09-28-2005, 11:29 AM
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#13 (permalink)
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Devoted
Donor
Location: New England
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Longer version:
New York Daily News - City News - Daily News Exclusive: No kidding - no adults!
Quote:
A woman looking for a place to sit down on the lower East Side last weekend says she found herself in trouble with a couple of playground bullies - from the NYPD.
"It was a little scary," said Sandra Catena, who was issued a summons for being in the children-only Rivington Playground Saturday afternoon. "It was insane."
Dressed in a turtleneck, skirt and flip-flops, the 47-year-old professional belly dancer was waiting for an arts festival to start when she wandered into the playground. She didn't notice a small sign at the entrance that says: "Playground Rules Prohibit: Adults Except in the Company of Children."
Within minutes of sitting on a bench, she said, two 5th Precinct cops approached with hands resting on their guns.
"They walked toward me and said, 'Excuse me, are you accompanied by a child?' I said, 'No.' They said, 'You're breaking the law,'" Catena said. "Then he called backup. Do I look dangerous?"
One cop told her the judge probably will toss the ticket when she goes to court in November, she said, but that's small consolation - especially when she could get 90days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The Parks Department designated some playgrounds offlimits for lone adults in 1996, a department source said.
An NYPD spokesman defended issuing the summons, saying the rule is designed to protect children from pedophiles. The Parks Department source said the rule is necessary, but suggested that discretion should have been used in this case.
"A woman walking into a playground in the middle of the day and ... and getting a ticket is not the way you'd want to enforce the rule," the source said.
It was equally outrageous to Meagan Shapiro, 40, who lives nearby and has taken her 18-month-old son Matan Ziv there several times a week for the past six months.
"I see people here all the time without kids," she said. "That's crazy."
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I see, she's a professional belly dancer. Gotta keep them away from the kids!
/ ducks to avoid shoe thrown by Sultana...
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I can't read your signature. Sorry.
Last edited by Redlemon; 09-28-2005 at 11:31 AM..
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