The Dark Side of the East Village

This past Sunday, I was walking down East 7th Street, past Tompkins Square Park. I saw a group of people standing beside the new gimp-tree, and I was wondering if something was going on there.

As I approached, I saw that they were park-cleaning volunteers, raking leaves.

I thought to myself "Why are they raking the leaves? Why not just leave them there? They make such a nice Fall-smell, especially on rainy days!"

Then I thought "Still, a clean park is a pleasant park!"

Then I saw it:

Needles in the leaf pile.

East Villagers love their heroin!

Of course, they might have been discarded by careless diabetics. Diabetes is on the rise nationwide!

#eastvillage #7thstreet #heroin #tompkinssquarepark