| Releases & Statements
Good afternoon. Thank you for holding
this hearing.
I am here today not only as the Public
Advocate but as a former Parks Commissioner. I have expressed
my position on this issue in a letter to Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner
Benepe, at a press conference several weeks ago, and at the City
Council hearing this past Wednesday. Few understand better than
I do the importance of maintaining the beauty and physical condition
of the city’s green spaces. I established the City Parks
Foundation, which has brought in millions of dollars for restoration
and maintenance.
And yet I also know that our parks
were not made just to be looked at. During my tenure at Parks,
I got the City to change its policy to allow the Gay Men's Health
Crisis (GMHC) and other organizations the use of Central Park
for fundraising events. As a result, more people than ever before
could participate in GMHC's AIDS Walk and the money raised for
people with HIV/AIDS rose dramatically.
I opened Central Park to the AIDS
Walk because I recognized that our parks are the places where
New Yorkers of all walks of life come together to play games,
enjoy music, and exercise their right to express themselves. For
decades, the Great Lawn of Central Park has been a symbol of freedom.
The Mayor’s new rules betray that legacy.
His plan to severely restrict the
number, size, and timing of gatherings on the Great Lawn—and
to ban special events altogether in the Sheep Meadow, the North
Meadow and ultimately the Hecksher Ballfields—is wrong for
our city. The supposed purpose of the plan is to protect the grass,
but it does so at the expense of civil rights and ignores Central
Park’s rich history.
A few words about that history: Mayor
Bloomberg and Commissioner Benepe are not the first to try to
limit use of the Park. In the years after the Park opened, strict
rules were put in place to discourage German and Irish immigrants
from visiting and disturbing the afternoon carriage rides of wealthier
residents. Group picnics were banned for this reason. Tradesmen
were forbidden from using their commercial wagons for family drives.
School children couldn’t play ball on the meadows without
a note from their principals.
Conscientious New Yorkers fought these
restrictions and won. By 1865, the Park hosted more than seven
million visitors a year. In the 1960s, Mayor Lindsay encouraged
concerts and demonstrations in the Park and showed the world that
a spirit of community and idealism lives in New York City. By
the end of the century, we had added a carousel, tennis facilities,
concerts, and the zoo. When we’ve changed the rules in the
past, we’ve opened up the park to more New Yorkers. Why
on earth does Mayor Bloomberg want to go in the opposite direction?
The Parks Commissioner already has
the power to deny a permit if a proposed event is likely to cause
harm to the park. He or she also has the power to demand that
organizers put up a bond to pay for restoration if their event
damages the grass.
A reasonable observer could draw the
conclusion that the Mayor has other motives for imposing these
unnecessary rules. There is reason to believe that, in the wake
of the Republican convention last year, he is seeking to limit
public demonstrations that have the potential to embarrass his
administration.
Last year, when United for Peace and
Justice was fighting for the right to stage its protest of the
convention on the Great Lawn, Douglas Blonsky, President of the
Conservancy, testified on behalf of the Bloomberg Administration.
He said, “Lawns are most at risk [of extensive damage] during
the hot, dry days of August.” If that’s the case,
why does the City now say that the month between mid-August and
mid-September is the only good time for special events?
It is clear that the Mayor is fishing
for an excuse to silence groups that get under his skin.
The Police Department has already
moved to restrict parades and demonstrations along 5th Avenue.
By making 5th Avenue and the Great Lawn off limits, the Bloomberg
administration is essentially pushing future demonstrations onto
the West Side Highway, where their exposure to the public eye
will be minimal.
Mayor Bloomberg shouldn’t be
ashamed of the big events this city host. He should be proud of
them.
He should be proud that a 2003 concert
by The Dave Matthews Band drew 83,000 New Yorkers to the Great
Lawn and raised over $2 million dollars for City public schools.
At the time, he said, “Central Park, which has a long history
of hosting major outdoor concerts, is the perfect setting for
such an exciting event under the night sky,” but apparently
he’s changed his mind. The Dave Matthews concert took place
on September 24th, too late in the calendar to have taken place
under the new rules.
Ask New Yorkers and visitors to the
city for their favorite memory of Central Park and some might
mention the upkeep of the grounds. But many more will speak of
attending a mass presided over by Pope John Paul; of seeing Simon
and Garfunkel reunite for a crowd of half a million; of joining
750,000 people to protest the nuclear arms race. None of these
events would have happened under the new rules.
The City’s proposal would create
a situation in which hundreds of groups compete for only 2 permits.
It wants to allow only 6 events on the Great Lawn a year, and
4 of those slots are already reserved for the opera and the symphony.
When the Parks Department originally set aside those permits for
the Philharmonic and the Met, it wasn’t at the expense of
other groups. But under the new rules, the number of permits available
would
be severely limited, and most groups would be at an extreme disadvantage.
My office is exploring legislation that would prohibit the Parks
Department from playing favorites in the way it hands out permits.
The new rules don’t just violate
our civil rights, they go against our values. New Yorkers like
big, diverse crowds, and we like to speak our minds. Mayor Bloomberg
and Commissioner Benepe have a responsibility to those values.
They must keep the Park beautiful
while at the same time embracing its status as New York’s
town square. It may not always be easy, but I know from my own
experience as Parks Commissioner that it can be done without additional
restrictions. If anything, Central Park needs more help from City
Hall, not a giant sign that says, “Keep off the Grass!”
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