Walking Tour: Washington Sq Park Past, Present, and Future: A Guide to New York City’s Redesign of a Perfect Public Space * Sunday, July 27th, 12 noon

Washington Sq Pk under construction

Mark your calendars and come out for the second Walking Tour if you missed the first!

Walking Tour: Washington Square Park Past, Present, and Future: A Guide to New York City’s Redesign of a Perfect Public Space * Sunday, July 27th, 12 noon.

Meet up at Washington Square Arch, Fifth Avenue and Washington Square North
* $5 * (Raindate: Sunday, August 3rd)
TRAINS: A,B,C,D,E,F to West 4th Street/Washington Square

***************************************************************************
Washington Square Park Blog and Washington Square Community Improvement District(CID) present this unique walking tour of Washington Square Park.

Washington Square Park Blog will offer a guide to the redesign of Washington Square Park combined with history of this wonderful Park.

Some background on the redesign of Washington Square Park :

The pretext: They say they want to align the fountain with the Arch.

In the 1890s, noted architect Stanford White purposefully kept the two unaligned, and that way has worked just fine – thank you very much – for over a century. About this magnificent fountain, Jane Jacobs writes: “In effect, this [fountain] is a circular arena, a theater in the round, and that is how it is used, with complete confusion as to who are spectators and who are the show.”

The reality: They are cutting away public space to control public gatherings and un-permitted performances.

The City is:

• Digging up 18th Century and 19th Century burial grounds

• Ruining the historic nature of the park with much reduction in public space

• Chainsawing 40 to 80-year-old trees (14 cut down thus far. Plans allow for more to be felled.)

• Fencing in the Park

• Removing the famed chess tables (and rebuilding SOME of them)

• Dismantling the large circular Fountain, which also serves as public rallying venue, rebuilding it in a much smaller version eight yards away with vast reduction of the ad-hoc seating

* Renaming the fountain (a plaque on each side) for the billionaire Tisch Family media tycoons … after the Tisch family contributed $2.5 million to the Mayor’s Fund.

• Adding lawn space — more “picture perfect” for NYU’s graduation ceremonies.

• Narrowing the public walkways

* Spending $25-30 Million on this unwanted redesign (the original budget was an already high $16 million; it has now skyrocketed past that).

* * *

Hope to see you — !

55th year of Washington Square Music Festival - Concert Tuesday night July 8th, 8 p.m.

Michael Packer @ Washington Square

The Washington Square Music Festival was founded in 1953 by violinist Alexander Schneider of the famed Budapest String Quartet (and a Greenwich Village resident) and the Washington Square Association, which still sponsors the event. It is the only outdoor classical concert series in New York City sponsored by a local community-oriented organization. That organization has existed since 1906.

Peggy Friedman, executive director of the Washington Square Music Festival, sent in this photo of the Michael Packer Band from the opening concert which took place on June 21st. She writes, “Alas, this is the last year we will perform on this historic stage. It will be torn down in the next step in the renovation.”

The remaining concerts are all Tuesday evenings at 8 p.m. : July 8, 15, 22 and 29, all chamber orchestra ensembles except for July 29th which features the Charles Mingus Orchestra.

All concerts are Free and take place in the SouthEast quadrant of Washington Square Park, near the Garibaldi statue.

Seating is first-come, first-served.

In the event of rain, the concert moves to: Frederick Loewe Theatre (NYU), 35 West 4th Street.

Information: # 212.252.3621.

****************************************************

Photo: Cory Weaver

Event: Walking Tour! Washington Square Park: Past, Present, and Future: A Guide to NYC’s Redesign of a Perfect Public Space Saty June 28th

Come to the Walking Tour! Saturday, June 28th, 12 noon

WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE:  A Guide to New York City’s Redesign of a Perfect Public Space

(Raindate Saturday, July 12th, 12 noon)

Meet Up at Washington Square Arch, Washington Square North @ Fifth Avenue ; $5

Time Out NY this week wrote:  In the 1950s, Jane Jacobs helped keep cars out of Washington Square.  But a new redesign - which will entail dismantling the fountain, removing the chess tables and cutting down decades-old trees - puts the beloved green space in jeopardy all over again.  [Guide] leads this tour through WSP, which highlights some of the proposed “improvements.”

