| Releases & Statements
As a former Parks Commissioner, I
know that no city relies more on its parks than New York. Here,
space is at a premium, tall buildings and crowded streets surround
us, and the cost of recreation and cultural activities can be
prohibitive. Our parks are our town squares where we come together
to play games, enjoy music, and exercise our right to express
ourselves. We need them to be welcoming to New Yorkers of all
walks of life.
Unfortunately, a disturbing trend
is threatening the future of our parks. Under the banner of upgrading,
redesigning, and preserving, the Bloomberg Administration is taking
steps to make parks across the City less accessible to the residents
and visitors who use them every day.
In Central Park, Mayor Bloomberg and
Parks Commissioner Benepe are pushing new rules that would severely
restrict the number, size, and timing of public gatherings on
the Great Lawn. In Union Square, the Mayor and Commissioner are
moving ahead with plans for a private upscale restaurant that
would be unaffordable for many local residents and would force
children to use a subterranean tunnel to go from one playground
to another.
And in Washington Square, the City
is supporting a redesign that includes a reduced number of entry
points and a four-foot fence that would surround the entire park.
To countless New Yorkers, the fence represents a betrayal of the
spirit of community they associate with Washington Square and
a return to a time in the 19th Century when City parks were considered
a playground for the wealthy.
In principle, a $16 million renovation
of Washington Square Park is a good thing. Visitors would certainly
benefit from the enhanced handicap accessibility and additional
green space, seating, and playground equipment included in the
proposal. But other elements, such as the fence and the relocation
of the dog runs so that they are almost flush with the adjacent
street, are not compatible with the character of the community
nor with the needs of local residents, who were not consulted
in the design process.
Moreover, I am concerned that less
than half of the $16 million needed to complete the proposed redesign
has actually been raised. New York University, the park’s
neighbor, has already contributed $1 million to the project but
has also requested that the park be closed to the public for special
events. Private subsidization of City parks must never come with
strings attached. No renovation is worth a permanent reduction
in New Yorkers’ ability to use their public spaces.
Irrespective of NYU’s involvement,
half of Washington Square would be closed for at least two years
while the park’s fountain, statues, and pathway are moved
in an effort to improve sightlines. It is open question whether
such refined aesthetic considerations justify two years of noisy,
obtrusive construction, but it cannot be debated that the park’s
neighbors deserve to have a say in the decision.
New York City’s parks belong
to New Yorkers, not to the Parks Commissioner, not to the Mayor,
not to the designers, not to the private investors, no matter
how much money they put up. When the needs of the community get
drowned out by the ambitions of a few, City government has lost
sight of its mission. It’s a lesson that the residents of
Greenwich Village taught Robert Moses in the 1950s, a lesson that
I urge the members of the Landmarks Commission to take to heart.
If New Yorkers believed in fences, they would live in the suburbs.
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