Harlemites vented their frustrations during Tuesday night’s town hall meeting at the Police Athletic League over regulations enforced by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

“We’ve been getting a lot of complaints regarding [Morningside] park,” said Assemblyman Keith Wright, who sponsored the meeting and has lived in Harlem his entire life. “It’s important to have these town hall meetings so that people can be on the same page.”

Packed with residents, the town hall meeting included panelists such as City Councilmember Inez Dickens, Chief of Operations of the Parks Department Namshik Yoon, the deputy inspectors of the 26th and 28th police precincts, and former Councilmember Bill Perkins, who is now running for senator.

The issues residents most complained about revealed the unsettling changes long-time residents have witnessed since the influx of residents from Lower Manhattan.

“We have been barbequing for years. We have a Father’s Day event that’s been going on for over 30 years and now they want to stop us from doing it. You want us to enjoy the park and the park is for the community; we are the community,” Nadjia Woods said to a panel of city officials during the meeting.

Woods, like many other residents, is frustrated by the Parks Department’s recent decision to start enforcing regulations like fining people for walking through the park outside of the park’s regular hours, which are from dawn to dusk.

“They are doing things (now) that they have not been doing. Why do it now? Because people are buying $300,000 and $400,000 apartments? Wherever they get their decisions from, it’s not coming from the community,” said Woods, while the crowd cheered her on.

The benches were moved out of the park, and one resident said she was told they were moved to keep crack heads out of the park.

“Is everybody in the community a crack head? Do we all have to suffer because of one or two people? This is why the police are supposed to be out there enforcing the law, making sure that crack heads don’t sit on the benches. Why pull up the benches that we have to sit on?”

Deputy Inspector Michael Cassidy, of the 26th Precinct, said: “The quick fix is to get them off of the benches if they go into the park. Then we can make an arrest with them in the park, because it is more than likely they are violating the curfew,” Cassidy said.

Harlemites fear losing control of their community, as new residents move in and diversify Harlem.

Dickens said that during the 1970s and 1980s, residents did not go in the park for fear of crime and drugs.

“It’s like leaving a building deserted. Other elements can come in and take over the positives the area residents had been trying to work on for years. Finally issues are being addressed that all of us who have lived here for 40 years were not getting addressed,” she said, explaining that the changing dynamics of the area and increasing diversity are why the issues are now being addressed by the city.

After the meeting, Wright said the police department offered to sensitize officers and the Parks Department agreed to revisit their stipulation regarding Morningside Park.