On April 17, the Village Alliance business improvement district presented a check for $125,000 to Parks Department Commissioner Adrian Benepe for the renovation of Washington Square Park. The money was raised from the proceeds of the alliance’s annual “Taste of the Village” benefit. The Village Alliance a.k.a. the “Eighth St. BID” has also pledged an additional $125,000 for the renovation’s second phase. The combined donation represents the largest contribution to the park’s renovation by a local community group. The renovation’s first phase is reconstructing the park’s historic 19th-century fountain, the central plaza, the Holley plaza, the Fifth Ave. entrance and the northwestern quadrant. Above, from left, Manhattan Parks Commissioner Bill Castro; Donna Vogel of Newmark Knight Frank, a Village Alliance board member; Grey Elam, district aide to Council Speaker Christine Quinn; Tobi Bergman, chairperson, Community Board 2 Parks Committee; Brad Hoylman, Community Board 2 chairperson; Martin Dresner of Vornado Realty Trust, Village Alliance president; Honi Klein, Village Alliance executive director; Parks Commissioner Benepe; Councilmember Alan Gerson; Robert Hawks, The Cooper Union’s real estate vice president and a Village Alliance board member; Richard Geist of Uncle Sam’s Army/Navy store, a Village Alliance board member; and Rebecca Ferguson, Washington Square Park’s administrator.
