HERE’S THE PITCH: USE OF POPULAR PARK FIELD TO BE ADDRESSED
Originally published in ithe May 4, 2026, issue of the St. Vartan Park Conservancy newsletter
May 4, 2026 — The use of the highly in demand St. Vartan Park athletic field will be a topic of discussion at a public session tomorrow evening at the Manhattan Community Board 6 (CB6) office ten blocks north of the park. At issue is how the field (above and below) is divvied up between public open time and time for organized sports and other activities that carry city permits.
The May 5 discussion will be the first agenda item of the CB6 Parks & Cultural Affairs Committee that serves East Midtown. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at 211 East 43rd Street. The public can also participate and comment remotely. More meeting details reside on the events page of the Conservancy website.
The public session follows the recent closure of the park playground for reconstruction. Many peak hours of field time continue to be used by sports leagues who have been issued permits by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks).
The NYC Parks permits for the field prioritize youth activities from organized sports to school field days. For example, on Wednesday from 4:30 to 6 p.m., the community district's 51-year-old youth organization Manhattan Kickers Soccer Club has the field.
Some adult sports also hold permits for certain time blocks for the space. When permitted games are in play, other park visitors routinely need to limit themselves to the borders of the field. Some events are more accommodating, such as at this month's upcoming family-friendly movie night on the field.
To accommodate for the temporary playground closure, NYC Parks in cooperation with the Conservancy agreed to expand the park's garden hours for open public use to seven days a week and ten hours per day (weather permitting). The garden (below during a Conservancy children's book reading activity) features more than a quarter acre of open space. St. Vartan Park's block of sports courts between Second Avenue and Tunnel Approach Street are also open for use during the playground work.
Because of the need for more open space near the park, the Conservancy last year started an advocacy campaign — 'Open Murray Hill Space!' — that garnered more than 1,250 signatures of support for, 1) an Open Street on the underused East 36th Street stretch of road alongside the playground between First Avenue and Tunnel Approach Street, and 2) public access to MTA green space across the street from the park that has been locked for decades.
The necessary city agencies, including NYC Parks, support the Open Street. However, despite a successful Open Street trial run at the location, the state's MTA nixed the proposed open space because the agency doesn't want it close to the MTA's Queens-Midtown Tunnel. The MTA also rejected proposed access to its public green space with grass that last week was covered by gravel (pictured, with previous view in inset).
NYC Parks' Robert Moses Playground, which has a synthetic-turf field that issues permits, is open on First Avenue between 41st and 42nd Streets. Also within seven blocks of St. Vartan Park are two public parks that feature playground equipment — Vincent F. Albano, Jr. Playground (below) at Second Avenue between 29th and 30th Streets and Tudor City's Mary O'Connor Playground. All three parks will remain open during the St. Vartan Park playground revamp.
Murray Hill Neighborhood Association, which plans to present at tomorrow's meeting, posted online in reference to St. Vartan Park, "there are other playgrounds, but imagine having to push a stroller or walk all of your kids 10-15 blocks out of the way on a school day when kids only have a couple of hours before the end of school and dinner/homework/bed and you live just a couple of blocks from an actual green space right in the neighborhood."
Last year, P.S. 116 elementary school four blocks south of St. Vartan Park was designated by the city as the lone Manhattan school with outdoor playground equipment to be turned into Schoolyards to Playgrounds locationopen for youngsters. The space is yet to open as a public playground.
The P.S. 116 space, plus the addition of lights on the St. Vartan Park field to lengthen hours of play on the turf, were among topics addressed today in a Conservancy discussion with City Council Member Virginia Maloney's office. Maloney's district includes the park.
City budgeting for permanent lights for the field was teed up last year thanks to advocacy by Maloney's predecessor Keith Powers — above right on the park field with Conservancy president Kevin O'Keefe. The City Council's Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and Committee on Land Use voted in favor of the lights as part of $488 million in community benefits and infrastructure improvements.
Also last year, a unanimous CB6 resolution supporting lights at St. Vartan Park (introduced above by CB6 Parks & Cultural Affairs Committee chair Neil Barclay) acknowledges that "the lack of lighting makes usage of the field inoperable for after school programming as well as after work team sports" and that "proper lighting" for the field will remedy the inadequacy.
