No kidding - no adults! - Sitting on a park bench - alone - earns dancer ticket

A woman looking for a place to sit down on the lower East Side last weekend says she found herself in trouble with a couple of playground bullies - from the NYPD. "It was a little scary," said Sandra Catena, who was issued a summons for being in the children-only Rivington Playground Saturday afternoon. "It was insane." Dressed in a turtleneck, skirt and flip-flops, the 47-year-old professional belly dancer was waiting for an arts festival to start when she wandered into the playground. She didn't notice a small sign at the entrance that says: "Playground Rules Prohibit: Adults Except in the Company of Children."

Within minutes of sitting on a bench, she said, two 5th Precinct cops approached with hands resting on their guns. "They walked toward me and said, 'Excuse me, are you accompanied by a child?' I said, 'No.' They said, 'You're breaking the law,'" Catena said. "Then he called backup. Do I look dangerous?" One cop told her the judge probably will toss the ticket when she goes to court in November, she said, but that's small consolation - especially when she could get 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. The Parks Department designated some playgrounds offlimits for lone adults in 1996, a department source said. An NYPD spokesman defended issuing the summons, saying the rule is designed to protect children from pedophiles.

source: Article 'No kidding - no adults! - Sitting on a park bench - alone - earns dancer ticket' by Adam Lisberg; nydailynews.com/news/local/story/350180p-298735c.html; New York Daily News; 27 September 2005