Counting Down the Days? (Or Not) … Some Last Minute Work at the Arch.

I’d love to be doing a countdown til Washington Square Park’s Fountain Plaza reopens but, since the NYC Parks Department won’t reveal anything concrete, I am not able to. I really do believe they are going to start taking the fences down without informing anyone of when that will happen — despite widespread curiosity. (It just seems the way the redesign of this Park has been handled from Day One – with minimal communication to the community and park users.) And then the Grand Re-Opening Ceremony with elected officials will take place shortly afterwards. Last I heard was Monday but my feeling is that could change. Then perhaps a separate ceremony for the “community.”

They’re still doing some things around the fenced-off Park. Yesterday, the Arch was the site of some work. Apparently there are nets up at the ledge near the top. Who knew…? (I assume to catch bird droppings although I never see any birds up there. I hope it’s not to catch birds that dare go near the precious Arch.) The nets were covering up access to changing the Arch’s lights and they needed to be reconfigured. So “BirdMaster” was brought in to the rescue.

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by cathryn on May 14, 2009  •  Permalink
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Posted by cathryn on May 14, 2009

https://washingtonsquarepark.wordpress.com/2009/05/14/counting-down-the-days-or-not-some-last-minute-work-at-the-arch/

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2 Comments

  1. H Hilowitz

     /  June 28, 2009

    I am a huge fan of the Park and was hoping that the renovation would improve it, but as per my visit yesterday most of the areas not in the central fountain-arch area were run-down and shabby. Large areas were not planted or goomed, the dog area was smelly and dirty and the park overall looked crappy. One question I had was who are the two figures behind Washington’s “at war” figure. I can’t find any info on them.
    Any info would be helpful.

  2. cat

     /  June 29, 2009

    Hi H.

    They haven’t ‘finished’ the work on the park. Only about half has been done. It could have been done more quickly (finished totally) if they’d modified their plans even just a bit, but that was not in the cards. At least thus far.

    Here is more information on the figures (“at war” and “at peace”) around Washington at the Arch. Behind Washington At War are Fame and Valor:

    Washington Square Arch: Exitus Acta Probat

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Cathryn
    WSP Blog.

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