Columbia Daily Spectator - September 28, 2004
Letters to the Editor
Morningside Park Doesn't Deserve Spectator's Criticism
By Doug Robinson - President
Friends of Morningside Park
To the Editor:
We are replying to a recent article written by Carolyn Braff on Sept. 8, 2004, entitled "Runs to Keep That Mid-Summer Form." In a written disclaimer, Spectator stated, "As a general rule, stay out of Morningside Park at night." We of the Friends of Morningside Park take great exception to this statement, and we wonder: just where does this supposed "general rule" come from?
Years of handed-down perceptions can be hard to change and often are repeated without receiving the scrutiny they deserve. That is why the Friends of Morningside Park have worked tirelessly to improve the park and to encourage all the many communities that surround it, including the Columbia University community, to freely enjoy our Olmsted-designed gem.
Unfortunately, all parks, including Central, Riverside, and Morningside, do have crime, but the fact is that Morningside Park is safer today than it has been in decades. And, although anyone living in a large city should use caution when going anywhere at night, by singling out our park as unsafe Spectator actually undermines safety by frightening away the very users who make any park safer.
At a time when we appreciate the efforts that Columbia has been making to develop and maintain good relationships between the Columbia community and its neighboring communities, we are all the more dismayed that Spectator would engage in such inaccurate and insensitive fear-mongering.
