After being put on hold for longer than a phone call to Time Warner Cable, the $16 million Washington Square Park makeover will finally be voted on by the Landmarks Preservation Committee today. In what has become a cause célèbre for aging folkies and small-time dope dealers all over Manhattan, the most controversial element of the remodeling seems to be the construction of a small fence around the park so a midnight closing time could be enforced.
The Post weighed in on the matter yesterday, slamming Mayor Bloomberg in an editorial for limiting the times that New Yorkers can?well?park it in the city's public parks (the administration also wants to limit annual events on Central Park's Great Lawn). The Post goes to extreme lengths to get us on their side, quoting an NYU grad student who?tragically?could lose out on valuable make-out time, and suggesting that a fence could actually increase crime.
You know, one would think that protestors would be behind the fence idea; after all, it would only be four feet high. Surely some old hippies can manage to clear one small hurdle in the name of adrenaline-pumping civil disobedience.
· Mike's Heavy Green Thumb [NYPost]
· On Mountains and Valleys in Washington Square Park [Curbed]
· The Blanding of Washington Square Park: Wither the Mounds? [Curbed]