An Important Part of Recovery Operations

I went to Grand Army Plaza and saw that the entrance to Prospect Park was entirely unobstructed, and many people were strolling into the Park and around the interior roadway.  A very few folks were walking on the central lawn area (far from any trees).

There were a few large trees down, and some folks were posing for pictures in front of them.  

The feeling was very sedate and peaceful; a sort of Zen mood after a big storm.

Then I became aware of a muffled sound from across the other side of the park, a megaphone-amplified voice saying something like: "Prospect Park is still closed.  Please leave the park!"  Everyone kept strolling, as I did, and sure enough, an NYPD van slowly rolled up and by us, repeating this message of good cheer.

We did not visibly react to the announcement -- no one altered speed or direction of their stroll -- but we all quietly complied by exiting the park at the next exit we encountered.  In my case, this was the 3rd Street entrance, which (unlike the Grand Army Plaza entrance) is marked as "closed."

I couldn't help thinking that none of us were doing anything stupid or dangerous.  Surely, rather than deploying scarce NYPD resources to continually patrol the park and inform pedestrians that they must leave the park, they  could simply put up a barricade and signs at Grand Army Plaza? Admittedly, this alternative does require trust in our collective ability to exercise judgment and look out for our own interests, but it also frees up an NYPD van and drivers to where they might be better needed.