[Tuesday in Tompkins Square Park via Bobby Williams]
Tonight, CB3's parks committee will hear a request for support "for possible improvements to and restoration of Tompkins Square Park," per the meeting agenda. The East Village Parks Conservancy has a draft proposal for a three-phase restoration project. (Find a PDF of the proposal here.)
A few snippets from the proposal....
Tompkins Square is one of New York City’s most storied and beloved public squares, first opened in 1834 after the Stuyvesant family gifted the land to the city.
Over time, the Park’s design has been repeatedly altered to accommodate the politics and needs of the neighborhood’s growing population. Renovations in the 1960’s and 1990’s stripped the park of its elegant historic character.
It is time to envision a plan for the park that both looks forward in programming and sustainability and also back in materials and details to restore the park’s design integrity.
The first phase:
"Restore the park perimeter and entrances, reconstruct pavement, curbs and fencing, install tree guards, prune and plant trees. Link to the park’s history and surrounding gardens."
Anyway, all this is in the draft proposal phase, but the conversations are starting... CB3's parks committee meets at 6:30 p.m. at the BRC Senior Center, 30 Delancey Street.
Oh, the PDF includes this shot of the Park via 1934...
All this aside, what would you want to see improved in the Park?
18 comments:
Park renovation anywhere in NYC always closely accompanies gentrification except when it's an attempt to prevent political activity (like the renovation of City Hall Park, specifically designed to eliminate all political demonstrations). No doubt the Conservancy intends to beautify and improve, but it will also raise surrounding real estate values. The pdf is distressingly short on details, but to give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they are waiting to see public response before figuring out the details. But I'm guessing that they have their own notions of "improvement." I hope everyone will monitor their plans carefully. A park renovation is a serious matter.
Twenty-two years ago the renovation contractor deplored the foolishness of spending $40,000 worth of fences to protect $2,000 worth of sward. CB3 was worried about desire lines (beaten paths). I tried to pursuade them that if there were no fences at all, there'd be no desire lines, everyone wandering wherever (and what's so bad about a desire line or two?). They weren't having any of it.
Leave the Park the fuck alone.
Most of these suggestions seem pretty practical. There wasnt one water slide in the whole PDF. Better soil and drainage and better paving etc seems more like maintenance than improvements.
I would love to see all of those fences within the park torn down so the park is open like it was when it was first opened.
Restoration my ass. This is just a Highlinization of TSP. Marketing it as for the public and the neighborhood where in reality or subsequently it'll just be another upscale and corporatized park for the models, model wannabes, riches and socialites.
In addition to removing all of the internal gates, I would love to see the gate that wraps around the entire park removed now that I look at this photo again. Why not create a more open park? It would feel more welcoming if it wasn't closed off.
Rob beat me to the punch, and probably put it better than I could. This is probably not good news.
restore the bandshell!
A new bandshell with solar panels....
DON'T F*CK WITH THE PARK!!!
it is perfectly beautiful as is unless u wanna get rid of the dog run and restore the bandshell.
ps
SAVE THE RATS
@ Glamma- Don't forget the Hawk!
Great. So it will be closed like WSP for a few years while they shift things around and make it more acceptable for the folks that are scared to go there. MORE CHESS TABLES, CRUSTIES AND DIRTIER BATHROOMS PLEASE.
This is not good news.
I don't want the park to spearhead gentrification, but I would love to see that oppressive eye-level fencing go. A lot of migratory birds pass through there, so I hope the renovators are mindful of them.
I am looking forward to the (possible) renovation.
It would be great if it wasn't so broken up and was just one, big, sprawling park with more open space and grass. I feel like I am in jail with all the tall black fences.
Tompkins is a great, green, neighborhood park. A nice improvement would be winterized plumbing and faucets in every garden so our poor gardener doesn't have to spend 3 hours of her day, everyday, rolling out hundreds of feet of hoses, dragging them across the park and then rolling them back up to put away. (Of course thats a step up from when she has to keep the plants alive by carrying buckets of water around every hot day because the water is off all spring.) Plus the park could benefit from a multi-year, drafted landscaping plan. Thank you to extraordinary staff & managers at our park for tirelessly working magic. We never say thank you enuf.
Maybe bring some new rats from the other boroughs so Hawk has a more flavorful diet. Also, a shiny new birdhouse for Hawk would be nice.
The comments above are a good, healthy start to what will be a long, thoughtful, transparent process--inviting and involving as many East Villagers who care to participate. As a member of the EVPC and a Tompkins Square resident for more than 30 years I can say that I am in solidarity with everything I have read above, contradictory though some of those comments may sound--They represent real concerns and the real needs of this community for its core park, i.e. A buffer against rampant and mindless gentrification, a need for a welcoming space--for everyone, including the homeless, the crusties and the hawks--a clean, safe space that is as green as possible, and not locked down with heavy prison like bars and fences, good athletic equipment and surfaces, functioning all-weather plumbing, and a place that honors our hood's long history of protest and progressivism--The park should be both a place of peaceful meditation and capable of supporting loud and raucous celebration, cultural expression and real civic engagement What we have now is a place that wants to be all of these things but falls short because the previous vision was top-down driven and fueled more by fear than grace and generosity. There is no rush, let's do this right, and let's make sure when it happens the ongoing use and enjoyment of the park is disturbed as little as possible--Let's make this renovation/restoration a model of community participation -- where the people lead and the institutions follow. Whomever suggested we left out the details on purpose was right...We don't want to push any specific agenda, we want that to emerge organically through a process that brings together the entire community. 10.5 acres is a lot of space--We can make this the most amazing park in the city!
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