"I used to do it every day before Hurricane Sandy," said Ava.
After Hurricane Sandy, Pier 25 in Lower Manhattan had uprooted concrete. All of the equipment was destroyed. The playground reopened on Saturday morning.
"There's only two playgrounds in this entire community of about 40,000 people. So it is really important to the neighborhood," said Madelyn Wils, the President and CEO of Hudson River Park.
Rocco Basile says his two daughters were bouncing off the walls during construction.
"We have the West Side Highway where they scooter back and forth, but having a park here, where they can just run around and be safe is very important for us as parents," says Rocco.
In other parts of the city, some cleanup projects are just getting underway. In the Rockaways, Saturday is the first day the walkway near Jamaica Bay has been cleaned up since Sandy hit.
About 40 volunteers participating in the 9th annual Arab American Association Day of Service spent nearly six hours picking up debris along Jamaica Bay in the Rockaways – efforts that were most appreciated by some fisherman who came to unwind.
"I saw the bus loads getting off, and I said 'whoa, is this operation cleanup?' and he said 'yes it is'," said Lynbrook resident Micia Terry.
