According to a survey handed out by Jonathan Greenberg at the Feb. 2 Community Board 2 Parks Committee meeting on Washington Sq. Park, respondents want existing infrastucture fixed. Among the 50 respondents, renovating the park’s bathrooms was ranked the most important improvement by 34 percent, and 82 percent ranked it in their top-three most-important improvements. Forty-six percent ranked repaving the park’s walkways as the most-important improvement, and 80 percent ranked it in the top three. Replacing the asphalt play mounds was ranked in the top-three most-important improvements by 54 percent of respondents, yet “not among the top three” by 46 percent. Receiving high responses of “not among the top-three” most-important improvements were reducing the number of the park’s chess tables (90 percent), raising the central plaza to ground level (66 percent), replacing the Teen Plaza performance area with a lawn (86 percent) and relocating the dog runs (90 percent).
“The survey shows that more than 80 percent of Downtown respondents would rather simply repave the park and fix the restrooms than redesign the center of the park or move the dog runs to fix what isn’t broken,” said Greenberg. “Incredibly, the Parks Department has been holding hostage these essential improvements as phase two ‘maybe-do-it-if-we-find-the-money,’ while they try to push a major redesign that few people want, that they don’t have money for, and that would require park closings for at least two years. They should listen to what we want, not what they think is best for us!”
