[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/m...BaYyJvYOu7xWPJ

No kidding! Firm locks playground

By CYNTHIA R. FAGEN
October 2, 2011

A developer has padlocked a popular Upper East Side park, holding it hostage unless the city agrees to its demands for a tax break. The real-estate giant Related Companies chained the entrance of Rupert Playground on Sept. 12 and has private security guards patrolling it.

Related bought the site from the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development for $10 million in 1983 under an urban-renewal plan to revitalize the area. Under the agreement, it had to clean up and maintain the park for public use through June 20, 2008. Related continued to keep it open to the public until last month.

One plan on the drawing board is for Related to build a 49-story tower in the park’s footprint, but so far, the company has held off on demolition work, leaving a small window open for negotiations.

Related was getting tax breaks for the playground’s upkeep but is now asking for several million dollars more in tax breaks for an adjoining property, the older luxury rental Carnegie Park, according to a city source.