{"id":56979,"date":"2020-08-31T02:07:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-30T23:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/nycs-failure-to-protect-columbus-circle-for-the-public\/"},"modified":"2020-08-31T02:07:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-30T23:07:00","slug":"nycs-failure-to-protect-columbus-circle-for-the-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/nycs-failure-to-protect-columbus-circle-for-the-public\/","title":{"rendered":"#NYC\u2019s failure to protect Columbus Circle for the public"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#NYC\u2019s failure to protect Columbus Circle for the public<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n Rich, poor or middle class, if you live in Manhattan, you depend on public parks for recreation. One sign that Gotham is failing at yet another task of keeping people with resources in the city: Columbus Circle Park has been barricaded to visitors for three hot months, and city officials can\u2019t agree on who\u2019s to blame.<\/p>\n

For New Yorkers who stuck it out on the concrete island for pandemic summer, the only thing to do in town was to go outside. In a vague nod to the need for more public space,\u00a0the de Blasio administration closed some roads to cars in favor of pedestrians and cyclists and let restaurants operate on the street.<\/p>\n

But what is the point of creating new \u2014 and highly imperfect \u2014 asphalt parks, if we aren\u2019t going to use the parks we have?<\/p>\n

Columbus Circle Park, at the northwestern tip of Midtown, is a prime example. It\u2019s a fine gateway to Central Park, a place to sit and enjoy the quieting and cooling impact of the circular fountain. Kids and dogs splash in the water, and teens skateboard.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also an important pedestrian thoroughfare, allowing people a shortcut through busy traffic.<\/p>\n

Fifteen years ago, the city \u00adacknowledged the park\u2019s importance, completing a $23 million renovation, including the benches and fountains. \u201cFor much of its history, Columbus Circle was neither a circle nor a good public space,\u201d said then-Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe. But now, \u201ca multi-agency \u00adeffort has created one of New York\u2019s great new public plazas.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, it worked \u2014 until now.<\/p>\n

After the George Floyd protests turned into criminal riots in late May, the park was closed, guarded by multiple layers of metal gates and police officers idling around the clock in\u00a0SUVs.<\/p>\n

Yes, vandals have their eye on the Columbus statue atop a three-story pillar, just as they have toppled Columbus statues around the country. But that is no reason to close the park. The city that kept Times Square and Rockefeller Center open to hundreds of thousands of daily visitors despite near-constant terrorist threats after 9\/11 shouldn\u2019t respond to a few thrill-seeking brats by closing off a marquee public space.<\/p>\n

It sends a bad signal: A few dozen organized people, with a chain and some spray-paint, could close off any public space indefinitely.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the only public space New York has given up on. \u00adAbsurdly, the city canceled its \u201cSummer Streets\u201d program, during which it closes Park Avenue for Saturdays in August so that people can walk and cycle. If there was ever a summer we needed Summer Streets, this was it.<\/p>\n

The privately managed Lincoln Center public plaza has also been closed for months. That\u2019s more understandable, as the non-profit arts groups that manage the plaza have no revenues coming in. But it\u2019s a little stinging, considering that the city used tax dollars to demolish an entire West Side neighborhood for Lincoln Center six decades ago, supposedly for the broad public interest, not just for classical-music lovers.<\/p>\n

Now that the public needs the plaza, it has proved to be just an expendable intermission amenity for operagoers.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s responsible? In the case of Columbus Circle, just finger-pointers. The Parks Department, in response to a question about whether or when it will reopen the park, told me to \u201cplease contact NYPD.\u201d And the NYPD says, \u201cThe park is closed and locked by the Parks Department. Please be referred to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jurisdictional pass-the-buck is common. That\u2019s why you need a mayor who cares about a livable city. This mayor has always airily been contemptuous of Manhattan, because there might be some billionaires lurking about (by the way, they\u2019re out of town).<\/p>\n

And he doesn\u2019t like anything that smacks of his predecessor\u2019s successes, such as the Columbus Circle renovation and Summer Streets.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the private sector \u2014 which Hizzoner hates \u2014 is doing its best. At Rockefeller Center, Tishman Speyer is doing an admirable job of trying to generate social<\/a>ly distanced foot traffic in the private plaza it manages, with carefully spaced tables and chairs, seasonal flower replantings, to-go outdoor food and lively music.<\/p>\n

One would have thought a supposed socialist would care about public space \u2014 but for now, mid-Manhattanites must turn to the capitalists for fresh air.<\/p>\n

Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor of City Journal.\u00a0<\/em>Twitter: @NicoleGelinas<\/em>\n <\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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