happened to me, but I didn’t look that great. 😉
Just stay off the grates..It’s a reasonable request–Don’t make a federal case out of it
dangerous when wet
The decision of where to put those signs was just grate!
You can’t have any fun anymore. Does anyone know where there are some safe grates that my friends and I can jump on? How are the grates over the IRT on Broadway?
I’m curious as to how this would (or more likely, would not) help people who have visual impairments or blindness–? As far as I know, seeing-eye dogs can’t read…perhaps I am incorrect.