Newly Formed Washington Sq. Park Conservancy Accused Of Influence Peddling In Hot-Dog Vendor Banning

On The Hot Seat.  Founding Washington Square Park Conservancy board members   Justine Leguizamo, Gwen Evans, Veronica Bulgari and Elizabeth Ely.  Emails show the fledgling group had already succeeded in influencing public park policy before the group even presented themselves to the public for the first time on June 5, 2013.  “This is a private, affluent group of women being given decision-making power unbeknownst to the public,” said Cathryn Swan, who first exposed the removal of hot dog vendors on her Washington Square Park Blog.  (Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates.) Click on image to enlarge

Manhattan

By Geoffrey Croft

Critics wary of yet another public-private park group forming and exerting influence over public park policy say their fears have already come to fruition in Washington Square Park.

According to emails obtained the through a Freedom of Information Law the Washington Square Park Conservancy's high profile board were already trying to stick its nose in park business even before the group publicly unveiled themselves to the public in the spring. 

The newly formed conservancy is being accused of using its influence to remove hot-dog vendors from areas of the park and replace them with high-end sellers while the group was still forming.

While the hot dogs will be gone by the end of December according to the Parks Department, the city is keeping the gelato stand run by Mario Batali — a conservancy board member — along with a famous Indian cart. It’s also making room for a stand selling gourmet ice-cream sandwiches called Melt.  

In an interesting nutritional note the Parks Department apparently thinks ice-cream sandwiches are a "food choice." The move to sell the ice cream  is "part of a broader initiative to bring a more diverse selection of food choices to New Yorkers,” according to a parks spokesman Phil Abramson.

The idea to move the hotdog vendors apparently came at the behest of public complaints and once the conservancy complained the group is apparently claiming no responsibly for the Parks Department's decision.  

“We got some word from our neighbors that [the hot-dog vendors] were unsightly,” said Veronica Bulgari, the conservancy’s president. “We suggested moving them based on what other people were telling us. The fact that it was done was Parks’ decision.”

However when asked who actually complained the group's chairwoman Betsey Ely named George Vello­nakis, the controversial architect behind the $30 million park redesign. 

Moon Mohammad, 35,  an immigrant from Bangladesh,  has manned a hot dog cart at Washington Square Park for three years. “If I move outside the park, I’ll make hundreds less [a week]. It affects my business.” (Photo: Helayne Seidman)

What a bunch of weenies!

A private, celebrity-studded park conservancy has succeeded in booting two poor hot-dog vendors from Washington Square Park — to make the area less “unsightly,” according to the New York Post. 

While the dirty-water dogs will be gone by the end of December, the city is keeping the gelato stand run by Mario Batali — a conservancy board member — along with a famous Indian cart. It’s also making room for a stand selling gourmet ice-cream sandwiches.

“I will miss this spot,” said Moon Mohammad, 35, an immigrant from Bangladesh who for three years manned a cart inside the park, which is teeming with hungry college students in the heart of NYU. “If I move outside the park, I’ll make hundreds less [a week]. It affects my business.”

In April, The Post revealed the city Parks Department was secretly forming a conservancy with the help of actor John Leguizamo’s wife, Justine, and socialite Veronica Bulgari.

Now it appears the private group was calling the shots well before introducing themselves to the public this summer.

Memos obtained by a park watchdog show the celebs asked the Parks Department to relocate the $2 frankfurters in March — from the arch to the east and west sides of the fountain. Their request was granted a month later.

“This is a private, affluent group of women being given decision-making power unbeknownst to the public,” fumed Cathryn Swan, who first exposed the red-hot removal on the Washington Square Park Blog.


Leguizamo Wife's Park Group Already Meddling In Public Park Policy? Actor John Leguizamo spoke in favor if his socialite's wife Justine's project at a Community Board 2 meeting on June 5th, 2013.   (Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates.) Click on image to enlarge

“This is indicative of what their future plans might look like,” she added. “[They’re] treating the park as a pristine garden rather than an active public space.”

According to meeting notes, the conservancy asked park administrator Sarah Neilson to “follow up on moving the hot-dog guy away from the Arch view corridor” and to push for “new and different food vendors.”

Neilson, who earns $88,000 as a Parks employee, also serves as the conservancy’s executive director — an unpaid position some critics charge is a conflict of interest.

Instead of offering the carts other spots inside the park, Parks honchos signed a deal with Melt, a Lower East Side bakery that will sell $4 ice-cream sandwiches.

