Dear Mayor de Blasio: We, who use Union Square Park in Manhattan ask you: WHY?
We, the Council of Chelsea Block Associations — a coalition of block Associations formed more than 50 years ago and now comprised of 15 block associations covering 28 blocks in Chelsea — ask you: WHY?
We, the Union Square Community Coalition — established in 1980 to reverse the deterioration of Union Square park, to improve it and to return it to its historic significant role as a great open space for free speech activities — ask you: WHY?
WHY did you allow a restaurant [The Pavilion Market Cafe] to open in the Pavilion building in Union Square Park, when it never had a restaurant in it?
WHY didn’t you stop it months ago when the court said you had the authority to cancel the former Bloomberg administration decision to put a restaurant in the Pavilion?
WHY didn’t you allow the covered Pavilion building to have programs serving children, youth and seniors all year as it was used for the community in prior years?
WHY didn’t you respond to the many letters, petitions and telephone calls from community residents and groups telling you that we needed a community facility and not another restaurant?
WHY did you allow a restaurant to open in the Pavilion, when you knew that there are over 150 restaurants and bars within a two-block radius of the Park/Pavilion?
WHY did you allow a restaurant to open in the Pavilion, when you knew that the area has the least amount of playground space and the highest concentration of restaurants in the city?
WHY didn’t you allow the Union Square Park Pavilion to be used in the same way as the Pavilion building in Columbus Park in Chinatown is being used: having programs serving the community?
WHY didn’t you know that the existing playground in Union Square Park would be closing for repairs because of overuse due to the lack of adequate facilities in the park/playground-starved area?
Mayor de Blasio, WHY didn’t you say NO to the restaurant and YES to a community facility?
WHY?
Sincerely,
Bill Borock
President, Council of Chelsea Block Associations Board Member, Union Square Community Coalition