***********************************************************

Washington Square Park Blog and Washington Square Community Improvement District (CID) present a walking tour: “Washington Square Park Past, Present, and Future: A Guide to New York City’s Redesign of a Perfect Public Space” on Saturday, June 28th at 12 noon.

A unique Walking Tour of Washington Square Park Past, Present and Future, it will include a Guide to New York City government’s redesign of Washington Square Park - a controversial project that will alter the historic nature and structure of this successful public space.

The tour will also include history of the Park (Past) and what’s being done right now(Present).

Community Improvement Districts(CID) are a new model organizing to protect, preserve and promote the well being of our community. The needs of people are our primary concern, distinguishing us from the better known and financed groups referred to as Business Improvement Districts(BIDS), whose sole interest is promoting better business and an environment conducive to shopping. At Washington Square Park, the neighborhood BIDS, along with NYU, the Tisch Family, and Mayor Bloomberg have played a role in a redesign plan that is destroying the very heart of Washington Square Park.

Trains: A,B,C,D,E,F to West 4th Street/Washington Square

More about Community Improvement Districts (CID) here.

What are New York City’s plans? Click here.

Where is N.Y. Dosas ? Missing at Washington Square Park

N.Y. Dosas, Washington Square Park’s much acclaimed vegan food cart stationed on the south side, returned on May 15th to the Park after a four month break! However, a poster wrote in on Thursday, May 22nd saying he came in search of the famous dosas (vegetarian crepes from South India) with no success - no cart in sight. And today, at the Park, no sign again of N.Y. Dosas. I don’t know how the food cart permits are regulated but I would think they are rather competitive. It seems a bit odd that someone could take a four month break and return to the same spot and then have irregular hours. N.Y. Dosas’ Thiru Kumar won an award last year for best food cart (something called The Vendys). He was there last Sunday, fittingly, for the Veggie Pride Parade. Hopefully, he’ll return soon.

Washington Square Park Sunday in the Rain: Masses of Vegetarians and Low Hot Dog Sales

The Veggie Pride Parade and Rally happened yesterday, Sunday 5/18, and made its way from the Meatpacking District to Washington Square Park.

I wanted to witness usage of the very-much-diminished-in-size Washington Square Park (much of it behind gates) for an organized event but I missed it. When I arrived, the rally had ended - early due to the rain which began falling heavily early afternoon.

Nonetheless, the Park is quite charming in the rain.

The New York Times has a nice article today covering the Veggie Pride Parade/Rally. Apparently, it’s modeled after an event that takes place in Paris (which does add a bit more cachet to the whole thing). There is an interesting tid bit about the food cart vendors at Washington Square Park - how the vegan N.Y. Dosas cart (which returned last week - after a four month break) fared yesterday vs. the hot dog vendor:

The parade arrived at Washington Square Park about 1 p.m. Vegan jerky sticks were passed about, and a costume competition was held. …

Rain began to fall and the crowd started to disperse, yet through the drizzle a long line stretched from Thiru Kumar’s dosa cart, a vegetarian stand that won an award for best street food last year.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, business was decidedly thin at Salem Atwah’s hot-dog stand, on the southwest corner or Washington Square South and LaGuardia Place. Rarely, Mr. Atwah said, had he sold so few hot dogs.

“It’s because of the vegetarians,” he said. “It’s one of my worst days in four years.”

N.Y. Dosas Returns Today to Washington Sq Park after Four Month Break

According to New York Magazine, N.Y. Dosas, a “purely vegetarian” food cart serving lunch and a favorite of Washington Square Park-dwellers, returns to the South side of the Park today after a four month break!

New York’s review states: “At the edge of Washington Square Park, an assortment of NYU students, South Asian expats, and downtown hipsters crowd around Thiru Kumar’s food cart waiting for their daily dosa, the vegetarian crêpe from South India. … When the batter is cooked through, Kumar [lifts] the ethereally thin lentil-and-rice-flour wrapper from the grill, then chops it into sections and serves it with a gingery coconut chutney and a small tub of spicy lentil soup. The result: A delicious, ultrahealthy meal-on-the-street that’s well worth the wait.”

You can find N.Y. Dosas at Washington Square South at Sullivan Street.

*****************************************************************

**Special thank you to Keith for helping whenever I have photo issues.**