September 1, 2025
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Labor Day came early this year. It’s observed on the 1st Monday in September, and this year it fell on the 1st day of the month too, today, a Monday. As usual, it felt like the Summer went by far too quickly. For those whose lives no longer revolve around a school-centric lifestyle, this always holiday feels more like an ending than a beginning. This Summer also felt different. For one thing, it’s been mad quiet. This neighborhood traditionally does loud Summers.
If you go down to the river…
The question is, why? The Gazette asked a few random people and got a lot of guesses. One guy said it was because of COVID and people just don’t go out anymore. Another said people have left Inwood because it’s too expensive. We suspected it might have been fallout from the splashy ICE rollout in February, but we haven’t seen them around up here since then.
Hard at work.
Whatever is going on, it’s eerie. The Inwood Hill Park baseball fields were torn up as part of a multi-year project to install lights. Progress has ground to a stop. Mounds of dug up dirt are covered with thick carpets of grass because there’s been no activity for months. This is in keeping with the disrespect the City government typically shows this community. We endured years of not having a library while a new one was built before having that ‘new’ one demolished and waiting a few more years for a newer one. The baseball field project probably could have been finished by now if any of our elected officials cared about Inwood. Their names are on the Project signage: Mayor Adams, Borough President Levine, and Council Member De La Rosa. The sign indicates a completion date of Winter 2026. The Inwood Little League, Manhattan’s oldest, also uses those fields.
No ball this Summer. Or next.
The community of Dominican softball leagues that played up here, year after year, were disregarded. They maintained those fields like they owned them, borrowing lawn mowers from the Parks department, spreading fresh dirt around the infield, and chalking the foul lines themselves. They brought their families to watch and cheer them on, and they made the park vibrant. So, there was none of that this Summer. The ubiquitous birthday party picnics and soccer games in this Park also have largely vanished this year as well.
A Saturday afternoon in August.
Beyond the confines of the Park, human activity seems down in general. There are quite a newly few vacant storefronts on Broadway, and several spots on our local ‘Restaurant Row’ (Quisqueya Plaza) are shuttered. Racks of Citibikes are full, and we’re talking about fully charged e-bikes which were formerly in high demand here on sunny weekends. You’d be lucky to find 1 let alone 10 like now.
Shuttered businesses.
Inwood Hill Park’s Nature Center finally re-opened after 13 years of repairs.
So the Summer is Unofficially over, but we’ll probably have another few weeks of gorgeous weather. So here’s to that. Enjoy!
Watching the tide roll in…
Edited 090225, fix typo, add captions and 3 photos.
