Meet the Mayor: Peters Park

Welcome to "Meet the Mayor," a segment in which we interview local Foursquare Mayors in their natural habitats.

Peters Park & Playground
Jennifer Levine-Fried

As mayor of Peters's playground section, do you feel competitive with the dog park section's mayor?
No, 'cause the playground people pretty much stay on the playground side. At other parks, there are huge fights between the dog owners and the kid owners, because the dogs will pee places where children eat dirt.

Any terrifying playground memories from your own childhood?
It was the suburbs. It was pretty vanilla, y'know? Here there are rats, apparently. A reporter from another newspaper was here last summer. She stopped me and asked, "What do you think about the rats?" I'm like, "Excuse me?" She's like, "There're rats in the bushes over there." I haven't seen them, but I hope they don't snatch anyone away.

Aren't there rats basically everywhere in the city?
Absolutely. It was definitely one of those little neighborhood newspapers that don't have a whole lot to report on.

Your two children play here a few times a week. Are you worried they'll be eaten by rats?
My son is pretty scary, so I'm pretty sure he would scare the rats away. He scares the cat. I guess cats are a little easier to scare than rats.