‘River’ to Remain at River Run Playground After All: Parks

River Run Playground, a beloved community space located off West 82nd Street, was set to lose its centerpiece stream during a massive Parks Department makeover—and is now set to keep it, due to sustained community outrage.

It is said that River Run Playground is especially cherished by a subset of Upper West Side literati known as The Joyceans. Named for the writer James Joyce, they’re said to extol the playground for its echo of the opening line of the Irish expat’s 1939 novel, Finnegans Wake: “riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.”

The city announced its revised intentions by posting updated plans on Community Board 7’s website earlier this month, as first reported by the blog West Side Rag.

The $7-million overhaul was first put before the public in August, and local residents quickly noticed that the waterway that makes the park iconic—which flows from its fountain—would end up running dry, so to speak. A bevy of printed signs were written by frustrated patrons, or perhaps civic-minded conservationists, soon thereafter.

“The river at River Run Playground, which flows from the fountain, is the heart of the playground,” the signs read. “It’s why it is called ‘River Run’ and loved by all kids. This is outrageous and destroys the playground’s charm and character.”

The signs implored concerned Upper West Siders to contact Community Board 7, local City Council Member Gale Brewer, and the Parks Department.

After the Parks Department announced plans to keep the playground’s river flowing, after all, Community Board 7 held a subcommittee meeting about the topic on Dec. 15.

Shulamit Puder, Council Member Brewer’s chief of staff, was in attendance; she appeared to obliquely praise the fact that the playground’s river would now stick around.

“I’m personally excited about this design,” she said. “There was a lot of passionate feedback about this particular project and certain components of it, and it’s really exciting to see these components in this updated design.”

Raphael Rosen, a local parent, told CB7 that he’s at the park “twice a week” with his kids. He noted that he’s not a fan of the overhaul, in general, expressing concern that it would prevent children from playing there for about one year.

However, Rosen added that he finds the revised river-sustaining version to be “vastly better,” and believed that it would be “nearly as good” as the original after completion. “I’m not here just to disagree,” he pointed out.

Terri Berger, who is helping the Parks Department with the overhaul’s design, said it would represent a “careful balance between how much is too much water . . . and how much is not enough water.” She said that she believed the revised iteration would end up as “what the community wants.”

The Parks Department isn’t budging on other substantial proposed changes to the playground, such as removing two of the three seesaws on site (it was originally set to remove all three, citing new safety standards). The remaining seesaw will be designed differently, as well, and will exhibit a curved shape rather than a rigid one.

Furthermore, the overhaul will create ADA-accessible ramps, as well as new tree planters and fencing. It’s also set to improve the park’s drainage system, add benches and other “community gathering” spaces, and put up signage “explaining trash protocol.”

As of now, the design phase is still slated to last until the middle of 2026, meaning that future alterations may yet be in play. Construction is then set to begin in 2027, and will indeed shutter the playground for roughly a year.