The Washington Square Association has been around since 1906, and is the oldest neighborhood organization in New York City. For years, they have presented the annual Christmas Tree Lighting and the Washington Square Music Festival at Washington Square Park.
In 2013, after the “creation” of Washington Square Park Conservancy was first introduced via one public hearing (where the most bare bones of information was presented), many were saying … “why couldn’t the Washington Square Association have raised these funds, if needed?” “Don’t we already have organizations like this?” After the conservancy “approval” by Community Board 2, it was rumored that the Washington Square Association (WSA) took this as “stand down…” In the past, the Washington Square Association has also contributed to the PEP (Park Enforcement Patrol), at least according to Freedom of Information Letter (FOIL) documents this blog acquired with emails alluding to such, and other “park support.” According to their web site, they still do the latter.
The Washington Square Association’s profile was raised in late summer 2017 when they publicly spoke out in a letter against the proposed Ai Weiwei installation at WSP – pointing to lack of community involvement, whether the Arch was the proper location for it, and displacement of the Christmas tree.
At their annual meeting last year, WSA current president, Trevor Sumner, said they were going to up their game, had lots of plans, donations were up, were organizing more programming (not sure if that is what people want from any organization at the park … but…), so this year, what will they say? George Vellonakis spoke last year, shortly after being hired as WSP Administrator for the Parks Department, too.
From Washington Square Association:
Announcing the Annual Meeting of the WSA – June 13th at 6 pm
Spring felt a lot like winter with snow coming in both April and May. But summer is finally here and that means the park is looking as beautiful as ever, crowds are gathering and it’s time once more for the annual meeting of the WSA.
Join us for the WSA annual meeting where we will hear from local community leaders such as Washington Square Park Administrator George Vellonakis, GVSHP Director Andrew Berman and President of the Salmagundi Club Robert Pillsbury.
We will be serving wine, appetizers and cheeses. The speakers begin promptly at 6:30pm.
free & open to the public.
Location: Ireland House. 1 Washington Mews, (you can enter off 5th Avenue between Washington Square North and 8th Street), New York, NY 10003