Batali will continue operating his Otto Enoteca Pizzeria Gelato Cart, which has been in the northwest corner of the park since 2005. The NY Dosas cart — a purveyor of Indian crepes in the park for the last decade — will stay in the southwest corner.

Still, the conservancy denies it’s engaging in class warfare.

“We got some word from our neighbors that [the hot-dog vendors] were unsightly,” said Bulgari, the conservancy’s president. “We suggested moving them based on what other people were telling us. The fact that it was done was Parks’ decision.”

Asked which neighbors complained, conservancy chairwoman Betsey Ely named George Vello­nakis, the architect behind the $30 million park redesign. He declined to comment.

A Parks spokesman said the agency is allowing contracts with the hot-dog stands to expire to “ensure clear views of the fountain and arch and . . . to bring in a more diverse selection of food options.”



(image: washingtonsquareparkblog)

Read More:

Blogger skewers conservancy over hot dog purge and more
The Villager - December 4, 2013 - By Lincoln Anderson

Washington Square Park banning hot-dog vendors
New York Post - December 1, 2013 - By Kate Briquelet

Hot Dog! Private Conservancy Secrets: Food Cart Vendors Vanishing, $5 “Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches” On Way, Mario Batali & More at Washington Sq Park
Washington Square Park Blog - November 23, 2013 - By  Cathryn Swan 


Report-back: Community Board 2 Parks Committee Meets On WSP
Private Conservancy – Part I
Washington Square Park Blog - June 13, 2013 - By Cathryn Swan 


John Leguizamo Speaks Up for Proposed Washington Sq. Park Conservancy
DNAinfo -  June 6, 2013 - By Andrea Swalec 

More Dying Trees

“There are two locations where the trees have been planted and replanted three times, and they’ve died all three times," said Cathryn Swan who has sounded the alarm in Washington Sq. Park.

A number of trees planted in Queens Plaza Streetscape and in Washington Square Park have either died or are dying - resulting in a poor landscape and wasted taxpayer dollars. In Queens contractors working for EDC are nearly finished with a $46 million traffic redesign project, but 20 dead trees (above) have plagued the scenery. Eight trees have died in Washington Square Park over the last two years as part of a $30 million park renovation ushered in by the Bloomberg administration. Critics charge the trees were planted incorrectly and point to a lack oversight and bureaucracy.

Manhattan

When visitors go to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, they often lounge next to the famous fountain or admire the Washington Square Arch sitting at the south end of Fifth Avenue. What they may not notice just a few yards away from that renowned arch are the crispy brown leaves atop a dead tree, according to NBC News.

The sickly tree is one of eight that have died in the last two years. All of the doomed arbors were planted as part of a $30 million park renovation championed by the Bloomberg administration.

"The Parks Department is knowingly committing arborcide,” said Cathryn Swan, a neighbor who has been posting pictures of the dead trees on her website, the Washington Square Park Blog.

“There are two locations where the trees have been planted and replanted three times, and they’ve died all three times," Swan said. "I’m worried they’re going to plant those trees a fourth time. I just feel like it ends up being sort of heartbreaking.”

The New York City Parks Department said in a statement that it has experienced a series of "failed plantings" for the Zelkova trees in the area around the park plaza.

"We are investigating potential causes of why trees are not surviving here and will conduct soil tests, examine the drainage, and determine if there is a problem with this particular species," the statement said.

Professional arborist Ralph Padilla (left) diagnosed the planting problem as relatively simple. "It was planted incorrectly," he said after examining the dead tree near the arch. "It was planted too deep."

“The giveaway is that all trees, before they enter the soil flare out slightly at the base,” he added.

The dead tree near the arch does not flare out at all, Padilla said. He said it was possible that private contractors or parks personnel repeated the mistake by burying the root balls of eight trees too far beneath the soil, suppressing oxygen supply. When roots are submerged too deeply, recent transplants can die.

Meanwhile, just over the East River, withered wood is being plucked from another green space. At the Queens Plaza Streetscape, contractors are nearly finished with a $46 million traffic redesign project, but 20 dead trees have plagued the scenery.

The New York City Economic Development Corporation, which manages the project, says the trees are under warranty and will be replaced free of charge. However, because city rules only allow planting during certain seasonal windows, that part of the project is stalled.

Washington Square Park - Northern End. "With all the talk about “MillionTreesNYC” in our city, one blogger wrote on the Washington Square Park Blog, it’s really “OneMillionDeadTrees”. Another p.r. ruse put forth by our Mayor — the plan lacks any built-in initiative to maintain the “million” trees planted on neighborhood streets." (Photo: Courtesy: Washington Square Park Blog)

A Parks Department source told NBC New York six of the eight dead trees in Washington Square Park are under warranty, so the replacement cost will be just $3,000.

