The basins of nine brass water fountains in Prospect Park were stolen earlier this month, costing the parks department nearly $100,000 in replacement parts and repairs just as temperatures rise for summer.
Parks department officials said that each fountain will cost $11,000 to replace with entirely new fountains with stainless steel basins, instead of brass. It wasn’t clear when the fountains will be repaired, though parks officials said the work would be done as soon as possible.
The thief or thieves struck in sections of the park that are relatively far apart. Basins were swiped from two water fountains near baseball fields in the park’s Long Meadow. All that was left were the metal dishes that hold the basins.
Another out of service fountain was near the boathouse. Two others were by the Parade Grounds, their pipes still sputtering water for anyone thirsty enough to take a sketchy sip.
Workers with the Prospect Park Alliance discovered the theft on May 8. There are 52 fountains in the park.
Another damaged water fountain by the Prospect Park Parade Grounds.
Students Dave Green and Sam Klein were playing catch near one of the busted ballfield fountains.
"It's really a shame that people have to vandalize the park,” Green, 21, said. “It's such a nice place. Everyone should be able to enjoy it equally, and it's unfair that people should just damage the water fountains.”
"It's really weird they just damage the water fountains. People need to drink over here, and it's not right that people are just going around damaging [them],” Klein agreed.
Brass theft, including from city parks, is not a new phenomenon. Brass scrap fetches a higher price per pound than steel. It’s not clear how much the basins in the park weigh.
Timothy Fulton, who owns T&T Scrap in East Williamsburg, said the price of brass has been rising for the past five months. Still, he was surprised at the heist, which he saw as high risk given the potential payout.
"I'm pretty shocked because there's security, there's cameras, there's police all over the parks. So I'm very surprised that they would've just been able to go in there and take them out," Fulton said.
"Depending on how heavy they are, one or two people got to carry it to wherever their van is.”
In 1973, somebody stole a roughly 80-pound bronze duckling from Central Park. In 1990, thieves made off with a bronze bust of Irish-American engineer John Wolfe Ambrose, who guided the development of New York Harbor, nabbing it from its pedestal in Battery Park.
