Gramercy Park Demolition Derby!
Repeat car crashes outside Ian Schrager’s front door.
Cars keep crashing through the wrought-iron fence surrounding Gramercy Park— three in one week earlier this month. Residents theorize that the accidents could be partly due to the construction activity outside the Gramercy Park Hotel, which is being renovated by Ian Schrager. On March 12, a tow-truck operator was hooking up a car that had crashed around 4 A.M. when a second driver ran into the disabled vehicle (which rolled over the operator’s hand and knee). Block association president Arlene Harrison discovered the third automotive intrusion on March 19, when she noticed a license plate embedded in a planter. To slow down drivers on Lexington, the park’s trustees are seeking to desynchronize the light at 22nd Street and install a giant lighted arrow in front of the fence. Trustees will have to fork over up to $10,000 to fix the hole in the fence, now covered by thin wire mesh and orange tape, before the weather improves and trespassers invade the park.
—Kate Pickert