Still, critics say time is money. Cathryn Swan blames poor oversight and bureaucracy for the bungled plantings. Each time a tree fails to take root, contractors must wait for the next seasonal window to re-plant. Already, the Washington Square Park renovation has lasted nearly four years. The phase of the project that includes the dead trees was supposed to be wrapped up by 2009.

“People talk about bureaucracy and city government. You want to believe there are people who will step in and stop the bureaucracy sometimes, but with something like this it is clear that is not happening,” Swan said.

Read More:

Village Residents Fume Over Dead Trees

NBC News - September 21, 2011 - By Chris Glorioso

City Finally Looking Into Cause Of Multiple Tree Deaths In Washington Sq. Park

A Walk In The Park - August 25, 2011

City Finally Looking Into Cause Of Multiple Tree Deaths In Washington Sq. Park

Dying Tree - Washington Sq. North. Thanks to the Washington Square Park Blog who has written extensively about the issue, the city has finally agreed to look into the cause of multiple trees that have died since the park's controversial renovation. The park was redesigned by unlicensed Parks Department landscape architect - and real estate agent - George Vellonakis. Mr. Vellonakis has since gotten his landscape license. (Photos By Cathryn Swan)

Manhattan

GREENWICH VILLAGE — Trees in Washington Square Park have been mysteriously dying ever since the famed greenspace was redesigned — and some nature lovers are trying to get to the bottom of the problem, according to DNAinfo.

Eight trees have died in Washington Square Park since May 2009 — all Zelkovas, a type of elm — near the park's fountain, a Parks Department official said Tuesday. Four have already been removed and four others have been identified as dead or dying.

"We have experienced a series of failed plantings for the Zelkova trees in the area around Washington Square Park’s plaza," a Parks spokesman said. "We are investigating potential causes of why trees are not surviving here and will conduct soil tests, examine the drainage and determine if there is a problem with this particular species."

Reconstruction of the park's fountain and plaza began in December 2007 and concluded in May 2009, according to the agency.

Northern end of the park. "With all the talk about “MillionTreesNYC” in our city, as one blogger on the Washington Square Park Blog wrote, it’s really “OneMillionDeadTrees”. Another p.r. ruse put forth by our Mayor — the plan lacks any built-in initiative to maintain the “million” trees planted on neighborhood streets."

The redesign of Washington Square Park began in 2007 and eliminated dozens of trees more than 40 years old. A lawsuit was unsuccessful in preventing this destruction.

The trees that died were planted during the rehab efforts, which moved the fountain about 20 feet to the east so that it would align with the arch. Dozens of older trees were removed in the process.

One expert, Bronx-based arborist Ralph Padilla, 50, said he thought the Zelkova trees — which a Parks Department official said have a history of success in the city — had been planted incorrectly.

"It seems pretty obvious that this is an instance of a tree being planted too deeply," he said after looking at photographs. "Even though tree roots are underground, they need oxygen to survive. If they're too low into the ground, they will suffocate."

Padilla, who has cared for city trees for more than 20 years, said the Zelkova trees in the park that are already dying don't have much of a chance of survival.

"If the canopy is green, it has a good chance. But if the leaves are all wilted, there's no coming back. It's too far gone," he said.

Four trees that have been removed were replaced for free by the contractor who planted them, according to a Parks Department official. The other four trees need to be replaced by the city for approximately $1,500 each.

Cathryn Swan, who has tracked the park's trees on Washington Square Park Blog for more than three years, said multiple experts have told her the trees are dying because of inadequate drainage or having been planted too deep.

Swan, a Brooklyn resident who started her blog when she heard that the park's redesign would chop down trees more than 40 years old, said she thinks political issues are the real problem in the park, though.

"Every business and city agency has its own level of politics, and this problem is due to internal politics," she said. "People don't want to upset the designer, and so they're not speaking out."

Longtime architect and real estate agent George Vellonakis, who oversaw the park's redesign, did not respond to requests for comment.

The Washington Square Park tree battle has deep roots. A group called the Emergency Coalition to Save Washington Square Park lost a 2007 lawsuit to stop the extensive reconstruction plans that resulted in the cutting down of about 32 trees.

August 16, 2011. The eighth tree around the fountain in two years that is now dying according to Washington Square Park Blog.

