By Alice Moreno
Tom Griffin — a local Astoria resident and protest organizer — stood by Rainey Park at 10:00 a.m. sharp with a makeshift, paper-made yellow megaphone with the words “We the People” and “Thou Shalt Reopen Rainey Park” written on it, and a cart filled with signs in favor of Rainey Park’s reopening. He had one mission to accomplish: to have his and other local residents’ voices heard by city officials.
“I’ve had people contact us about this demonstration, complaining that their 83-year-old mother relies on this green space because she lives just around the corner and is infirm, and this is the sole access to a park for her,” said Griffin, as he shares his frustrations. “So for the past year and eight months, at this point, there’s been no park access for her.”
Rainey Park, located at 34-24 Vernon Blvd in Astoria, has been under construction since September 2023, according to the official website of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. It had a projected completion date of September 2024 and has been adjusted to April 2025. The $8.5 million project was expected to reconstruct the playground, picnic grove, and basketball courts at the park.
However, residents aren’t seeing the change; in fact, the lack of parks is actively affecting their community. From the area, the closest parks are both Queensbridge Park — a 15-minute walk — and Astoria Park — a 25-minute walk — which render them inaccessible to those who are elderly, disabled, or own dogs. Many are also concerned by overcrowding in nearby parks such as Socrates Sculpture Park, making it difficult for those to walk around or play.
“It’s sad that a lot of the kids in the neighborhood don’t have a park anymore,” said Elia Sliba, a protester and resident of Astoria. “They’ve been playing in cement, like around the neighborhood. There are no playgrounds, and the closest Park is Queensbridge, and that’s kind of far for the parents to walk over there.”
Business owners are also getting affected by the park’s closure. Yesse Siqal, owner of “Bakers Cafe LIC” located across the street from Rainey Park, has noticed a significant decrease in foot traffic caused by the closure. It led to his business, which recently opened up two years ago, struggling financially.
“I went from like, going through all my life savings to getting a loan just to survive, because it’s it’s very hard to sustain,” said Siqal.
The idea of a protest began circling around the social media platform Reddit on April 1, when Griffin, under the username KickBlue22, posted on the Astoria thread about his frustrations with the park being closed for so long. Under the thread, many local residents also shared their discontent, with many thinking that the delayed opening is from a lack of budget. On April 11, Griffin made a separate post, urging residents to show up to the protest, hoping that a large number of people causing noise would bring attention to those around it.
Many residents, including Griffin, have also reached out to representatives of New York City Parks and Recreation and city officials, such as Tiffany Caban, via email.
In an email sent October 18, 2024, Griffin had asked the Capital Project Tracker email about the opening date of the park (it was then slated for September 2024). He received a response on November 16 from a representative of NYC Parks, apologizing for the delay due to supply chain issues. Griffin sent follow-up emails from December until February of 2025, with no response.
In an email thread dated from December 11 to 13, Griffin reached out to a representative of District 26 of the NYC Council, asking for clarification on park opening. After being transferred through various representatives, he received a response from John Guana, a representative of Caban’s office, who did not have any information regarding the opening and was still awaiting further information on a timeline for the construction. By December 19, a representative of Caban’s office responded to Griffin, stating that the park was 94% complete, and the opening date on the Park’s website was yet to be updated.
Griffin had also commented on Caban’s Instagram, asking to join him on the protest. He did not receive a response.
With over a dozen people showing up in the cold and rain, Astoria resident’s dedication to their green spaces is evident. As a plethora of cars beeped in support, many of the protesters cheered and chanted, all with a common goal to bring back their beloved park.
“This is the only park we had around here, and now they just took that away from us,” said Marcia Guerra, an Astoria resident. “It’s really upsetting. It’s just a waste of time and resources, and it’s something that our kids should be enjoying.”
