For more information:

• The Open Washington Square Park coalition
  http://openwsp.com

• ECO: Emergency Coalition Organization
  http://www.savewashingtonsquarepark.org

• Preserve Washington Square Park
  http://preservewashingtonsquarepark.com

Write to the Art Commission, and voice your opinion!
http://www.nyc.gov/html/artcom/html/contact/contact.shtml

The actual letters that were sent to the Art Commission:

From Disabled in Action of Metropolitan New York:

December 1, 2005

Joyce Frank Menschel, President
Art Commission
City Hall
New York, NY 10007

Dear Ms. Menschel:

Disabled in Action (DIA), a thirty-five year old, city-wide disability civil rights organization, is writing this letter in support of proposed upgrading of Washington Square Park (WSP), but in opposition to using the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as the main driving force for the proposed redesign.

DIA has learned from attendees and documenters that the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) has been using ADA regulations to drive its proposal for Park redesign at CB2 meetings and Landmark Commission presentations. At its October 30th and November 20th monthly meetings, DIA members unanimously opposed using the ADA disability access regulations as the rationale to level and move the Plaza's fountain to line up with the Arch. We disagree with the notion that ADA compliance necessitates the redesign of the Plaza to make it more accessible to and usable by seniors, children and persons with disabilities.

DIA is an organization of hundreds of advocates and activists with disabilities who are organized in an effort to affect the political process and force changes that make our physical environment and public policy more inclusive of the needs of all persons with disabilities. Our motto is "Nothing about us without us!" However, representatives from the disability community have been excluded from the process of upgrading WSP.

Several of our members live near the Park, and are frequent if not daily visitors. They use the Park as parents, children, seniors, dog owners, chess players, performers, audience, students, and political organizers/activists. Most are wheelchair users and expect the WSP renovations to provide compliant access to the sunken Plaza area, performance alcoves, playgrounds, dog runs, chess/Scrabble area, bathrooms, etc.

Those who gathered regularly in the Park over the decades have great respect for its tradition as the peoples' "Village Square" where progressive political movements started, and performers developed their art and audiences. We too were there, learning, growing, participating, experimenting, and becoming political activists in the civil right struggles of the 1960's to the present: African-American, women's, LGBT, immigrants, and disability rights movements.

DIA has petitioned and sued, if necessary, city/state/federal government to make public transportation, polling sites, and other places of public accommodation wheelchair accessible and safe for all disabled persons. We have successfully forced renovations to the landmark Empire State Building observation deck, where access was provided without undermining the architectural integrity of the building’s Art Deco design. Similar renovations were made to the Public Library at 42nd Street, the Morgan Library, City Hall, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, NYU Law School, and the Central Park Conservatory Garden at Fifth Avenue and 106th Street, to name a few. Nothing was raised, leveled or drastically changed to provide disability access. All that was needed for the positive outcomes of all these projects was architectural creativity, sensitivity to historical use, design and purpose, and consultation with the disability community. We expect the same from the process of renovating and refurbishing WSP.

DIA urges the Art Commission to reject the DPR proposal for Park redesign. We urge moving forward with long overdue renovations while maintaining the Park's public use as it evolved over the years. We pledge our support to work with fellow Park users and community members to help make all functional areas more accessible and usable by all, including persons with disabilities.

Yours truly,
Carr Massi
President

And from The Largest Minority:

Joyce Frank Menschel, President
Art Commission
City Hall
New York, NY 10007

Dear Ms. Menschel:

I am host and producer of "The Largest Minority," a radio program on WBAI focusing on the news and views of people living with disabilities, and I am writing regarding the proposed renovation of Washington Square Park.

Architects for the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) have asserted that the sunken fountain area of Washington Square Park needs to be leveled to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This assertion was made before consultation had been made with any disability group, and was not based on any meaningful understanding of the ADA. It has since come to my attention that an architect with United Spinal Association has been contacted by the DPR and has approved their plan, in principle. It is the opinion of many people with disabilities, those who actually use the park, that this assessment was made without a meaningful understanding of the spirit of Washington Square Park.

For, as you must know by now, there is considerable community opposition to this renovation plan. While the pathways around the park need to be repaired, and some minor changes should be made (re-grading the ramps leading to the sunken plaza and adding handrails would satisfy the ADA requirements for the fountain area), the radical and costly changes proposed by the Parks Department and others would significantly alter the character of this unique place. Disabled and non-disabled users of the park understand that Washington Square is special, a magnet for artists, performers, families, and anyone who enjoys seeing the unadulterated gorgeous mosaic of New York City. The centerpiece of this park is the sunken fountain plaza, where the wall provides a natural bench and the tree pits create miniature stage-like alcoves. Users of the park are understandably concerned that leveling the plaza would destroy these natural performance spaces, and the character of the park would be affected.

In addition, the proposal calls for the fountain to be moved to line up with the arch, ostensibly for better "sight lines." In fact, this is only a concern for two groups: people who are walking or driving down Fifth Avenue (and have a desperate need for everything to line up from their point of view, perhaps because of a visual or psychological disability); and New York University, which holds its commencement exercises in the park. The university, in its promotional literature, heralds Greenwich Village as a neighborhood with a rich bohemian tradition, even as they work to remove any vestige of that history in their relentless quest for development. Whether or not it is an actual fact, the perception is fairly widespread in the community that the redesign proposal is backed and being pushed by NYU.

I mention these community attitudes and perceptions because it elucidates the cynical and manipulative nature of the assertion that the park must be leveled and redesigned to make it accessible to people with disabilities. The DPR and others who claim that the changes must be made for ADA compliance are essentially trying to scapegoat my community, the community of people with disabilities, for an unpopular plan to alter the nature of a beloved landmark. Their attempt to use the interests of people with disabilities for their own purposes is deeply offensive to us. If the groups that are so eager to change the park were really concerned with access for people with disabilities, why were no disability groups consulted during the planning stages of this redesign?

Imagine for a moment that, for some reason, a proposal was put forth that all street signs in New York City should be changed to read only in Korean. The Department of Transportation, influenced perhaps by a corporation that makes street signs and would stand to benefit from a lucrative contract with the city, asserted that this was being done to accomodate Korean Americans and Koreans who visit or move to New York. How would most New Yorkers feel about this? More importantly, how would you feel, if you were a Korean-American New Yorker, about the assertion that this was being done in your name, particularly if you saw no need for it and you had not been asked? Would you not find it cynical, manipulative, and offensive?

I am the host of a radio show focusing on the politics and culture of people with disabilities. In addition to being concerned with physical access to places in New York, we are also concerned with the preservation of what makes life in New York special. Like all New Yorkers, we participate in the cultural life of the city, both as consumers of art, and as producers and performers as well. Having ramps and curb cuts and safe sidewalks is important to us, but so is having those ramps and curb cuts lead to somewhere worthwhile.

Washington Square Park is considered the heart of Greenwich Village, a congregation place for people from all walks of life, no matter how you get around. It is known around the world as a place where the flowering of artistic impulse and political expression occurs, spontaneously, every day. As a person with a disability, who has benefitted greatly from the park's unique cultural environment over the years, I do not want to be associated with the disruption of its character. The proposal by DPR, NYU, et al. is another example of private concerns taking control of public space, and the Art Commission would be doing grievous damage to its name, its reputation, and its mission by enabling this proposal to move forward in its current incarnation.

Sincerely,
Brendan Costello Jr.
Host and Producer, The Largest Minority
www.LargestMinority.org