LET THEM EAT CAKE!
Keep “Hot Dog Carts” In, Private Influence Out of Washington Square Park
REVERSE THE PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC SPACE
Sunday, December 8th 11 a.m. * Washington Square Park Fountain
Gather in solidarity with the food cart vendors being ordered out of the park
Background:
Recently it was revealed that a private, wealthy group of women, who recently incorporated themselves into a “conservancy,” issued one of their first dictâts this past spring — which was to “suggest” the relocation and future elimination (at the end of this month) of the “hot dog carts” which have provided inexpensive food options in Washington Square Park for years. They are soon to be replaced with more “upscale” (and costly) – but not necessarily more healthy – food, including a cart which is allowed to remain by restauranteur Mario Batali, who just happens to also be on the board of the private Conservancy.
This private group, which had said their involvement would be minimal at the park with no decision-making, decided that the frankfurter carts were “unsightly” as they blocked the “view corridor” from the park’s magnificent Arch to its newly reconstructed “Tisch fountain” for which the City spent an unknown amount of money to move 23 feet out of the Park’s center, despite wide-scale public opposition to the boondoggle.
Washington Square Park must remain a city park where anyone is welcome — it is a place for all. We challenge the self-declared authority of a private Conservancy to determine what food options should be available in our parks; and we support those workers who are being replaced by the decisions of the 1 percent.There is room for all types of vendors in our parks and public spaces.
We call on Mayor de Blasio, who attended New York University, Inc., to halt private, corporate and real estate interests from digging their claws deeper into Washington Square Park.
We call on the Mayor to reverse the Bloomberg administration’s privatization of our public spaces.
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Hot Dog! Private Conservancy Secrets: Food Cart Vendors Vanishing, $5 “Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches” On Way, Mario Batali & More at Washington Sq Park, WSP Blog
Washington Square Park Banning Hot-Dog Vendors, New York Post
Link to other coverage.