Save Union Square!

What Can You Do?

1. Contact Rosie Mendez by calling her at 212-677-1077, or emailing her at rosie.mendez@council.nyc.gov. Tell her to reject the BID plan for Union Square.

2. Sign the Online petition, which we will ceremoniously present to Rosie Mendez at a future date.

3. Boycott Whole Foods, Barnes and Noble, Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Café. Politely ask to speak to a manager at any of these places, and voice your displeasure with this land-grab. They will try and give you some BS. Ignore it.

4. Come to Union Square each Wednesday at 5:00pm to gather with like-minded people and find out more about what's going on.

More information about the struggle is available in the FAQ.

To get updates on the campaign to Save Union Square, send and email to: saveunionsquare-subscribe@googlegroups.com

Individuals and Orgs Who Have Opposed the Privatization of Union Square

A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists'
Response To Illegal State Tactics), representing Union
Square Artists; Assemble 4 rights; Bike Blog ; Geoffrey Croft, president of NYC Park Advocates;; Andrew Boyd, Founder of Billionaires for Bush; Thomas K. Duane, NY State Senator Representing District which covers Union Square; Stephen Duncombe, Professor of Media Studies, New York University; Author, Dream: Re-Imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy (2008); Deborah J. Glick, Assemblymember 66 Districtt, New York County; Richard N. Gottfried, Representative of Assembly District 75 in Manhattan; Carol Greitzer; Ross M. Horowitz, Member of Citizens for Union Square; Erik Larson; Not an Alternative; NYC Park Advocates; Pond: art, activism, and ideas; Radical Homosexual Agenda; Rev. Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping; Save Union Square; Eadie Shanker; Benjamin Shepard, Member, The Absurd Response; Author, Creative Direct Action in the Era of the PATRIOT Act: Arrested for Stickering, Biking and Other Misadventures (2005), From ACT UP to the WTO: Urban Protest and Community Building in the Era of Globalization (Verso, 2002); Scott M. Stringer, Manhattan Borough President; Jack Taylor, Member of Citizens for Union Square; Time’s UP; Union Square Community Coalition; Washington Square Park; and MORE!

Why Save Union Square?

As a broad coalition representing many perspectives, we share the goal of saving Union Square and opposing its privatization. Here are a few of the perspectives:

- The privatization of Union Square is an example of struggles happening in every nation, every community, perhaps in your school, neighborhood, corner, or backyard. Privatization means the take over of a public resource by an individual, often for their personal gain. As a building constructed for the very purpose to allow citizens to convene, the Union Square Pavilion is therefore an emblem of the First Amendment. Opposing its privatization thus signals to corporations and profiteers that the community has the right to determine who controls public space. Making this struggle public means making visible this struggle happening all over the world.
- Union Square already has many upscale restaurants. We don’t need more.
- The plans proposed by Union Square Partnership are a wool in sheep’s clothing. They pretend to expand playground space but the approved drawings in fact allocate the playspace to a sunken moat-like space and problematically privilege the entrance to the upscale restaurant.
- Union Square Partnerships, which is operated by corporations and friends of the mayor, should not be allowed to make decisions for the public space.
- Union Square has been a historic landmark since 1997. Turning it into a privately managed restaurant is an inappropriate use of a public landmark.
- Mayor Bloomberg intentionally underfunds the park and asks that private concessions pay for its maintenance (thus warranting privately managed corporations to operate revenue-generating businesses). We ask for the city to do its job of reflecting the values of its citizens who value and use the park on a daily basis.
- The new plan drafted by USP does not consider the aesthetic value of the 80 year old trees that were removed from Union Square’s North Side.

Save Union Square!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

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Individuals and Orgs Who Have Opposed the Privatization of Union Square

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