What follows is the letter from council person Rosie Mendez on the question of the privatizing of Union Square and the yuppification of the Pavilion. Rosie doesn’t betray a particular fear of privatization itself, nor that the Union Square Partnership has been acting like, in the Robert Moses tradition, an unelected government with its own agenda.

We find it outrageous that the allocation of $1.9 million was outbid by the mystery money of local merchants, and once again the people were not trusted to take care of themselves. But if we disagree with Rosie on this issue (and we do), her valiant defense of the Critical Mass bicyclists against illegal harassment by police - we will always thank her for that brave stand. — rev

PS! This letter is misleading because it implies that the renovation of the playground depends on the restaruant which is most certainly does not, read the whole letter after the jump–savitri

Thank you for contacting my office regarding the restaurant in the Union Square Park Pavilion. My decision to support the plan was a difficult one, motivated both by my fear that opposing the plan would result in the loss of a children’s playground three times the size of the current one and because the Parks Department finally made concessions that I felt were responsive to community needs.

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Gothamist report by John Del Signore

May 7th, 2008

A State Supreme Court judge has issued a “preliminary injunction” prohibiting the city from turning the 78-year-old Pavilion in Union Square park into a restaurant. Last week the court ruled that the $21 million overhaul to the north end of the park could proceed while a lawsuit brought by community groups moves forward, but temporary stalled work on the Pavilion.

Opponents object to what they see as the privatization of park space and insist the city needs approval from the state legislature before moving forward. The new ruling lets the city renovate the Pavilion and rehabilitate the bathrooms, but halts plans to lease it out for a restaurant. Parks advocate Geoffrey Croft was pleased today’s ruling:

The Court indicated that the Union Square Community Coalition is likely to ultimately prevail on its primary claim in the lawsuit – that restaurant use of the Pavilion would require approval of the New York State Legislature.

Croft tells us the city still plans to make 1,860 square feet of the Pavilion amenable for a restaurant kitchen while the lawsuit proceeds, but he says that could turn out just fine for the community, “because when the case is decided in our favor we can use that renovated space for public recreation.”

http://gothamist.com/2008/05/07/union_square_pa.php

Thanks to Gaylen for seeing this!

Tonight Ian Hart and I went and put up Round 2. It was dark and threading the needles was hard but we were accompanied by the awesome sound of skateboards. I collected these from the students and faculty at Arturo Shomberg Satellite School in The Bronx and the activists and artists gathered at the Where We Are Now meting at Judson. I hope they make it through rush hour in the morning.

Here we are in union Square after the show today. Sewing messages from the audience and the choir to the fence, they said things like, I cried here on 9/11, remember the triangle shirtwaist fire, love this place keep it public. Molly did some handstands.

photos by John Quilty

The $21 Million reconstruction of Union Square Park’s north end was halted last week by State Supreme Court Judge John E. H. Stackhouse, who issued a temporary restraining order after a lawsuit was filed against the City and the Union Square Partnership by Geoffrey Croft of the NYC parks Advocates, the Union Square Community Coalition (USCC) and others.

At the heart of the lawsuit is the use of the park’s pavilion for a privately run café. Croft and others contend that the park is using badly needed playground space for a private enterprise, the Café in the Pavilion. “Community board 5 has the least amount of playground space in the city and the highest density of restaurants, it doesn’t make sense to create another restaurant in the park so people can sit and drink $18 beers,” said Croft.

Write to Jennifer, the executive director of the Union Sq partnership and ask her what is going on: jfalk(at) unionsquarenyc.org

With profit down 28 percent, Starbucks said it would open fewer new stores in the United States, slash expenses and sell better-tasting coffee in the face of a troubled economy that is leaving some consumers with less discretionary income.

“We are not satisfied with the downturn of traffic in our stores, and we are working diligently to reverse that,” Mr. Schultz said. “There are no sacred cows.”

Starbucks said that in the United States it planned to open 1,020 stores this year, down from its previous goal of 1,175, and to open fewer than 400 stores a year from 2009 to 2011. But internationally, the company plans to continue its expansion, with more than 1,000 new stores a year from 2009 to 2011. Starbucks’ store count will be about 21,500 stores by the end of 2011.

The company, based in Seattle, plans to cut capital expenses to $800 million, from about $1.1 billion, from 2009 to 2011. About 70 percent of that will be for stores.

more

So they are going to cut 300 million in capital expenses—who do you think will bear the brunt of that?

People if you can’t go to brooklyn saturday then conside this tour but make sure you ask why the Union Square Partnership is sponsoring construction that will severely limit free speech in the park.

Date: May 03, 2008 through September 06, 2008
Hours: 2
Ages: All Ages
Price: Free

Address:
16th St. and Union Square Park W. - (212) 517-1826
New York , NY 10003
www.unionsquarenyc.org/

Description: Rioters, Revelers and Retailers!
Was it labor union rallies, Civil War Union troops, or the “union” of main thoroughfares that gave Union Square its name? Learn the fascinating history of New York’s original “village green” and site of the first Labor Day celebration in a free 90-minute walking tour sponsored by the Union Square Partnership. Saturdays at 2pm. The tour begins at the Abraham Lincoln statue by the 16th Street transverse in Union Square Park. Look for the guide holding a Union Square: Crossroads of New York sign. Reservations required for groups.

I am standing in Union Square Park, in front of a block-long construction fence that envelops its northern end, pondering City Hall’s latest naked attempt to privatize public land…more …The question is when will Mayor Bloomberg stop giving his rich friends city parkland?

We all want to know when thic city is going to stop giving its precious parks, river fronts and public spaces away to the highest bidder. When will the land grabs stop?

Speaking of which, do your best to head over to Brooklyn Saturday afternoon, May 3rd for a Community Rally On Atlantic Yards

May 3rd, 2 PM
752 Pacific Street
(near Carlton Avenue)
in the “footprint” of the proposed project.

WE WILL BE THERE

Here is the amazing alto, flautist,and renaissance woman extraordinaire Michele “legs” Smith at Coney Island last night captured by John Quilty.

Here is the email Beka got from X in response to her call to action at tomorrows “earth” day “celebrations” (see next post).

Beka-
I am very disappointed to hear of this planned protest action, and to receive this email.

It is extremely poor form to try to disrupt what promises to be a very nice, grassroots event put on by your and my friends and neighbors. While there is certainly a place for protest and disobedience, I do not think that a positive, community-focused event is the appropriate place. Perhaps a more constructive action and presence would be to have worked with the event organizers to set up a booth educating Greenpointers and others of the hazards associated with the Exxon (and other) spills, and the oils companies’ responsibility (both moral and legal) to clean it up.

The Town Square group has been working day and night for months to put this event together, to provide a positive, ecologically-oriented event for Earth Day. It is a shame that you are trying so hard to mar and counteract their efforts.

X

Poor form is taking money from exxonmobil for earth day.