Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Campaign to protect the Village; corporate naming rights for the Washington Square Arch?



You may have seen these posters around the neighborhood in the last few days... spotted this one on Third Avenue at East 12th Street... Save Our Village launched the campaign... and they have a website...

Saveourvillage.org is a project rooted in love and respect. When you feel such a deep connection to what you love, you take responsibility for it. Responsibility leads to action.

Many of us have left our home, we are either unable to afford to live in Our Village or no longer feeling the inspiration to create. Many of us are artists in exile, awaiting the dream in belief that one day we will be able to return to our home.

We were joking that we want to form a provisional government

This project has been a return to our roots, understanding what we have been given and that it is now our responsibility to stand up and protect what we love.

The root of why we are taking a stand now is that we recognize that each of us would not be the people that we are without the magic of The Village and we want others to continue the tradition of creativity that we have received.

Only from researching the historic evolution of art and culture here, do we stand to understand the fountain of wisdom that we are so luck to be a part of.



Is it possible that the city is planning on selling the naming rights to the arch at Washington Square Park?

(Short answer: Yes!)

But we've never heard anything about this... so we checked in with someone who is far more tuned into the issues here than us — Cathryn at the Washington Square Park Blog. Her take yesterday:

We think that the above — selling naming rights to the Washington (Square) Arch — could never happen… but if this privatizing path that we’re being led on continues, is it really that improbable?

3 comments:

vzabuser said...

JP Morgan reserves naming right to our harbor's "STATUE of JAMIE DIMON"

Anonymous said...

You aren't asking the right people. Cathryn is a neighborhood blogger with good contacts but you should ask Sarah Neilson, Administrator of Washington Square Park and Executive Director of Washington Square Park Conservancy: Sarah.Neilson@parks.nyc.gov

cathryn said...

Hi EV Grieve,

Thanks for the mention and link. Re: Anonymous comment, the signs are not serious as far as reflecting something that is happening right now. They are there to make a point. As to whether it's in the works right now, I'd say no. But it's one big slippery slope was the point I was making (or attempting to make). (And I'd 'guess' that was the intention of the signs as well...)

Thanks!

Cathryn