FRIENDS' Testimony:

While many of the proposed modifications to Central Park’s Adventure Playground are improvements over the existing conditions, the Preservation Committee at FRIENDS laments the alterations to the sculptural concrete play features designed by Richard Dattner. Although the ADA requirements and CPSC safety standards are well-intentioned regulations, an unfortunate consequence is the degradation of this significant piece of public architecture.

In our committee’s struggle to understand the design decisions, we asked the Central Park Conservancy several questions about the exact parameters of these regulations. The Conservancy explained that the ADA “requires that public facilities be made physically accessible as they are built or renovated,” but also that this is required only when doing so is “readily achievable.” Based on the Conservancy’s explanation, FRIENDS feels that there is a certain amount of flexibility in what features are required to be altered and we ask the Public Design Commission to approve only those changes that do not compromise the integrity of the Dattner’s original design.