thanx for taking a stab at my question.
So do tell : Since when are laws/rules enacted to "keep the drug dealers safe" ? Are you serious that md'ing was made off limits, so as to "not interfere with the illegal drug sales and muggings", etc.... ? Seriously ? Then why not make jogging and bird-watching off-limits there too ? Wouldn't they be at risk of interrupting drug sales, or getting mugged as well ?
Thus ...seriously .... I assume you're joking , right ?
As for "delicate and invasive", I challenge you or anyone here to do this : Waltz into any city hall, in any city, across the entire USA : And ask the person at the parks dept desk : "Hi. Can I disturb the delicate/extensive irrigation system with invasive techniques ? " Then sit back and bask in their answer.
I believe you will find that it's not simply NYC's central park that can attribute such a "no" to that answer the "pressing question". There's not a single park in the entire USA that doesn't have boiler plate verbiage that disallows "disturb" and "alter" and "deface". Yet as you can see, there's no shortage of md'rs who (gasp) md in public parks.
Thus yes, I have a sneaking suspicion that people there went "swatting hornet's nests" at some time in the past decades. Someone fetches a "no" (or a "scram") and promptly puts out the word on social media. Before long, ... yup ... you can never put it to rest. And the moment anyone ever TRIES to put it to rest, guess what tactic they will use ? Yup : Ask a desk-bound bureaucrat, and presto, it just feeds on itself. A sort of "self-fulfilling vicious loop". Eh ?