Read More:

City Getting to Root of Washington Square Park Tree Deaths

DNAinfo - August 25, 2011 - By Andrea Swalec

How to Prevent Additional Trees at Washington Square Park from Dying? — Questions Abound

Washington Square Park Blog - August 23, 2011 - By Cathryn Swan

How Many Trees Around the Washington Square Fountain Must Die Before Suffocating Design is Corrected?

Washington Square Park Blog - August 18, 2011 - By Cathryn Swan

Eighth Tree In Two Years Now Dying Around the Fountain

Washington Square Park Blog - August 17, 2011 - By Cathryn Swan

Part I: Why Do the Newly Planted Trees Around the Washington Square Fountain Keep Dying?

Washington Square Park Blog - July 11, 2011 - By Cathryn Swan

Part II – Arborcidal Design For Fountain Trees at Washington Square. Will City’s Parks Department Address This At Last?

Washington Square Park Blog - July 15, 2011 - By Cathryn Swan

Two of Seven Newly Planted Trees Surrounding the Washington Square Park Fountain Have Died — Is the Cause the Design?

Washington Square Park Blog - December 10th, 2009 - By Cathryn Swan

Washington Square Park Redesign Issues Continue

Washington Square Park Redesign - Sign Of the Times - Long Delayed, Severely Over Budget, and Lack of Transparency & Oversight Continues.

Manhattan

Updated 9/8/10, 12:48 p.m. — A couple months back, I called a Greenwich Village community member who has been involved from the very beginning with the redesign plans for Washington Square Park, according to the Washington Square Park blog.

Washington Square Park Task Force (and Community Board 2) Chair Jo Hamilton had requested that I put together my “list of questions” around Phase II and said she’d try to get answers. I stated that these were not my questions alone; people in the community had questions. Ms. Hamilton didn’t appear to grasp my repeated attempts to infuse more transparency into the process. I wasn’t trying to write a blog piece – I wanted the Task Force to do what it’s supposed to do (and I’d happily report on that).

Frustrated that I couldn’t get this concept across, I started to put together some semblance of a list. When I asked this community member what questions she had, she responded, “Well, it’s kind of hard. We’ve been given so little information – it’s hard to even know what the questionsare.”

And there you have it. We’re in the middle of a multiple-year, $30 Million Dollar New York City project – a redesign of a historic landmark park in Greenwich Village – and all the bodies assigned oversight of the project (as outlined in Part I) have fallen asleep at the wheel.

So, here is my list of some of the unanswered questions plus information I’ve gathered including causes for alarm:

• OVER BUDGET – The Washington Square Park Redesign project was originally budgeted – all three phases – for $16 million TOTAL but Phase I alone cost that. What will Phase II – budgeted at $9 million – come to? With the delays in work and numerous changes as it proceeds, I’m guessing way over that. The park is nowhere near done and the cost is already $9 mil.

Dead … second time around…

• DYING TREES – Why do these same two trees around the Fountain keep dying? 2009′s newly planted trees died, were replaced, and now the replacements are dead in less than a year. If you’ll recall, the forty year old original trees that lined the fountain werechopped down to make way for the aligning of the Fountain with the Arch at Fifth Avenue. Could these repeated deaths be due to the re-designer’s error? I think so. (Look for a separate post on this later this week.)
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• Read More:

Washington Square Park Phase II: An Eerie Silence Part 2 — Lack of Transparency & Oversight Continues – Unanswered Questions; New Information

9 Security Cameras Installed In & Around Newly Renovated Washington Sq. Park

The NYPD will be watching YOU at Washington Square Park

 New NYPD Cameras SW Washington Square Park

New Surveillance Cameras on Lamp Posts SW

I don’t know how many New York City parks these are installed in (I’ll try to find out), if NYPD is leading the way at Washington Square Park or if it’s just been determined by the Bloomberg Administration that Washington Square Park is the park that needs to be pacified, with its bohemian, free-wheeling past spirit buried underneath leveled off concrete plazas and aligned Tisch fountains, but New York City Police Department surveillance cameras are being installed as you read this with the construction of Phase II Redesign at Washington Square Park.

At February’s Community Board 2 Parks Committee meeting, the Parks Department dropped off some blue prints of Phase II which outlined the following with regard to the NYPD cameras:

Nine NYPD security cameras and devices, four within the Park, installed on poles. 2 cameras will be installed on new poles that currently do not have security devices installed.

Read More:

The NYPD will be watching YOU at Washington Square Park

Washington Square Park Blog - April 5, 2010

Big Brother Is Watching Washington Sq. Park

Curbed - April 5, 2010 - By Joey