EVENT: Union Square, Then & Now

Thursday Oct 23, 4-7 pm
South end of Union Square Park, NYC

4-7 pm: Draw-A-Thon - see Call for Submissions/Participation.
Open invitation to the general public - come by to draw!

Artwork by:
Jesse Goldstein, Steve Lambert, Chris Rubino, Steven Marcus, Carolyn Ryder Cooley, Joan Linder + exhibit by the Tamiment Library/Wagner Archives, NYU

5-6 pm: WALKING TOURS
Kevin Baker, Author
Andrea Williams, New York Society for Acoustic Ecology

6-7 pm: SPEAKERS & PERFORMERS
Joshua J. Freeman, Historian, CUNY Grad Center
Ed Ott, Executive Director, NYC Central Labor Council AFL-CIO
Denis Hughes, President, NY State AFL-CIO
Deborah Glick, NYS Assembly Member
Richard N. Gottfried, NYS Assembly Member
Geoffrey Croft, President, NYC Park Advocates

Rev. Billy & The Church of Stopshopping
The Approaching Storm Stepper Club & Marching Band
Others TBA

CONTEXT: Union Square

The pavilion on Union Square Park’s north end was built with public money for public use as a public space, as a speaker s stage and a recreational all weather shelter for women and children. A site of rallies and protests for more than a century, the Pavilion has played a central role in this nation's progressive history. It is, and has been, a VITAL public space and one of the last remaining assembly areas in lower Manhattan. It is our town square.

Despite the pavilion’s illustrious history, the local development corporation/ Business Improvement Distrcit (BID) the Union Square Partnership and the Parks Department have put forth a plan to privatize the pavilion and create a “tablecloth” restaurant in the pavilion. This plan did not come from the community, local residents or park users and in more than 4 years of public discourse not a single person or community group has come forward in support of the plan who was not directly connected to the BID. Union Square has the highest density of restaurants and the lowest density of public space in the whole city and there is no doubt that the pavilion could be an integral part of the park, as a year round play space or a teaching facility or any number of yet to be imagined uses.

More info: www.unionsquarenotforsale.org

Individuals and Organizations Who Have Opposed the Privatization of Union Square:
NYC Central Labor Council AFL-CIO; NY State AFL-CIO; D.C. 37; United Federation of Teachers/AFL-CIO; NY Labor History Association; Historic Districts Council; Tamiment Library/Wagner Archives-NYU, Assembly Member Richard N. Gottfried, Assembly Member Deborah Glick; Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation; NYC Park Advocates; Union Square Community Coalition; Workers Defense League; Rev. Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping; Chelsea Midtown Democrats; Gramercy Park Block Association; A.R.T.I.S.T.; Billionaires for Bush; Citizens for Union Square; Free103Point9; Not an Alternative; The “Our” Labrynth Project; Pond: art, activism, and ideas; Radical Homosexual Agenda; Restaurant Opportunity Center, Time’s UP; 250+ Friends of New York City Parks; Union Square Not For Sale; and more.