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Well, despite overwhelming public opinion against it, and numerous setbacks, the Arts Commission has spoken: The fountain in Washington Square Park, and the two statues that abut it, will move twenty-two-odd feet to the east. The vote, in case you are curious, was 10 for and 1 against the changes.
The Villager (we love them) does an excellent job covering the issues at hand. From how one joins the Arts Commission to the curious connection between the renovations and the Tisch family (about $2.5 million), they are there. They describe the scene of the last chapter in this prolonged renovation as such:
Folk singers strummed and warbled ballads against it. Local politicians - not one but four - testified against it. The Fine Arts Federation of New York stated it was opposed to the idea. Disabled advocates in wheelchairs angrily said they were being used as “pawns” - and not to do it in their name. And most of the people offering testimony during four hours of hearings on Monday said they didn't want the Washington Square Park fountain moved 22 feet to the east. But that didn't matter to the Art Commission, which voted to approve the shifting of the fountain, as well as the park's two statues, as part of the Parks Department's $16 million renovation project.
Sigh. Fine. Whatever. We give up.
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You mean...something other than a luxury condo or a Fedders Special replacing an early 19th-Century building...is actually going to get built? Wow...
www.forgotten-ny.com
There's nothing wrong with the park as it is. I'm baffled why these a-holes think the fountain has to line up perfectly with the arch. It ain't broke and needn't be fixed. The city's busybody commissions that allow snack bars in madison square, fountain moving and the destruction of 2 Columbus Circle should be disbanded and the members deported to new england.
my sense of the whole thing was that the tisch family just really wanted to get their name on the fountain. i guess if i'd given that much money to NYU they'd probably rebuild a park or three for me too. what a bunch of fuckwads.
NYU doesn't want the the park to be moved at all. They used the park for graduations and it is the center of student life at NYU so the students are angry about this stupid waste of money project as well.
Will the park still be privatized by the creation of a conservancy?
New York magazine wrote that 37 large trees would be cut down to create a "grassy field" in the northwest quadrant! Does anyone know if this is true?