Central Park

The Daily Plant : Friday, August 27, 2004

CITY AND FEDERAL COURTS PROTECT CITY'S GREEN SANCTUARIES

On Wednesday, August 25, Justice Jacqueline W. Silbermann of the New York State Supreme Civil Court ruled that New York City had acted lawfully in not granting a permit for a group seeking to use three sites in Central Park, including the Great Lawn, as a protest site.

This case involved a group called United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), which had sought a permit to conduct a demonstration of a quarter-million people on the Great Lawn, North Meadow and East Meadow in Central Park on Sunday, August 29. The City countered that a demonstration of that size would cause enormous damage to the park, particularly the Great Lawn and the North Meadow, both of which have benefited from $26.8 million in rebuilding projects in recent years.

Since its $18.2 million restoration between 1995 and 1997, the Great Lawn has been the subject of an active management plan in an effort to maintain the beauty and utility of the Great Lawn for New York City residents and visitors. Central Park’s stewardship is hailed around the world as a model for park management and maintenance, with the park providing a haven of natural beauty and opportunity for outdoor recreation to millions of users annually.

The City also argued that UFPJ should not be permitted to challenge the denial of Central Park for its event after it had agreed to—and then reneged on—an agreement from July 21 to stage an alternative rally site on West Street that had been offered to them in negotiations seeking to resolve the dispute. The group was to march up Seventh Avenue, across 34th Street, and past the convention site, Madison Square Garden—as the group had specifically requested and the City permitted as a result of negotiations. The march would then continue down the West Side Highway along Hudson River Park and gather at Chambers Street in Lower Manhattan. UFPJ subsequently backed out of this agreement and on August 10 reapplied for a permit for the Great Lawn less than two weeks before the convention’s scheduled start date. The group brought its lawsuit on August 18. Wednesday’s ruling came with only four days left before the requested march and rally this Sunday.

Another legal case involving the use of Central Park was brought by two separate groups, The National Council of Arab Americans and Act Now to Stop War & End Racism Coalition (ANSWER), which sought an injunction directing the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to issue a permit to conduct a demonstration of at least 75,000 persons on the Great Lawn on August 28, 2004.

On Monday, August 23, Judge William H. Pauley III of Manhattan Federal Court ruled that New York City had acted lawfully in not granting a permit for two groups seeking to use Central Park’s Great Lawn on Saturday, August 28, as a protest site. The City maintained that, in the absence of appropriate contingency plans—such as rain dates, additional security and adequate bonds to cover damage—a group of that size would undoubtedly cause significant damage to the Great Lawn and surrounding area. Moreover, the City contended that the group made no effort to negotiate an appropriate alternate site.

"These decisions are important victories, which will allow the Parks Department to continue its essential role of managing parkland so as to provide for its enjoyment by the widest possible spectrum of users," said Parks & Recreation General Counsel Alessandro Olivieri, who worked extensively on both the State and Federal Court cases. "Moreover, it affirms the Department’s ability to apply its content neutral rules to prevent harm to parkland and thereby allow the use of such parkland throughout the year for both New Yorkers and visitors alike."

Law Department Attorney Jonathan Pines worked on the UFPJ case in State Supreme Court with the Law Department’s Special Counsel, Gail Donoghue; Deputy Chief of the Administrative Law Division Robin Binder; and Law Department Assistant Corporation Counsels Nancy Brodie, Hillary Frommer, Ralph Janzen and Richard Schulsohn. Ms. Donoghue led the City’s legal team in the Federal Court case involving the NCAA and ANSWER. She was assisted by Robin Binder as well as Law Department Senior Counsel Diana Murray and Assistant Corporation Counsels Karen Selvin, Sharyn Rootenberg and Sheryl Neufeld.

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"It is one great purpose of the Park to supply to the hundreds and thousands of tired workers, who have no opportunity to spend their summers in the country, a specimen of God’s handiwork that shall be to them, inexpensively, what a month or two in the White Mountains or the Adirondacks is, at great cost, to those in easier circumstances."

Frederick Law Olmsted
(1822-1903)

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