Tompkins Square Park rebuild of pool, courts and outdoor gym wins East Village board committee, over regulars' objections

A plan to rebuild a well-worn corner of Tompkins Square Park, including the steel pull-up bars that draw calisthenics regulars from well beyond the neighborhood, cleared its first public test on Thursday night, Gothamist reported. Community Board 3's parks committee sided with the Parks Department, which wants to reconstruct the area's kids' mini pool, basketball courts and adult fitness equipment all at once.

Parks presented three options. One would have left the outdoor gym as it is, which park regulars had pushed for. The committee instead endorsed the department's recommendation to renovate the whole area, while asking Parks to keep a half basketball court that the original plan would have removed. The resolution now goes to the full community board at its next meeting.

What the city wants to build

• A new mini pool: the existing above-ground pool would be demolished and replaced with a larger in-ground pool for kids, according to the Parks capital project tracker.
• Rebuilt courts: detention basins under the basketball court would hold stormwater and help keep sewage from overflowing into the East River, Gothamist reported.
• New fitness equipment: Parks says new gear would be safer and accessible to people with disabilities, and that the aging equipment needs replacing anyway.

The project, near Avenue B and East 10th Street, is funded with mayoral and state money. Parks' tracker puts it between $5 million and $10 million; Gothamist reported nearly $10 million, citing the department's presentation. The tracker says the schematic design has been approved inside Parks and is now under review by the community board and regulators, with design work projected to wrap up in March 2027. Procurement typically takes nine to 12 months after that, and Parks told the committee construction would take about 18 months.

Why regulars are pushing back

A Change.org petition launched May 9 argues that the fitness area and courts are heavily used and "perfectly fine." It asks Parks and Council Member Harvey Epstein to take the outdoor gym out of the project and keep the space open while the pool is rebuilt. It had 2,676 verified signatures on Saturday morning. EV Grieve reported in July that users describe the bars as a year-round gathering spot as much as a place to train.

Salo Coslovsky, an NYU urban planning professor leading the effort, said in a statement to Gothamist that opponents are not arguing nothing needs repair, but that Parks is using fixable problems to justify a bigger, more disruptive rebuild. Regulars told the outlet they have nowhere nearby to go during an 18-month closure. Parks representatives said at the meeting that they were learning from past projects that drew complaints and are talking with manufacturers about higher-quality equipment.