St. Mary's Park — Attraction in New York

After my late evening through early morning jaunt around lower to mid Manhattan then returning to rest near The Battery through the afternoon (Thx for consideration by The Wagner residents but esp NYPD & FD personnel). Wanted to transit FDR loop to north but diverted to the Bronx another unexpected sidetrack that should be expected during NYC adventure, honest admission though I'm getting lost beside detours, interruptions, most alarming & agitating obviously involve inconsideration, recklessness & hazards frequently imposed by other motorists, but no harm so far credit my awareness, alertness, capabilities, & defensive operation. So decided a respite needed to reorient recover & avoid further influence from traffic-induced stress bug. People must realize nobody wins by awful reckless offensive motoring & excessive speed but threaten, embarrass, hinder, harm, beside foul, delay, & interrupt traffic patterns engineered for flow within speed limits ... Likely no effective driver education, tests, responsibilities, & requirements ever imposed beside juxtaposition & conflict among numerous (millions!) influences & culture, attitudes, intelligence, whether inherent or external, along with institutional & systemic corruption imposing systematic injustice (characteristic of immorality among financial, insurance, & complicit legal interest groups beside dubious NGOs & much media among complicit dishonest shysters & shills ...) so acceptable oversight, enforcement, & resolution authority must reflect, reset, objectively perform, conduct independent duty, recognize hypocrisy, ethical disparities, aberrant conditions, & more issues (instead of continuing indulge, neglect, exploit, & obfuscate or distort Truth about safety, justice, & recovery) with continuous & monitored efforts coordinating communities, address & align numerous influences & attitudes with standard training & essential expected behavior, influencing people at earliest age with expectations & consequences beside explain & understand traffic engineering so people drive, ride, & bike effectively, efficiently, safely, & assuredly about their use of the complex transport infrastructure. Why do most people become possessed by careless attitude, agenda, personality, & vacate mindfulness without regard to consequences upon operating a motor vehicle especially commercial vehicles (as if anybody ever held accountable as deserved so likely among influences for irresponsility)? Schools & parents would safely benefit from one less vehicle while handling their formidable student transport issues esp Friday evening release & rush during Hallowe'en. Blessedly, even during a threatening cloudy day, St Mary's accessible with open space, facilities, people in good spirits, so helped provide relief, somewhat reducing stress, & thankfully redemption. Probably same issues as many parkland areas, people must show stewardship & mutual respect, remove & dispose their pet waste, maintain restroom & respect facilities, so far seems safe & well along E 144th St near American Dream School. Please behave courageously, courteously, & safely, so the respect you exhibit may get returned...

--2019 EDIT-- Certain areas of this park are closed due to construction. There is currently no dog park as the city and parks department are working on renovating the land scape and updating the park!

St Mary's park is a large park that is divided into 5 smaller parks. There is a small basketball park which locals call "I Am" park due to it having the words "I Am" on it for many years. This has now been changed however.

There is a large baseball field in which baseball's games are played in the summer and fall and during late fall and winter there is football practice. Between the 2 parks there is a park with 3 basketball courts, 2 handball areas and a small fitness area. There is also a fitness area soccer field and race track nearby.

On the other side of this there is a park perfect for younger children with slides and a swing set. There is a bouncy bridge also. Near by this area there is a parks recreation center with has computer classes, basketball courts, after-school courses and an indoor pool plus other amenities.

Right besides the rec center there are 2 tennis courts, a sprinkler system set up for the summer. 2 swing sets, one for infants and disabled children and 1 for older...

St. Mary's is a wonderful inner-city escape to rolling hills, expanses of green grass, and beautiful huge old trees. In the winter the hills are perfect for short and safe sledding. This park is across the street from the building that I used to live in until I was 8yrs old. There is a hill with a tall rock on its Western face that was perfect for climbing while the hill on the other side was great for rolling down and running around.

I went back to the park after 51 years, for my 59th birthday. I found my climbing rock and the corner where my building used to be. It was an amazing feeling to find and revisit all of these places, and I am very happy that I made the effort to go back and look around.

Sadly after 51 years it is not completely the same place that I remembered. When I climbed the rock as a child the only fear (my fathers' not mine) was that I would fall and get hurt. When I climbed the rock now every nook and cranny was filled with broken glass, garbage and drug paraphernalia to the point where I was concerned about having to hold on to anything as I climbed. But it was still an incredible experience to climb 'my rock' again, and walk through the old...