By Thomas TracyNow there’s no relief for the weary, wicked or anyone else.
A Borough Hall drinking fountain that provided a brief respite to the thousands of pedestrians ambling through Columbus Park Plaza was found knocked over onto its side this weekend — possibly the victim of Thursday’s snowstorm.
Encased in stone and emblazoned with an ornate BH symbol, the fountain was found lying on its side about a foot from its concrete housing near the plaza staircase leading to Adams Street.
Someone tied the lopsided fountain to its housing, but no steps had been taken to repair it until Wednesday, when calls from this paper prompted swift action.
“I’m not quite sure how it was knocked over but we have instructed our staff to repair it and put it back in place tomorrow,” a Parks Department spokesperson told this paper.
Even though it will be repaired, it won’t be operational until the spring — water fountains are turned off in the winter, the spokesperson said.
Rob Parris, district manager for Community Board 2, said that the drinking fountain has probably been in place well over a decade, when former Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden oversaw the recreation of Columbus Park Plaza.
He too noticed the damaged fountain, but no complaints had been filed with his office, Parris said.
Still a mystery is what damaged the fountain, although the smart money is someone backed into it with their vehicle as the city tried to dig out of last week’s snowstorm.
Yet even that’s a spotty excuse.
“It’s one thing to catch a metal plate with a plow blade, but [the fountain] is at least four feet tall,” Parris surmised.
