Councilmember Margaret Chin and Lower Manhattan Historical Society co-founder James Kaplan unveiled an “Evacuation Day Plaza” sign at the 2015 Evacuation Day ceremony at Bowling Green.
BY BILL EGBERT |
The campaign to commemorate America’s final victory over the British suffered a defeat this week when the Council refused to consider an honorary co-naming of Downtown’s Bowling Green.
Councilmember Margaret Chin proposed last November that the city co-name a portion of the park as “Evacuation Day Plaza” to honor the day the British were finally driven out of Lower Manhattan after the Revolutionary War. But when the Council revealed on Monday the 40 proposed co-namings due for a vote next week, “Evacuation Day Plaza” was not on the list.
The proposal’s main backer, Bowling Green Association head Arthur Piccolo, said Chin’s office told him that a Council staffer had struck “Evacuation Day Plaza” from the list because the historic event didn’t “qualify” for the honor, but no further explanation of the decision, or even the vetting criteria, was given.
“What are they basing this on?” said Piccolo. “Why the secrecy? Is this China? What kind of a system is this?”
Evacuation Day commemorates the final departure of the British on Nov. 25, 1783, from the Lower Manhattan occupation zone that had been the kingdom’s headquarters during the Revolutionary War. Just before George Washington’s triumphant arrival at Bowling Green that day, a former prisoner of war named John Van Arsdale managed to climb the greased flagpole where the departing British had nailed a Union Jack, and replace it with the Stars and Stripes.
The holiday marking the end of the war was once celebrated as fervently as the one that marks its beginning — the Fourth of July. But Evacuation Day was overshadowed after Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November to be Thanksgiving, and formal observances were abandoned entirely nearly a century ago when the United States entered the First World War as a British ally.
In 2014, the Lower Manhattan Historical Society — which Piccolo co-founded — launched a campaign to revive the holiday. It was at last year’s ceremonial flag raising at Bowling Green where Councilmember Chin and society co-founder James Kaplan announced the proposal to co-name the Downtown park and unveiled an “Evacuation Day Plaza” sign they made for when the Council approves it.
They’ll have to wait at least six months longer now, since the Council only considers street co-naming requests twice a year.
The Council routinely approves co-naming proposals that have the support of the local councilmember and community board, so denying a vote on one that was put forth by Councilmember Chin and endorsed by Community Board 1 is unusual.
Sources on the Council staff said that the rejection stemmed from the fact that street co-namings typically honor individuals or groups for outstanding civic service, rather than commemorating something as abstract as an event or holiday.
But Piccolo pointed to “Do the Right Thing Way” in Brooklyn, which was co-named in September to honor an early Spike Lee joint, rather than the director himself.
“They said yes to Hollywood, but no to American history,” he said.
Indeed, the list of co-namings to be approved on Jan. 19 includes such abstractions as “Diversity Plaza” in Queens, “Ragamuffin Way” in Brooklyn, and “Hip Hop Boulevard” in the Bronx.
It is not unusual for some co-naming proposals to take more than one round of consideration to come to a vote, however. It took several rounds and extensive local lobbying for “Hip Hop Boulevard” to finally make it onto the current list, according to a Council staffer familiar with the process.
Piccolo still holds out hope of getting “Evacuation Day Plaza” onto the list. He’s hoping for a chance to make his case at a preliminary hearing on the co-naming list by the Council’s parks and recreation committee on Thursday.
Chin’s staff says she is still fighting for the proposal, and will keep pushing even if it gets snubbed this time.
“The Councilmember is committed to honoring this important moment in the history of Lower Manhattan and will continue to work with the Council to make ‘Evacuation Day Plaza’ a reality,” said spokesman Paul Leonard.
