This July, Central Park Conservancy will begin enhancing the playground on East 79th Street and Fifth Avenue, by adding equipment geared toward toddlers. The project includes adding an age-appropriate slide, balancers, a spray water feature, a climber, sandboxes and toddler swings and is projected to finish by January for $1.2 million.
The Conservancy will also be planting 14 London plane trees to replace those lost in a fall 2011 snowstorm on the north side of the Grand Army Plaza, which runs from East 58th Street to East 60th Street along Fifth Avenue. Along with the replanting, the Conservancy has plans for re-paving, irrigation and drainage improvements, and a preservations program to protect a gilded-bronze statue of Civil War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. Those improvements are scheduled to begin in June and are expected to cost $2 million.
Community Board 8 members welcome the coming changes. According to CB8's Elizabeth Ashby, "They're modest changes going back to the original plan, which is always a good thing."
The southern portion of the plaza is also wanting for $2 million in improvements, but that project won't likely take place for another five or six years.
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