Parks "condemned by NYU"

In the picture, it's pretty hard to see, but one day when my mom and I were having lunch in a cafe in the village in NYC, we were right across from a fenced off park that had banners hung that read "CONDEMNED BY NYU. Gardens going... going... gone". I had seen several different parks that were locked up like this, forbidding visitors from entering. We asked our waitress who said that NYU was planning to build buildings in place of these tiny parks on street corners. They did seem a bit out of place in a lot that was meant for a building but that's what made them so charming. All of the different banners and posters show how the community around these parks really wanted to save them. Living in New York, they obviously don't have the luxury of a big back yard to run and play with the kids and pets like people in the suburbs have. I can definitely understand their hard work to keep their beautiful little parks for their kids to run and play in.