Is it possible for the government to touch something and not make it worse? I used to think that was hyperbole, but not so much anymore; here’s the latest example, and from where else but the Democrat stronghold of New York.

Politicians recently blew $20 million in taxpayer funds to build two new “park” facilities: $17.8 million for Maspeth Park, and $2.5 million for a dog run at an established playground just a mile down the road. There’s a problem though, and quite a significant one: Both of these new facilities are very inaccessible to the public, for one reason or another.

Here are the details, from a report at the New York Post yesterday:

The $17.8 million state-funded Maspeth Park has been a virtual ghost town since opening under the Kosciuszko Bridge last year.

It is in an isolated industrial and manufacturing zone at 54th Road and 43rd Street — over a mile from the nearest subway station —and lacks the proper signage and lighting for passers-by to find it, locals told The Post.

…

Meanwhile, just over a mile from Maspeth Park is the L/CPL Thomas P. Noonan Jr. Playground in Sunnyside, which opened a $2.5 million dog run to fanfare last month.

…

The biggest concern surrounds a group of homeless men who live on the grounds and shower in the kids’ splash pad and trash the bathrooms and pass out — naked and high — in the toddler playground, residents said.

…

Illicit gatherings grow up to 25 people on the weekends and consist of the men fighting, doing drugs around young residents and littering the park with crack pipes and needles, locals said.

‘It’s bad,’ said Sunnyside resident Cristian Humala. 39. ‘They use the sprinklers to shower all the time, even when there are kids.’

Okay, so one of the facilities is built in the middle of an industrial park, with no easy access (sure it’s within “walking distance” of local housing but it’s not exactly walkable across a highway, and through a dark underpass), while the other one is overrun with bums who expose themselves to children, regularly erupt into fistfights, do drugs in broad daylight, and leave their dirty paraphernalia behind. And, these little gems cost the taxpayers a cool twenty million.

Sounds about right for progressivism!

Alright, so what’s the remedy?

Well, more money for “advertising” and additional measures to rectify the safety concerns… like the creepy tunnel in a city saturated in violent migrants:

‘We need to do more advertising,’ acknowledged Thomas Mituzas, who serves as secretary of the nearby Blissville Civic Association in Long Island City.

‘More can be done. … We need to improve the 43rd Street underpass and make it more inviting to people [with] better lighting and better access,’ he said.

According to Mituzas, a “good weekend” draws a couple dozen people over the course of the day; a local reported that weeknights sees an average of 6 people at the skate park section. (For reference, Queens has about 2,361,000 people living in it.) Here’s the silver lining though: For anyone who wants to brave the perilous journey to the park, he or she will get to enjoy a multi-million dollar complex all to themselves! At least, until the bums figure out where it is and move in, then it’s all over.

Now, here’s what one of those progressive Democrats has to say about it—in fact, the very Democrat who represents the neighborhoods affected by these boondoggles:

City Council member Julie Won, whose district includes both Maspeth Park and Noonan Playground, told The Post that individuals sleeping in parks is a ‘pervasive citywide issue and is not isolated to Noonan Playground.’

Translation: Like Sadiq Khan said of the Muslim terror attacks in London, it’s just “part and parcel” of living in a big city. After politicians open the borders and invite the scum of the world the colonize American neighborhoods, and permit druggies to dabble in their addictions with no punitive consequences, poopy sidewalks, heroin needles on playground slides, and maniacal knife-wielding men are just “part and parcel” of New York City life now.

Image from X.