BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | They should have gotten it in writing. Then again, you can’t say they didn’t try.
Last fall, both state Senator Liz Krueger and Assemblymember Richard Gottfried reported in their newsletters to constituents that, after discussions with de Blasio administration officials last April, it was decided that, for its second season, Chef Driven Market would have to operate on the blacktop outside the Union Square pavilion.
Yet, as The Villager reported last October, the local elected officials were starting to get worried that — after still not having seen any written agreement after more than six months — the administration might not make good on its word to boot the tony eatery from the historic structure.
Now comes word that the seasonal concession, the Pavilion Market Cafe, will be returning for a second round — not outside on the pavement, as purportedly promised, but right back inside the pavilion — as of Wed., April 15.
Jennifer Falk, executive director of the Union Square Partnership business improvement district, hailed the news.
“In its first year, the pavilion restaurant established itself as a wildly successful amenity within Union Square Park, and we can’t wait for opening day of their second season,” she said in a statement on Mon, April 13. “The operators have been wonderful community partners and the Union Square Partnership is particularly excited about the efforts we will be partnering with them on again this year, which include free children’s programming on Tuesdays, a special Memorial Day luncheon for our local veterans, and a donation in honor of their opening day to benefit another terrific local nonprofit, Graham Windham.”
The restaurant will donate 1 percent of opening day sales to the nonprofit, which works to create supportive environments for youth.
The eatery’s season will run through Oct. 15. It will serve lunch and breakfast every day, and reportedly brunch on weekends. Last year, plans for breakfast fizzled due to low business.
Working with the Partnership, Chef Driven Market, during 24 weeks from last May through October, providing some public programming for the community. Called Tuesdays@ThePavilion, a weekly program offered free arts-and-crafts sessions for children inside the restaurant. More than 300 children and their parents reportedly participated. The pavilion will offer the program again this season.
Last October, however, a Department of Parks spokesperson told The Villager that the city would be “evaluating” whether or not the bistro would be back inside the former historic bandstand for a second season.
Members of the Union Square Community Coalition have fought the city’s plan for commercial use of the pavilion for the past 10 years. They filed a lawsuit, arguing the use violated the concept of “alienation,” under which the state Legislature must first remove — or “alienate’’ — property from being public parkland before it can be put to a different purpose. But the city prevailed in court.
Last Thursday, seven elected officials e-mailed a joint letter to Mayor de Blasio, urging him to boot the bistro onto the blacktop, just as they thought the administration, in their talks last April, had agreed to do. Signing the letter were Assemblymembers Gottfried and Deborah Glick, state Senators Krueger and Brad Hoylman, Councilmember Corey Johnson, Borough President Gale Brewer and Congressmember Carolyn Maloney.
The politicians wrote in concern to de Blasio that they had heard he was “pulling back” from his commitments both to push the restaurant out of the pavilion and to dedicate the structure to use for year-round public programming.
The pols said they heard the reason for this reversal was “due to difficulties of operating a restaurant on the plaza.” However, they noted, “This is not about the restaurant operator’s convenience” but about parks being for public use.
“We believe that parkland is sacred,” the seven declared in their letter to de Blasio. “We ask for the city Parks Department to reclaim the pavilion for the community’s use 365 days a year. We urge you to stand by the principle that parks are for the people, not meant to be cash cows.”
According to a source, Chef Driven Market Union Square — its seasonal pavilion cafe, plus its year-round kiosk in the park — is projected to rake in $3 million in revenue in its first full year of operation, with $300,000 of that going into the city’s coffers.
Helping generate that green were high-priced items on last year’s menu, including the likes of whole Branzano ($28.50) and organic Salmon pot au feu ($22.95)
The place will also reportedly employ 100 people.
Jack Taylor, a U.S.C.C. board member, said it definitely sounds to him like there was an agreement in place, but that it wasn’t upheld.
“I think when seven elected officials make the accusation that the mayor is going back on his stated commitment, the seven elected officials must know what they’re talking about,” he said.
The pavilion was built in 1930, originally designed as a bandstand, noted Taylor, who is a leading local preservationist.
“It was a prime feature for the mass protests and demonstrations on the north plaza,” he said of the pavilion. “It played a number of roles, but never as a cash cow — until Bloomberg came along.”
The pavilion concession plan was hatched under former Mayor Bloomberg. De Blasio actually had opposed the plan as public advocate.
Bill Borock, another U.S.C.C. board member, said four members of the group — himself, Carol Greitzer, Geoffrey Croft and Eadie Shanker — met with new Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver last year at the Arsenal to check on the pavilion’s status, but that Silver, noting he was new to the job, was noncommittal.
“Shortly after that, Gottfried and Krueger put out newsletters saying the restaurant would be kicked out onto the plaza,” Borock said. “Then, all of a sudden, Bill Castro [the Manhattan borough Parks commissioner] calls Carol Greitzer up and says, ‘It didn’t work out. The restaurant is going back in the pavilion.’ ”
On Wed., April 8, Silver spoke at a meeting of the Chelsea Waterside Park Association, at which Borock again asked about the pavilion.
“We said we feel that the pavilion should be used for the community,” said Borock, who heads the Council of Chelsea Block Associations. “Silver’s answer was that there was no agreement. I said we had heard there was a verbal agreement.”
Gottfried also attended the meeting, but wasn’t there at the same time as Silver. At the meeting, Borock updated the assemblymember on what the Parks commissioner had just said.
“Gottfried said it was a verbal agreement but they never put it in writing,” Borock said.
The next day, the seven politicians fired off their joint letter to the mayor.
Based on the presumed oral O.K. from City Hall, Borock said, U.S.C.C. had been busily planning community uses for the pavilion — which the coalition planned to fund on its own.
“We were talking about having programs there with senior citizens from the Andrew Stein Center,” he said. “There’s a school for the deaf in the area. There’s a group, Story Pirates, that could do programs for deaf kids.
“It’s frustrating and disheartening,” Borock said of the bistro about-face, “especially when you see all the restaurants around the park, and we don’t have services for the community. We know the city needs money. But there needs to be a balance.”
In a statement however, the Parks Department said it simply wasn’t feasible to relocate the restaurant outside onto the pavement.
“NYC Parks’ decision to allow the pavilion restaurant to remain inside the building and on a small portion of the plaza, rather than [fully] on the plaza, was driven by concern for public convenience,” the statement said. “Although Parks initially intended to negotiate moving the restaurant entirely onto the plaza starting in 2015, after a review of the restaurant’s operations in the first season, the city determined that relocation was not feasible.
“The altered footprint,” the statement added, “would have a number of significantly negative impacts on New Yorkers’ use of Union Square, forcing pedestrians to walk through the playground to access the pavilion, potentially impacting the safety of children in the playground and their use of it. Further, a move to the plaza would encroach on the Union Square Greenmarket, increase sidewalk congestion, eliminate emergency vehicle access lanes and negatively impact ADA access.”
In addition to the Tuesdays@The Pavilion crafts session and fitness and holiday programming offered by the Partnership, Parks is adding an additional day of programming during the restaurant’s operating season, with free Shape-Up group exercise classes in the pavilion. Parks will keep the pavilion open and accessible to the community from November to March, when the restaurant is not in operation.
A BID spokesperson said, “The Union Square Partnership hosts over 100 events over the summer months each year, including fitness classes, children’s programming, music, dance and interactive community events. The Partnership would discuss opportunities to further enliven the park with anyone who can offer credible ideas and partner to fund them. This includes discussing ideas for additional programing of the pavilion during the off season.”
