Riverbank State Park. Eighteen acres of recreational facility designed for residents and visitors in the Harlem community. Riverbank State Park is located on the upper West Side of Manhattan and has two entrances: One on 138th and Riverside and the other on 145th and Riverside. As a result of over spending, which put the New York State in a multi-billion dollar deficit, Riverbank was going to be targeted as a place where money could be saved if operation hours were cut in half. This was shocking. The park services around 400 patrons at any given hour of the day and those cuts would have been devastating to the community, where would those hundreds or thousands of people be going if the park were closed during peak hours? Community members supported a unified movement to save the park and it was a success. The question comes: Would this happen if the park was located in a more privileged community? I don’t think so. Communities with more political will, clout and financial backing in their districts don’t allow for their resources to be taken away without a fight and I was proud to see community members join the campaign to save the park. I though about the consequences of the park’s preemptive closing and the first thing that came to my mind was the youth. Where are the teenagers, young adults and youths going to go? What other park will act as a substitute? The streets would become the playground and that’s dangerous. I am pleased to write that because of the persistence of the “Save Riverbank” campaign with nearly 4,000 petitioners, most of the park’s operational hours were restored.