this morning’s “damn the man” moment
Washington Square Park, Haven for Eccentricity, Is Set to Fall Into Line (registration required — I suggest BugMeNot.com)
Washington Square Park, the scruffy spot with an anything-goes tradition, is about to get a perimeter fence and a lock, courtesy of a Parks Department makeover.
Today, the Landmarks Preservation Commission is expected to approve a $16 million redesign, the last step before the 9.75-acre park will be altered in its most significant way since Eleanor Roosevelt helped lead the fight to ban automobile traffic from Washington Square in 1959.
Under the plan, the park’s centerpiece fountain would be shifted into precise alignment with the Washington Square Arch as seen from Fifth Avenue. The park’s quirky changes in elevation would be leveled off. Two popular dog runs would be moved. Three six-foot-high asphalt mounds, part of an old playground, would be flattened. A large plaza would be replaced by a lawn. And a four-foot-high granite and iron fence would go up along the perimeter, along with gates that would be locked at night.
“They’re sanitizing the park, taking away a lot of its charm and freedom,” said Carol Massa, president of the MacDougal Block North Association. “It’s overkill.”
