Murray Playground

Great park. Has a turf field for soccer or football. 2 full court basketball courts, a handball court and even a play area for younger kids. They also have a dog park

This park’s renovation has turned it into a great park. It’s great for kids of all ages. Great water feature for those hot summer days and lots of swings for small toddlers. Dog park too. It’s not far from LIC’s riverfront and my family walked to the nearby smörgåsbord to grab lunch.

This is just about the dog run. 9 times out of 10 as I approach the run, a dog owner yells out that I can’t come in because their dog attacks «small» dogs.
It has become a private run for large aggressive dogs and selfish owners.
Dogs normally tussle. But, I am being warned off because owners are aware their dog will do harm to another dog. It’s a number of different dog owners, not just one that has barred me from using my neighborhood run.
Small dogs also deserve to run and play in the park.
My 15 lb Schnauzer mix has to go to runs further away in LIC, as well as a number in Manhattan & Brooklyn with no problems. With dogs of all sizes and breeds.
There are many dog owners with «small» dogs in the neighborhood and none of us can use the run in the Murray Park. We can only walk our dog on the leash, never giving them a chance to play off-​leash. Since they are small dogs, traveling to a run a ½ mile further away is a challenge for them.
Yesterday I saw a woman, who was not aware of the situation, go in and her dog was immediately bitten. Sad. That owner didn’t even warn that poor woman. Off course the small dog had to leave and the aggressive dog stayed to enjoy the run.
This should not be allowed. The Murray dog run should not be exclusive to aggressive dogs, to dogs that owners know will injure other dogs.
It should be a neighborhood community space for everyone to share.

Murray Playground is a Court Square park that has (from east to west) a green space with a performance area, a dog park, a very good playground with lots of swings, public restrooms that are generally fairly clean, and hand ball, basketball and soccer courts.
The green space part on the eastern side is NEW, with construction wrapping up just last week. The new park centers around a grassy little hill with eight trees, each a different species. It’s the best spot in LIC to play the following game: blindfold your kid, spin them around, lead them to a tree to explore by touch only, and then lead them back to where you started. Take off the blindfold, and see if they can find «their» tree again.
Yay for green spaces!

What a lovely little playground!
Murray Playground is tucked between the cute and quiet LIC neighborhood and the iron jungle across the river. It is equipped with state-​of-​the-​art playground apparatuses for all ages. Best of all, it was completely empty on a nice sunny Sunday afternoon.
My friends and I got on the unoccupied swings and had a jolly good time. I tested out my iPhone 5s’s slow mo video capture as my friend swung not-​so-​high on the swings, her hair semi-​flying in the wind, pushing the thrill for our old near-​thirty bodies.
That was when a little black kid came out of nowhere and frolicked on the swing next to her and started to hit on her. No, literally — he started hitting her with his tiny little fist, fearing no danger or consequence. I, nervous at the thought of rising asian-​girl-​wrath, which I am often a victim of, tried to warn the boy off. He did not heed my warning, but still got away with it thanks to his cuter face.
I then noticed several girls out of my dating age range playing on a standing roundabout swinging thing. It was really cool. I tried to convince my friend to get on but we realized it would make her look like a talent of not-​as-​respected-​profession. Refusing to just spectate the awesomness, I went over and started snapping photos of the girls. I waved to the parents. No harm done.
The slides looked amazingly clean and operable as well. The downside*? No built-​in tic-​tac-​toe.
* Hmmm. A ‘down’side of a swing is usually that it has no downs. Do I mean to say upside? *brain splatter*

This park has come a long way since I was younger. The plus is that people who are moving into the neighborhood are the lucky ones because they get all the benefits of the new 2010 — 2012 renovations and the in progress renovations. In the 80s and 90s the front of the park was the area where all the drunks and druggies use to hang out. Not anymore those days are over. If you see pictures of this park from the 80s to now you wouldn’t believe your eyes. There is a baseball field with fake grass, handball/​basketball courts, Bathrooms (winter 2012), swings for the older kids/​adults and swings for small children, dog run and a garden that Alex runs, multiple water fountains, and spray showers. There are some days that you cannot play in the field because the local high school has permits for the field. This was never the case until that school moved into town. The field used to have no grass on it and it was a little torn up but no one complained. I feel as if this park got fixed only because of the yuppies and the new building that was put up called onemurrypark. It’s really sad that these changes didn’t happen for the locals. The plus side is that no one has to try and work there way into the surrounding stores to try and go to the bathroom. I remember throughout the years people would have to go around the corner to my house just to go. Either way this park will always hold 5 stars because I lived here my whole life. Granted when you walk around the area you tend to not know anyone but at least the rich people moving into the area are nice because they see you as a potential babysitter. I recommend checking out the sculpture that is currently inside the dog run this piece is called «Bigger Bird».But check it out before it’s too late because I read that there were plans that they were going to take it away since the dog run ruined it. Also now this park has traffic lights on every corner something the locals tried to get back in the day that suddenly sprung up as soon as the yuppies moved in, so that’s a plus even though we are no longer children and can cross the street with no issue. This park is really big (2.524 Acres) and it is something that you should check out. Your kids will love it!