Washington Square Park has served as a place for those that shared common, unconventional ideas to assemble and share music and ideas, to stage protests, and for any recreational purposes. In the Spring of 2005, the New York City Parks Department unveiled their plans to renovate the park. While many residents agreed that some areas needed to be revitalized, the city’s proposal was one that many saw as uprooting the legacy of the park. While the reasons are varied and numerous, it can clearly be seen that many citizens, particularly those in Greenwich Village, are upset with recent city proposals and have taken a great deal of action in attempts to stop it.
The city’s plan for Washington Square Park is composed of three phases. The first phase, which began on December 10, 2007, focused on the Northwest quadrant and the central plaza of the Park. The renovations included shifting the fountain to align it with the arch, repaving of paths in the park, installation of new lighting and new benches, and the expansion of lawns used for recreational activities. The second phase, which has been in the works since May 2009, includes the expansion of flowerbeds and lawns in the northeast, southeast, and southwest quadrants. The playground in the northeast will be altered to increase safety and aesthetic quality. A new performance stage will be constructed and the dog runs will be renovated and relocated. Lastly, the third phase features primarily the installation of a new park house that will feature a comfort station open to the public and will also serve to house the Washington Square Park’s maintenance staff.
The protest against these proposed and already undertaken changes vary greatly and include environmental concerns, cost concerns, fear of losing the park to private enterprises, and worry that the history of the park will be damaged.
Some apprehension about the environmental implications of the project stems from the construction of benches in the first phase of the proposal. 120 benches were added to the park, and as a result, in 2008, an organization called Rainforest Relief protested the means through which the city obtained the resources for the benches. The city made use of wood harvested from ipe trees native to the Amazon jungle. Seeing that access to these trees is limited, the city was required to take part in the deforestation of wide tracts of land in order to extract the wood. The city’s plan for Washington Square Park, has as a result, been deemed as lacking a consideration for fragile ecosystems.
The great cost that the project has been also generated a great deal of dissent. The initial estimate for the total cost of the project was placed at about $16 million. However, because of numerous mistakes ranging from poor computer-generated drawings of the layout of the park to the ordering of the wrong materials for swing sets and paths, the cost has rapidly increased. The cost of just the first two phases has already totaled to over $24 million. Based on current estimates, the final phase should cost around $4 million, bringing the total price to almost twice as much as initially thought. These rising and enormous costs have led many to believe that any renovations to the park should have been minor to begin with and that the money being spent on the park could be more wisely spent elsewhere.
Another fear of some Greenwich Village residents is that Washington Square Park will soon fall under the control of private enterprises. This alarm is rooted in New York University’s recent and ongoing expansion throughout Greenwich Village, particularly around Washington Square Park. NYU and the Tisch family have also recently contributed millions of dollars in funding towards the city’s project to renovate the park, prompting one resident, Cathryn Swan to say: “[New York University], which is attempting to purchase all buildings surrounding the Square, wants the Park as its sanitized jewel for graduation ceremonies and its own private functions.” Hoping to keep the park fully open to the public, residents have been up in arms and feel the city’s proposal is partially to blame.
Preserving the identity of the park is one that is the utmost priority for some residents and frequent visitors to the park. Some feel that the need to ensure that the park does not lose its character is now greater than ever. The Tisch Foundation recently contributed $2.5 million towards moving the fountain in the first phase on the condition that the fountain would be renamed with plaques signifying that the Tisch families made restoration possible. Some residents fear that the park will lose its reputation as a free-spirited haven for beatniks, protesters, and artists.
With New York City Parks Department’s plan to change several aspects of the park, many feel that it is losing it’s appeal as a site of cultural and social progress. Those against the changes have voiced their opinions in the form of protest, legal action, and blogging. For the most part, these attempts have failed to stop the project and have at most only slowed down the construction process. While the park itself may change, one thing remains clear: the spirit of protest will always be there.
