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Keep public parks public!
Quilty sent us a selection of gorgeous pictures from yesterday's rally. After the pics, check out links to more folks that passed on their work... (Be sure to tag your media with saveunionsquare2008 so we can find it!)
Links to more photos:
Saving Union Square, one banner at a time
From yesterday evening at the pavilion with Reverend Billy:
SAVE UNION SQUARE - Banner Drop from Xris Spider on Vimeo.
And just a reminder: come out tonight for the big Rally + Surprise Party at 5pm! Meet us at the NW corner of Union Square. Join us -- marching bands, hoola hoopers, soapbox preachers, park lovers, green growers, sun tanners, art vendors, likely a wingnut or two, and a walking tour performance by the ghosts of Union Square past. And Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Gentrifying!
At Farmer's Market Union Square
On Sat May 24th a group of us went to Union Square to exchange information and talk with farmers and people attending the Greenmarket. Many thanked us for providing them information, signed our cardboard petition indicating their support, and posted our 'Keep Union Square Public' signs in their booths. The impact of the redevelopment is immediately felt by the street vendors whose booths are being uncomfortably cramped, by passersby who know the last thing they want is another upscale restaurant, and greenmarket farmers who cringe, knowing that Whole Foods is one of the members of the BID planning the redevelopment of the park.
Being at Union Square and talking with people was an important because per recent media citings, many believe that the halt in construction indicates a foretold victory for the community. In fact, to be able to attain these gains, this is a critical time for us to voice our concerns for the park to remain publicly accessible. These voices will reach the judge who issued the injunction on the construction and council members whose leadership can change the course of Union Square to reflect the interests of the community.
Artists and Greenmarket Farmers Pushed Out by USP
Miriam West (whose illustration is featured above) is an artist sells her work at Union Square on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, go by and say hi. She, like the other artists, are being pushed out by the Union Square Partnership whose main agenda is to make business more efficient for the big uglies around the park–Barnes and Noble, Whole Foods, forever 21, and Danny Meyer, silent partner in the privatization of Union Square. Consider visiting one of Meyer's 12 restaurants such as the Union Square Cafe, to let him know you love and support the artists and farmers selling their goods in Union Square and oppose their increasingly constrained space.
Making Public Union Square's History
On May 21, 2008, we--a group of concerned citizens--began our efforts to bring the history forward, to tell the old story inside the new story and above all, to keep the park (all of it!) public. Union Square has long been a site where the history of our present times was shaped, and the Union Square Pavilion was built as a place where people could convene and exercise their freedom of speech and assembly. Figures whose histories are written into Union Square include inspiring notables such as Dorothy Day, Emma Goldman, Norman Thomas, Lucy Parsons, George Washington, Paul Robeson, and others.
To make Union Square's history public, we tied beautifully crafted cardboard cutouts of historical figures to the fence surrounding the construction and read passages from their writings. One organizer, Savitri, reads from Emma Goldman...
A little earlier we were inside whats left of the park, and on the way out we left a little present, George Washington and Paul Robeson arm in arm. As we were calmly tying them to the garbage trucks a parks employee said she had called the police and we better leave because “I don’t want any arrests on my property” about 12 people cried out from the sideline “its our property! all of ours!”
