Last Winter at the Park
For More Information on Phase II construction, go here. (Note, as of 1/29: I updated this to include more information.)
Photo: Juggler 314
All posts for the month January, 2010
Winter at Washington Square Park
Posted by cathryn on January 29, 2010
https://washingtonsquarepark.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/winter-at-washington-square-park/
A Personal Appeal — Support This NYC Blogger/Writer
Dear Blog Readers:
I’m writing you a personal note to ask for your support! Whether you read my blog regularly, stop by from time to time, or totally disagree with some of my views but appreciate the updates and hard work (!!) that have gone into this blog, I thank you! — this note is for you – and you – and you!
It’s hard to imagine that it’s close to two years since I started the Washington Square Park Blog (February 26, 2008) but it is. I’d never written a blog before but jumped into creating it because the issue of New York City’s actions as they affect our parks and public spaces is so important.
As I was figuring out various things in my own life, this blog connected me to other bloggers (I met many of the amazing Brooklyn bloggers in person and the Manhattan & other borough bloggers have been great support virtually). Those connections have been very important to me and this blog.
Washington Square Park Blog has given me the opportunity to delve into this burgeoning concept of citizen journalism and expose the intense – and sometimes joyous – details of what is happening in our City. Today, the idea of hyper-local blogs focusing on specific neighborhoods or places like Washington Square Park as a window onto the larger world has gained more traction.
While I’ve been writing my blog, I also have been writing a book.
Connecting the Dots
At times, finding the connections between disparate news items — such as the City’s attempt to put a privately owned restaurant in Union Square Park, or the construction of the new Yankee Stadium (which involved confiscation of 22 acres of public park land that still has not been fully replaced), privatization of our parks, or the question last year of Mayoral and City Council term limits! — and writing about these topics on this blog has been so compelling that I couldn’t turn away and not write about it, sometimes at the expense of working on the book!
And, of course, all the material directly related to Washington Square — the Community Board, Task Force & Landmarks Preservation Commission meetings, outlining the Phases of the redesign of the Park, letters to – and from – the NYC Parks Commissioner, write-ups in the media — NY Times, NY Daily News, NY1, Time Out NY, NYmag.com, MSN.com, Curbed (Curbed has kept me going at times and always made me laugh!), and numerous other blogs, the re-opening of the park upon Phase I completion, highlighting events at the park, the history of the park, to, more recently, breaking the news of the discovery of the tombstone from 1799 during recent construction! – it has often been difficult to turn the stove down to simmer.
I realize that when we read blogs – I read many of them! – we consider the content “free.” As it SHOULD be! There’s something really nice about the fact that it is.
But, as you probably know, A LOT OF WORK goes into researching and writing this blog. So, I’m asking you, now, to help support your local blogger! For a number of personal reasons, this would be a very good time to do so! And there’s good reason to: You can help me publish my book. (more…)
Posted by cathryn on January 26, 2010
https://washingtonsquarepark.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/to-wsp-blog-readers-a-personal-appeal-support-your-local-blogger/
The Washington Square Arch: Some Additional History
Washington Sq Arch late 1800's/early 1900's
The Arch at Washington Square Park was originally built in wood half a block away from its current location for the Centennial of George Washington’s Presidential inauguration in 1889. It was then commissioned in marble and completed in its current location at Fifth Avenue in the early 1890’s. The community came together to raise funds to build the permanent Washington Square Arch which was designed by noted architect Stanford White. The sculptures which adorn the ‘legs’ of the Arch — Washington At War and Washington at Peace, described in this previous blog entry — were not completed until 1916 and 1918.
The picture above must have been taken at some point between 1892 and 1916 – before the pedestal sculptures were completed as they are missing in the photo. Also note the decorative fence in foreground.
Stanford White died in 1906 (he was murdered atop the 2nd version of Madison Square Garden, since demolished, a building he also designed) and did not see the two Washington sculptures completed and adorning the Arch.
Judson Memorial Church, another building White designed, can be seen through the Arch – as White intended.
More on the history of the Washington Square Arch, “Exitus Acta Probat” (the Washington Family Coat of Arms) and architect Stanford White here.
Thank you to Matt Kovary for sending this photo in.
Posted by cathryn on January 25, 2010
https://washingtonsquarepark.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/the-washington-square-arch-some-more-history/
Shot at the Park: Washington Square Redesign Phase II Fall ’09
Photos: Cathryn
Posted by cathryn on January 22, 2010
https://washingtonsquarepark.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/shot-at-the-park-washington-square-redesign-phase-ii-fall-09/
Back with New Post Thursday! (Friday)
1/21 Update:
Oops. This will be more likely Friday! Check back…
Posted by cathryn on January 20, 2010
https://washingtonsquarepark.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/back-with-new-post-thursday/
Worth Checking Out — “The Bloomberg Era” by Photo Blogger Nathan Kensinger
Chez Brigitte, West Village, For Rent
As 2009 came to a close, Photo Blogger Nathan Kensinger put together an excellent photo and comprehensive written essay summing up “The Bloomberg Era.” It is worth a look ! This links to Part I (Part II is coming!).
