Jessica Alfieri

writes everything you see here.

• I was wrong.

  Aug 8, 2008 tagged as construction, New York, Union Square Park

  

  Terex Stinger is changing my plans.  No, it’s not really them (probably) but they’re moving my street light (for what seems like a silly plan) so now they’re bearing the brunt of my criticism.

  (Moving my street light is way more upsetting than moving my cheese.)

  

  The pedestrian space remains slim, but they’ve replaced some of the initial street space.

  You can’t really tell from the photo, but the traffic barricades have been pushed back, allowing for slightly more road room.

  The extra walking space was almost like a park of its own last night.  And then this morning, more traffic barricades arrived, and they moved the existing ones in, hampering pedestrian traffic again, and opening an additional half-lane for the cars.

  WHAT IS THE POINT OF A HALF-LANE?  There are no half-cars.  (Okay, there are. But not enough for this to make sense.)

  

  And construction guys, nobody wants in to your stupid club, anyway.  So quit it with the CAUTION tape.

  

  Also, what are you doing down there with the crotch, buddy?  (I like how the other guy seems concerned, too, like totally ready to mobilize and help his friend adjust the junk.)

  

  Important lessons: This is how you make a street light work.

  

  This is how you stand around while someone makes a street light work.

  

  And I still really want to know what’s up with the dirt and debris watering, done by, of all things, that tiny yellow sprinkler in center frame.   Anybody?

  
  

• Counting jackhammers, not sheep

  Aug 7, 2008 tagged as construction, jackhammer, New York, Union Square Park

  

  Sorry about the Union Square Live outage.  In its place, enjoy these guys drilling new fence-post holes.

  

  And a new sprinkler to water the dirt?  How cute.

  

  Playing on the bobcat.  Filling new fence-post holes.

  

  It looks like we’re going to regain about three feet of pedestrian highway.

  But I can’t stand stuff like this.  Layers and layers of setup work on top of the real work’s timeline mean that we won’t have this park back for what feels like five days past forever.

  Why are we moving this fence three feet?  Just finish the whole project and forget the temporary blacktop, please.

  

  Also, I’ve really fallen out of love with the jackhammerers that wake me at 6:00.  Yeah, I realize it’s not a peach for them either, but at least (presumably) when they’re home sleeping, they’re actually sleeping.  (I miss that.)

  By now, I’m trained enough to know that my sleep will be disturbed, which means that all night, I’m waiting for it.  Sort of like trying to write anything longer than this, and suspecting the entire time that I’m about to be interrupted.  Can’t concentrate.

  Maybe the answer is sleep productivity counseling.  43 pillows?

  
  

• Temper-Tantrum Imminent

  Jul 14, 2008 tagged as construction, jackhammer, noise, NYC, Union Square Park

  What’s it like to have four jackhammers outside going at it at once?

  

  Like this, plus the brain-rattling noise. Earplugs are futile against this beast.

  
  

• Where They Lost Me

  Jul 7, 2008 tagged as profit, protest, Union Square, Union Square Park

  I’m all for preservation of public spaces, especially when the public space in question is a park (treasured real estate in this city). I’m all for efficiency in construction (which I have yet to see in this city). And I’m all for transparency in planning, disclosure of donations, and partnership with the public in making decisions about public space.

  BUT (and this is a big but) I’m not for demonizing private enterprise.  I’m not for ignoring the recent history of a neighborhood, only to glorify its ancient past.

  And until Wednesday, I had been a quiet supporter of the Save-Union-Square group’s conversation with the city about the future of the park.

  I stood by while they prayed to three little pine trees.  I chuckled while Reverend Billy spoofed an auction to show us just how for-sale the park is.

  

  

  But when I saw the screaming group that gathered to protest at the storefront of Union Square Cafe, they lost me.

  

  Has no one bothered to think about how bad Union Square had become before risks were taken (by private enterprise) and new life was breathed into the neighborhood?

  Or is it just more convenient to cite Emma Goldman’s famous speech at the pavilion? I suppose their messages might jive: would the Save-Union-Square folks also like to take everything by force?

  The park of the 80s was not the center of culture and art that it is today, let alone a place most of us would want to hang out after dark.  The restaurants and other businesses that saw a future in this place brought people back here, and with them, safety in numbers.

  From Wednesday’s fliers:

  Push Back Against Danny Meyer.

  Danny Meyer, Union Square Cafe owner and supposed Mr. Nice Guy of New York City, is the man at the center of the controversial plan to privatize the Pavilion building of Union Square Park.

  I’m not going to say that Danny Meyer is a saint, because frankly, I don’t know enough about him.  But I know that if I had the opportunity to do what he did with Union Square Cafe (and others) I would.

  No, he and other entrepreneurs weren’t rebuilding Union Square all out of the goodness of their hearts: they saw a financial opportunity here. But I don’t think that’s wrong.

  Sure, I wish there weren’t a bank and a Starbucks on every corner, I don’t like what NYU has done to the village, and I often complain and employ that overused G-word (gentrification). I understand preferring the gritty to the “nice”.

  But it shows an incredible lack of context to protest outside one of the restaurants that reignited Union Square life.

  Put another way, you’d also be complaining if the park’s playground spaces were still littered with needles.

  Other coverage: Village Voice, Washington Square Park Blog, Save Union Square