NYC Vacation - Day 6

[bojojoti]

We must not have a lick of sense, because it seemed we spent more time outdoors than we did in on our vacation!  It was a freezing day, so we headed for another outdoor market at Bryant Park (Yes, the Bryant Park of Project Runway fame).  Back home, we would think someone was certifiable to have outdoor shops in December.  It works for New York, though. 




There were so many cute little shops.  Bojoette is attracted to pink like cat hair to black pants.  She found a tiny pink hair bow that needed to go home with her.


Wonder Warmers--hmm, I don't remember seeing this.  I could have used some warmth.


Bryant Park is plunked down in the midst of skyscrapers.  I love visiting New York , but I miss green and open spaces when I'm there.  If I had to live in New York City, I might be able to survive close to Bryant Park.  I'd have the green, the trees, and the main public library nearby.  Fun fact:  Library stacks run beneath the park.


The park is named in honor of William Cullen Bryant--poet, lawyer, and abolitionist.


Bryant was important to New York as a proponent for the creation of Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  He was a founder of New York Medical College and had ties with the Hudson River School of art. 

The inscription on the base of Bryant's statue is an excerpt from The Poet, one of his poems:

Yet let no empty gust
Of passion find an utterance in thy lay,
A blast that whirls the dust
Along the howling street and dies away;
But feelings of calm power and mighty sweep,
Like currents journeying through the windless deep.

I'm forever saying 'stand there,' 'climb that,' or  'jump this high,' for a photo, and the Bumbles do.  They are usually very agreeable to posing for me--even if it means a trek up ice-slathered stairs. 


As much as I adore New York, I admit that it has its areas that are grimy, run down, and dirty.  Bryant Park sparkles.  Every view is attractive.


Even the trees (London Plane) are beautiful.




One of the nicest parts of the park was the public restroom.  YES, a public restroom in New York City!  This is a rarity in and of itself.  Even rarer is to find is a clean public restroom.  And this one was not only immaculate, it had been professionally decorated with coffered ceilings, crown moldings, wall sconces, and beautiful mosaic tile.  The vanities were cherry wood with matching mirrors, and their tops were marble.

To see the attractive park filled with people enjoying all its amenities is all the more amazing when you consider that several years ago, Bryant Park was a dangerous eyesore inhabited by drug dealers and prostitutes.  It was known as 'Needle Park' in those days.   It was said that the only time the police entered the park was to retrieve a dead body.  Concerned citizens saw a better use of the park, and they banded together as a private non-profit group called the Bryant Park Corporation.  They approached the city with plans to rehabilitate the park.  It took seven years of negotiations with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation before they were given permission and allowed to lease the park. 

BPC tore down the tall hedges and iron fencing that enclosed the park to open it up to passersby, and they ripped out the benches that were fastened to the concrete to replace them with loose bistro tables and chairs.  BPC keeps about 2,000 chairs in the park and loses only 6-8 by theft each year.  This may be attributed to a better quality of park goer, a renewed pride of New Yorkers in their city, or because Bryant Park Corporation hired their own private security and cleaning staff who are everpresent.  BPC cleaned, repaired, and gave the park a thorough redesign.  Initially, BPC had to rely on private funding and $5 million of public monies, but the success of the park has allowed them to function on  revenue collected from events held at the park, concessionaire fees, and by assessments on surrounding businesses.  They haven't used public money since 1996.

To keep the park for the people, BPC insists that all events are free and open to the public.  The glaring exceptions have been the fashion shows that would take over the park in the winter and late summer. Fashion Week at Bryant Park would consume two weeks twice a year during peak usage times for park goers:  in late summer, when the weather was perfect, and in February, which would force the early closing of the skating rink.    BPC often complained that Fashion Week was too disruptive to the park and wanted to forego the million dollars they received in revenue,  and it looked as though that would happen in 2006.  However, Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief for Vogue and the inspiration for The Devil Wears Prada, appealed to Mayor Bloomberg, and he interceded to keep Fashion Week at Bryant Park.  Wintour either lost her touch or BPC became more persuasive, because Mayor Bloomberg announced that the upcoming February 11th fashion show will be the last in Bryant Park, and the fall show will be moved to Lincoln Center.  The fashion industry took the news in their usual cheerful manner:  

"What are the corporate slaves of the surrounding skyscrapers going to do to distract themselves from contemplating how terrible their lives are now that Fashion Week won't be at the park anymore?"
http://nyunews.com/life/2010/02/03/3bryant/ 

I believe I understand why BPC found the fashion show disruptive.

 

Only 1,999 more chairs to try out in order to say that she sat in them all!


In the summer, this area is a spans of green as long as a football field (which is about the same size as some Midwestern backyards).  In the winter, it is a skating rink free to the public.  Even the lockers in the skating pavilion are free.

In the summer, The Bryant Park Corporation operates an outdoor Reading Room with carts of books, magazines, and newspapers.  Items at the Reading Room are available to everyone at no charge.  Other summer activities are ping pong and boule tournaments.  BPC provides the paddles and balls free of charge for ping pong and gives lessons for both ping pong and boule.   

Add a carousel for children, beautiful gardens in the growing season, attractive seasonal decorating, and free wireless access at three points for park visitors, and Bryant Park is an amazing space.  All this without one New Yorker paying a cent of tax for it.  Private management of a public area can often do a much better job than government entities, because the people in charge are focused in their efforts, have vision and drive, and don't have bureaucratic red tape tying their hands.  Naturally, this is one instance and wouldn't necessarily work in other venues, but I'm very impressed at the change wrought in this small piece of land.  I'm not saying I want all parks to be pristine and pruned--I like a natural landscape--but it certainly beats having a dangerous eyesore in the midst of a community.

One can also while away the time playing chess, but that's for another post.