Note: the photos on this site are not his but he is an excellent photographer and has captured the changing face of NYC and destructive nature of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s policies on the character of our city’s neighborhoods at his blog.
Kensinger writes:
The Bloomberg administration focused on transforming the city’s landscape from its very first days in office. As the NY Times wrote in 2009, “the administration’s economic development policies started with a simple concept: New York must grow to compete with other cities. Development became the means toward that end.” Bloomberg’s pro-development policies created “a historic re-envisioning of New York City, one that loosened the reins on development across the boroughs and pushed more than 100 rezoning measures through a City Council that stamped them all into law... across the city, residential construction doubled under Mr. Bloomberg, to more than 30,000 units a year from 2004 through 2008… Construction spending has also doubled since he took office, reaching a high of $32 billion in 2008.”
Donuts Coffee Shop, Park Slope, No Longer
Not only has the residential landscape changed dramatically under the Bloomberg Administration but the hyper development has led to overarching changes to the type of businesses that can afford to operate – and survive – in the city.
Kensinger’s essay continues:
With the loss of small businesses, the commercial landscape of New York re-oriented towards chain stores – with cookie-cutter exteriors – that could afford to pay exorbitant rents. By mid-decade, New York’s commercial streetscape had become dominated by redundancy. A multitude of sterile bank branches opened, while chains like Duane Reade and Starbucks placed multiple store locations within a few blocks of each other, to monopolize neighborhoods. For the first time, big-box-stores were allowed to enter the city, like Home Depot in 2004 and Ikea in 2008, further endangering small businesses. Virginie-Alvine Perrette’s award-winning documentary “Twilight Becomes Night” (2008) perfectly encapsulated the loss of small businesses in New York, stating that “large chains, public policy and high rents” were putting NYC’s “locally owned stores… on a consistent path towards extinction.”
See the entire essay here.
Photo #1: Jeremoss
Photo #2: Benzado
Posted by cathryn on January 13, 2010
https://washingtonsquarepark.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/worth-checking-out-the-bloomberg-era-by-photo-blogger-nathan-kensinger/
Recycle Your Tree At WSP! And Parks Across the City Saturday, Jan. 9 and Sunday, Jan. 10, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Our Mayor Bloomberg, the Tree Chipper
Chip in! Recycle your Christmas tree at WSP! And Parks across NYC.
Don’t just leave your Christmas tree for the landfill as trash on the curb. NYC exports 13,000 tons of residential garbage A DAY. Help reduce this amount.
When: Saturday, January 9 and Sunday, January 10, 2010
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Bring your holiday tree to a designated city park to be recycled into mulch that will nourish plantings across the city. Remember to remove all lights and ornaments before bringing the tree to a MulchFest site. You are encouraged to bring bags to take advantage of the free mulch provided at certain sites (including Washington Square Park).
Note: Most likely the place to bring your tree is by the Arch. Since so much of Washington Square Park is closed for Phase II– I’m sure the chipper will be visible. No word as to whether Mayor Bloomberg will be there.
For other locations across the five boroughs, visit the NYC Parks Department web site.
Posted by cathryn on January 8, 2010
https://washingtonsquarepark.wordpress.com/2010/01/08/recycle-your-tree-at-wsp-and-parks-across-the-city-saturday-jan-9-and-sunday-jan-10-10-a-m-2-p-m/
“The Vanishing City” to screen Tuesday, Jan. 12th at Judson Memorial Church, 7 p.m.
“The Vanishing City,” a documentary by Fiore DeRosa and Jen Senko, will screen Tuesday, January 12th, 7 p.m. at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South at Thompson Street.
The Vanishing City exposes the real politic behind the alarming disappearance of New York’s beloved neighborhoods, the truth about its finance-dominated economy, and the myth of “inevitable change.” Artfully documented through interviews with – and testimony by – tenants, city planners, business owners, scholars, and politicians, the film takes a look at the city’s “luxury” policies and high-end development, the power role of the elite, and accusations of corruption surrounding land use and rezoning. The film also links NYC trends to other global cities where multinational corporations continue to victimize the middle and working classes.
$5 suggestion donation.
Posted by cathryn on January 7, 2010
https://washingtonsquarepark.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/the-vanishing-city-to-screen-tuesday-jan-12th-at-judson-memorial-church-7-p-m/
Happy New Year 2010!
2009 Tree Lighting Side View Arch
This photo is a bit belated from the Annual Tree lighting* at the Park December 10th. I’ve run a few photos of the lit Christmas Tree at the Washington Square Arch of late but it’s so pretty and historic all at once.
*Not to be a downer but having attended the Tree Lighting ceremony for the first time this year, recognizing it is one of the oldest traditions (older than the Rockefeller Center tree lighting), I think that the ceremony could be improved a bit. I gather the Washington Square Association is in charge. I’m sure it’s a lot of work but it really needs some fine tuning. Just my cursory thoughts on the subject.
More to come on the New Year 2010. Wishing you a great year to come!
Photo: Cat
Posted by cathryn on January 4, 2010
https://washingtonsquarepark.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/happy-new-year-2010/
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