Saturday, June 5, 2021
Saturday's parting shot
12 comments:
Your remarks and lively debates are welcome, whether supportive or critical of the views herein. Your articulate, well-informed remarks that are relevant to an article are welcome.
However, commentary that is intended to "flame" or attack, that contains violence, racist comments and potential libel will not be published. Facts are helpful.
If you'd like to make personal attacks and libelous claims against people and businesses, then you may do so on your own social media accounts. Also, comments predicting when a new business will close ("I give it six weeks") will not be approved.
To use a scene from the movie Footloose is not really accurate concerning Washington Square park. The situation in the park has gotten really bad recently with drug use and prostitution rampant in the park at all hours and the individuals involved in those activities fighting with each other which I have seen going on. It became a really unsafe place for people and family's to use which is a shame because it is one of the nicer parks in the City. That park needed to be cleaned up and cleared out at night. Kudos to the City for a change.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't concerning Washington Square Park. The post says Tompkins Square Park.
ReplyDeleteBoth parks need to be cleaned out - both are severely overused.
ReplyDeleteThe waves of drunks on our rooftops and backyards is not unrelated to this - this tsunami of entitled public intoxication - the controlled opposition screams DEFUND THE POLICE while they play beer pong behind their gentrifed walled enclosures.
I recently tried to get an annual concert organizer to go into Federal Court and challenge the Parks Department policy on permitted activity in Tompkins Square Park this summer based on first amendment protest constitutional rights but he seems not to want to do that. Personally , I did it on my own with Bill C. and Jerry The Peddler and forced the city to back down and issue a permit[google Donut Riot]. Sometimes ya gotta fight , in court , for your constitutional rights to protest and party. I realize the days of fighting for neighborhood constitutional rights are probably over now but anyone who was thinking of doing a permitted event in TSP should contact the ACLU or a civil rights attorney and fight this in Federal Court. PS The Daily Beast is responsible for this summer's ban because of their so called " superspreader " fake news story about a TSP concert 3 days before the mask ban was lifted in the city. Lets be honest folks people are reporting to me that the park is packed with people not wearing masks or social distancing every weekend now anyway.
ReplyDeleteDid they remove the dog owners who commandeered the fenced in (once) green spaces?
ReplyDeleteI go by this corner all the time, and have never felt threatened. Yes there are people who are obviously strung out or don't have homes. I'm sure that makes life harder than it is for most of us; I doubt I would be very tidy in that situation. Such a good example of why we need to shift funds from the police to drug treatments, harm reduction, housing ,and mental health. Calling in the police state does nothing to help these fellow humans, and may well put their lives in danger. If you are lucky enough to have a home and are able to function well in society, maybe you should not be advocating summoning the police state for your subjective feelings, and using that energy to advocate for a more just society.
ReplyDeleteIt's ELECTION SEASON, so now career politicians are using parks to make some political hay. That explains TSP and WSP being closed at 10pm last night.
ReplyDeleteLast night in WSP, I watched as park defenders were clubbed by an army of riot kops. This evening, everything was back to normal - NO curfew and NO clubbings. Now politicos can claim that they "did something".
Even under the fascist mayoral regime of giuliani we had no such police state repression in the parks.
We will remember those in office who betray their constituents....
the only thing that matters to the powers that be in the East Village is getting that tap wide open and people's mouths wide open so the booze can fill the transients' hearts and the tax revenue can fill the pols wallets. Nothing else matters.
ReplyDeleteTompkins feels amazingly safe to me. Even at midnight on a Friday (I am a white woman in my fifties). I will miss the impromptu concerts, especially Pinc Louds.
ReplyDeleteParks Department has no right taking away our 1st amendment rights. They should be taken to court, and when found guilty, punished accordingly.
ReplyDeleteAnon 12:31: We have them in court right now. And more suits are coming for defamation in addition to their civil rights violations.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty crazy to have to do this during the last seven months of a lame duck mayoral administration after which the parks commissioner himself will be replaced.
To what end are they fucking with those who use their community parks?
To appease career politicians trying to use our parks to make political hay to score points pretending to be "doing something" about "quality of life" as they run for re-election?
What a slimy bunch.
REMEMBER them ALL at the ballot box....
First amendment rights? Your right to party transgresses my right to sleep at night. Please take your party somewhere more private after midnight. Some of us may prefer to listen to different music or read a book instead. Some of us might like to enjoy the nature, the nesting hawks, take our kids out to play in the park instead. Alternate venues exist where you can play amplified music, use them! All parks are closed at nights pre pandemic, it’s not a new rule. Amplified music outdoors was always illegal without permits, also not a new rule.
ReplyDelete