Besides last night's citywide shopping spree for Fashion's Night Out, it turns out that New York City won't see a dime of the $17.2 million spent to secure space for the catwalk events of Fashion Week. Instead of the $2.6 million paid to the city to secure Bryant Park, IMG Fashion is paying Lincoln Center directly to use Damrosch Park for the next five years. Though it's a public park, Lincoln Center has a long-term contract to manage the park, and Bloomberg spokesman Andrew Brent said, "That includes the authority to manage and charge for events in those spaces." But not everyone is that laissez-faire.
Geoffrey Croft, head of NYC Park Advocates, said, "It is absolutely inappropriate, first that the park is being used for this purpose, and second that the money's being diverted from the city." And Upper West Side residents are equally upset that the event will be clogging their park. Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal said, "I'm excited that Fashion Week has come to the upper West Side, but a short-lived event is no excuse for the destruction of an invaluable neighborhood amenity." Can't the families and the hot pants clad models just learn to share?
