Some residents of Greenwich Village are upset over plans to renovate Washington Square Park. As Newsday points out, we in the outer boroughs wish we had problems like that:
Jeanette Herrera wonders if Echo Park, in the Mount Hope section of the Bronx, will ever get a water-hose connection so she can grow grass and flowers.Members of Friends of Travers Park in Jackson Heights said a Parks Department official told them there's no money to erect gates to keep children from toddling into the street.
In Kew Gardens Hills, people are taking it upon themselves to beautify Freedom Square Park. "We really don't have much of a choice," community activist Patricia Dolan said.
So, while Manhattanites were up in arms last week about the Parks Department's attempts to limit use of Washington Square Park and Central Park, other places in the city were feeling that all-too-familiar Outer Borough angst.
[...]
[M]any neighborhood activists and park volunteers would be pleased to see their worn chain-link fences replaced by an iron gate that could be locked at night -- an aspect of Washington Square's planned remodeling that was shelved because of public outcry.
And they'd love to have a fountain to move, like Washington Square's, or a pristine greensward to protect from large-scale events, like Central Park's Great Lawn -- another flashpoint in the long tug-of-war over citizen access to large public spaces.
I'd say screw Washington Square Park and spend the money renovating a park for people who will appreciate it. But then I know there are bitter people who oppose any change to anything all over the city. It's amazing anything ever gets done in this town.