An open letter to the Brooklyn Bridge Park Operating Entity

On Sunday, my family and I visited the new playgrounds at Pier 6. We were not there for long and although our kids loved it, we noticed a few glaring but "easy to fix before it's too late" safety matters:

1. At the base of the screw pump (Archimedes screw) in the water park, there is a sharp triangular notch that, when rotated in the counter clockwise direction, could easily wedge a child's limb, pull them down and cause injury or drowning in the deep pool at its base.  I recommend a shield at the base or boxing out the steel surface higher to minimize the potential for snag.
2. The square pier or deck within the pool at the lowest elevation of the water park has pretty sharp square corners.  One slip in the pool will increase the odds of impact injury of the variety that will split a forehead open lickety-split.  Although it will not look as crisp architecturally, I recommend rounding all corners and hard edges with a large radius bull-nose that would lessen the risk of injury upon impact. The giant sandbox area has a fancy pattern of the same square decks that architecturally highlights the "square edge."
There is a drainage and ponding problem by the entrance of the water park.  Need I say mosquito?
3. The gravel surface for all the paths around the playgrounds is apparently made to scrape flesh from every falling child's knees and toes as they run barefoot from the water park to the sandbox as my middle guy did.  This stuff will make coarse pavement jealous (and I grew up in Brooklyn with perennially scraped knees).  This matter isn't an easy fix so warn and watch your children.
4. Each section of the playground is thoroughly hidden from the other.  It is fine if you bring one child.  But if you have multiple children (we have three), it is impossible to keep an eye on them all.  All I can say to parents is "pick a high spot."

Like the injuries that resulted at Pier 1, I maintain that these oversights and poor design choices are the result of a high priced "architectural lines gone wild" design process insulated from the would be users and community members.  However, I don't want to pick a fight.  I just want the playground designers to take these concerns seriously, to investigate them and to remedy the more dangerous ones immediately to minimize the risk of injury.  We can also learn from this for the later phases to be completed.

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