Imagine a playground with no slides.

Now go to the city of Ogdensburg’s New York Avenue Park and actually see a playground with no slides.

And thank careless vandals for making it possible.

There are plywood planks where two slides were once connected to the park’s universal playground. One was cut and scraped a month ago. The other was discovered on the ground Monday night, torn from the bolts that held it fastened to the playground.

City Parks and Recreation Director Matthew J. Curatolo isn’t sure if and when the hard plastic slides will be repaired and put back into place.

“We’re going to look into that,” he said Wednesday. “It’s just disheartening to see that kind of damage.”

Mr. Curatolo has a theory on how Monday’s playground casualty - a tunnel slide - occurred.

“It could have been weight,” he said. “People on top of the slide. People inside of the slide.”

All that Lori A. Brooks of Canton knows is that she brought her three grandchildren to the park on Wednesday and saw no slides for them to careen down.

“That’s awful,” she said. “The kids really enjoy the playground.”

Also missing from the park is a metal picnic table that was donated by nearby Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center.

“That was bent by vandals last month. The latest damage two weeks ago was final.

“They totally collapsed it,” Mr. Curatolo said. “It’s unrepairable.”

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