By Gus Saltonstall
Last week, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that $3 million in state funding would be allocated for improvements to the bathrooms and pavilion at Dinosaur Playground on the Upper West Side.
The renovations will add new lighting, update the fixtures, and improve accessibility at the restrooms within the popular playground in Riverside Park and West 97th Street. The funding will also go toward improvements throughout the upper pavilion area of the playground, including the roof to the bathrooms, terrace and stairs repairs, new waterproofing, restoration of masonry, upgrading the drinking fountains, and more.
“As New York’s first mom governor, I am proud to offer this financial support to Riverside Park Conservancy for improvements into the Dinosaur Playground facilities,” Hochul said in a news release. “This funding will ensure that families have a safe and welcoming community space to get offline, get outside and come together.”
With the announcement of new funding headed toward the Dinosaur Playground restrooms, it does bring to mind what is going on in the rest of the neighborhood play space.
Half of Dinosaur Playground is currently closed.
The northern portion of the playground has been closed for years due to a sinkhole that formed during Hurricane Ida in 2021.
The area has become overgrown as a ring of silver metal barricades blocks off the hole.
In 2024, the playground received $8.6 million in funding from then-Mayor Eric Adams, Councilmember Gale Brewer, and FEMA to renovate and fix this side of the space. At the time, city officials said this construction work would begin in 2025.
Work has not begun as of October 7, 2026.
“Any idea what’s become of Dinosaur Playground?” one reader emailed to West Side Rag in July. “They have done literally nothing.”
Another reader asked, “I’ve been wondering for years what is happening with Dinosaur Playground? As far as I can tell, the funding was approved for the renovations years ago.”
WSR reached out to the New York City Parks Department to see if we could get an update on the larger work at Dinosaur Playground.
A spokesperson for the city agency said the delay in any work taking place is due to waiting on permit approvals. “This part of the playground is part of the larger upcoming reconstruction, which will include extensive upgrades to the underground drainage infrastructure,” the Parks Department spokesperson told the Rag. “We are waiting on final permit approvals. We anticipate construction will begin late 2027 or early 2028.”
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Tragic. Come on, Zorhan! Get those permits approved and get some shovels in the ground. Our kids need this playground
Needs to save that money for those much needed city-run grocery stores.
Permit approvals takes so long ? Shameful . Also shameful that the state has to fund something that nyc should be doing
When they say permit approvals what they mean is authorization to commence work from various city agencies. It appears to me that the detailed planning for the underground drainage infrastructure is not yet complete enough to allow playground reconstruction to begin.
Maybe there’s a good question about the timing of the drainage project (such projects can be tricky and are very sensitive to field conditions) but snarky comments about Mamdani and references to Trump will get us nowhere.
WSR: maybe you could ask about the status of the drainage project for the portions of the park below 108th street – would complement your excellent story on the 108th-116th street portion of the project.
And kudos to the Conservancy for getting the $3 million!
Typical NYC. This has gone on way too long. We need Trump to come in and do a Wollman rink on Dino.
thats the last thing we or anyone needs.
thumb down
He would turn it into a putting green; who cares about a kids playground?
Perhaps the firm of Atlantic Industrial Coatings is available for that project.
It rained in September 2021.
Fix the restrooms NOW! If you have the permits for it, don’t wait for remaining permits for the whole collection of projects. — signed, Urgently Interested Party.
For two years in a row I received a survey from my kids’ school asking about what improvements Dinosaur Playground needed.
Each time I wrote some variation of “fix the sinkhole” as the answer to every question.
Think I seen to send the governor a 3-word letter.
Hurry! I can’t hold it any longer!
Why has the park on 86th taken so long?