The Conservancy has started talks with field permit holders to learn if they are willing to bend on field use, including with Tarek Pertew, co-founder and CEO of co-ed NYC Footy (with a team in action on the field above on April 10). The organization bills itself as the largest adult recreational soccer league in the city with some 60,000 members.
In a meeting last week with O'Keefe and Conservancy community advisor Rebecca Webber — a PTA executive board member for park-adjacent P.S. 281 (The River School) — Pertew showed that among NYC Footy players who share their ZIP Code, Murray Hill-based ZIP 10016 lists the most league members — 1,381.
Pertew proposed that NYC Parks not allow permit holders from 4 to 7 p.m., which could accommodate both those who depart at the school bell and those who attend after-school programs. Pertew said that until the permanent lights are in, NYC Footy would supply, set up, maintain and pay for temporary lights for the field.
A Gothamist story published yesterday about NYC Footy and lights reports,"Players said it’s nearly impossible to find field space in New York." NYC Parks noted that it's looking forward to continuing discussions with NYC Footy about lights on city fields, which could shine well past sunset.
May 9, 2026 — This week, the Conservancy was again in front of Manhattan Community Board 6 (CB6) — to address in committee the Conservancy's four-year call for more community space in and alongside the park including for ample community time at the park's athletic field (above yesterday).
Last spring at a Conservancy press conference in the park garden (below), United States Congressman Jerry Nadler was among the voices in support of the Conservancy's push for more open community space. "It's essential to seize opportunities to create accessible open space in the neighborhood," he said.
After reconstruction of the park playground was budgeted with public funds in 2017, the city did not signal when the project could break ground until soon before the work started two months ago. With the playground closure date undetermined and with a huge demand for field permits in the city, NYC Parks issued binding St. Vartan Park field permits for this spring and summer, most issued by the end of last year.
Post-August is the next available stretch for which NYC Parks can issue permits for the synthetic-turf field. The city agency, responsible for issuing field permits and determining field use, prioritizes kids activities for the St. Vartan Park field permits.
At Monday's CB6 committee meeting, NYC Parks noted that for the length of the 12-month playground closure, the park garden has expanded to ten hours of daily community time (weather permitting) and that the more than a quarter acre of nature (above yesterday) provides space for running and other unstructured recreation.
NYC Parks further reported that the ongoing reconstruction of athletic fields at John V. Lindsay East River Park (ERP) is a major reason why more permits have been granted for St. Vartan Park and other parks. The agency added that reopening of athletic fields at the expansive ERP, likely next year, should help lighten permit issuances for other area parks.
The community concern over limited community time for the popular St. Vartan Park field increased after the playground was fenced off starting in March. Representatives from two groups, Murray Hill Neighborhood Association (MHNA) and the P.S. 281 PTA, reached out to the Conservancy in April for guidance. The CB6 session resulted, as did the meeting's designation of Conservancy founder Kevin O'Keefe (above foreground on the park field) as the liaison for the ongoing field discussions with NYC Parks officials.
MHNA and the Conservancy each presented slides at the Monday CB6 meeting and each expressed support for more community time on the field. The Conservancy highlighted its years of advocacy for more open space in anticipation of the playground closure, and shared city and private plans for field lights that would extend open-play hours on the field.
The youngest speaker at the meeting was Daniel Martin, 10, a member of local Cub Scout Pack 422 (above second from right at a Conservancy garden session last year). Daniel said that when the park is being used for organized sports permits, he and his older sister are often limited to inadequate sideline space. "We can't go to any other parks that are closer because we are younger and can't really go alone," he said.
The public comments in the meeting were overwhelming for more community time on the field. Committee member Paige Judge warned about any characterization of the field as kids-exclusive turf. "It's for everybody," she said. "I love children, but It's not just for children." She added that nearby playgrounds should be used more by St. Vartan Park families. Tudor Grove Playground, which reopened yesterday after extensive renovation, is among three public parks with playground equipment within seven blocks of the park.
In the meeting, O'Keefe said the Conservancy had only advocated for one permit for the field in four years, for the Peter Stuyvesant Little League's Challenger Division for players with physical and intellectual challenges, in keeping with the Conservancy's inclusivity mindset.
He recalled a discussion at the 2022 Conservancy launch event with William Castro, then Manhattan's Parks Commissioner. Contemplated Castro — above right at the launch with O'Keefe and Alliance for Kips Bay co-leader Sandra McKee — 'What's going to happen to the field use when the playground closes?"
