Raccoon gone, maggots remain

Another stunningly beautiful day in the park, so much so that I got nervous. This seems to be permanent reaction to stunningly beautiful days, ever since 9/11, which was just such a stunningly beautiful day, weather-wise, but let's not go there today. They were setting up for filming a commercial at the Peninsula meadow. Lots of lighting and camera gear and the stunt flowers. Tony said it was for a Bulgarian shampoo, so we guessed that the models with the long flowing hair will arrive later. Well, maybe the feline models - we noticed that the equipment bins were marked "Cat's Eye Shampoo," which seems to be cat hair shampoo.

The dead raccoon was finally gone, but the maggots remain - not a great clean-up job. This is worrisome because all kinds of small children arrive at Peninsula Meadow after 9 AM when the dogs leave. Strollers and toddlers, and I don't think their care-givers want them to play with maggots.

The e-mail chatter about the dead raccoon was something. If these people put 1/2 the time into doing their jobs as they do e-mailing about it...Here's how it went:

10 AM Wednesday: Ber e-mailed P.J. Greiner, Maura Hegarty, P. Pereria and E. Patron, all of the Parks. Dept., about the existence and location of the dead raccoon. These are names of people we got last winter, when there seemed to be a plague of dead animals. "Let us know, we can take care of it," they all said. Greiner is out until 10/16, Pereria is on a 6 months leave of absence as of 9/19, and Patron never replied at all. Hegarty forwarded the e-mail to the Sarah Aucoin of the Urban park Rangers at 10:13 (very promptly!).

2:14: Aucoin e-mailed Eugene Patron (who had ignored Ber's original e-mail) asking if this was the same raccoon found on Monday. Patron immediately (at 2:34) e-mailed one Josephine Pittari wondering what Sarah was talking about and if there was more than one dead raccoon this week.

3:38 (still Wednesday): Pittari e-mailed and cc's the following people: Mark Levit, Venice Smith, Tupper Thomas, Sarah Aucoin, Anna Wong, John Jordan, M. Coba, Eugene Patron, E. Landau, and Ber asking that 1) the dead raccoon be found and picked up and 2) the earlier report of a dead raccoon turned out to be a dead rat.

As mentioned yesterday, dead raccoon was still in situ at 9:00 Thursday, demarcated by two orange traffic cones.

Thursday, 4:53 PM: Pittari e-mails everyone that the dead raccoon was located, but was too deteriorated to be tested. The maggots are not mentioned.

Kudos to Ms. Pittari, who actually did something. Do any of these people ever come out of their offices to look at the park?

We took two dogs - JJ and Chewy to the Park today, and everyone had a great time.

Another beautiful spring day!! Crocuses and hyacinths are blooming everywhere, and I saw my first daffodils of the season - so bright and cheery!! Hobbled to and around the park; figured it's best to keep moving, and the epsom salts bath last night helped. Skipped the steps, though. Last week at yoga I could forward fold and put my hands under my feet. Now I can barely reach my knees. Well, enough about my health issues. The second duck egg was broken open, and the yolk still inside. No signs of a third egg. Either mom has quit altogether or found a better hiding place. The turtles have found a better place to congregate, and are keeping out of the burned phragmite stand. Of course, we don't know if these are the same turtles. Ed tells us that he told the head of FIDO and a person at the Sean Casey Animal Shelter about the turtle rescue. The Sean Casey told him that 1) the turtles were hibernating [nonsense in this weather and location], and 2)came and took 3 turtles away for study. Since all the park animals are owned by N.Y. State, it is a crime to take them away - punishable by about a $4,000 fine. I do not believe this fine has been levied in living memory.

It is hard to figure what is happening in Prospect Park. The trash seems to get worse and worse (I am on a hiatus from collecting until the leg is better and I can bend down.) The police presence seems nil, except for the dog runs at 9:00 to make sure all dogs are put back on leash. The dog people, all come with their bags and are scrupulous about picking up after their dogs, so as not to lose the off-leash privilege. Apparently at Brooklyn Bridge Park, a relatively new and small park, is going to get 7 -8 full-time security people. Could it be because it is surrounded by the new multi-million dollar lofts now in the 19th century warehouses? Also, the Parks officials don't give straight answers. The phragmite fire is an example. According to one park ranger and the man in the bodega closest to that bit of the park, it was a huge fire, tons of smoke, and many fire engines came. The official park explanation, according to Ann Wong, was that it was a small fire that went out all by itself. Ignorant or lying?

No steps, ergo no crack bag count todayl