Lying in the middle of Downing Park is a pile of trash and debris. To the disdain of the Downing Park Planning Committee and Newburgh residents, the unfortunate sight was found two Sundays ago.

After discovering the sight, the committee posted about their disappointment on Facebook. Kathy Green of the Downing Park Planning Committee said that she reached out to the city manager about cleaning up the site.

“My concern is it’s a dangerous situation,” said Green. “There’s broken glass, there’s exposed nails. There’s sharp objects. We don’t know if there’s anything in there [like asbestos].”

Green said the committee suspects that the dumpage came from a trailer.

Due to the current novel coronavirus [COVID-19] outbreak, the city staff has been heavily preoccupied with addressing other matters and following COVID-19 procedures. As a result, cleaning up the site has been difficult for the city.

Green said she’s working on finding an alternative solution to have the site cleaned up.

As of last Friday, the trash is still there in the park.

On Facebook, residents of the city have spoken about going to clean up the site together. The committee and the city advises heavily against that.

“We so appreciate them making those offers,” said Green. “It comes down to a liability issue. When we have toclean up events in the park, people do have to sign liability waivers. So, that’s my concern. My first concern is that I don’t want to see people get hurt.”

Green asked that if residents see anyone vandalizing the park to please call the fire or police department.

“It’s gotten out of hand,” said Green.