Nearly 200 people rallied last night to mourn what they called the literal and figurative death of Washington Square Park.
At Judson Memorial Church, a memorial service was held for the four recently unearthed skeletons found in the park during construction. Senior Minister Donna Schaper spoke about the "desecration" of the park, the dead and the political process, which she said ended when the Park Department went ahead with renovations. She emphasized that the department was working against the wishes of the community and lamented that a "fence was going up around the premier public performance space in the world."
The service continued with music and dramatic readings by local artists. Afterwards, the floor was opened up for attendants to share what the park meant to them. Some spoke of personal memories, while others called it the place "where the melting pot melts," and "where we can enjoy the gifts of God." Wonderly White, the great-granddaughter of Stanford White, who designed the famous Washington Square arch, called it "not a place for beautiful people, but a place for people to be beautiful."
White was especially upset about plans to move the park's fountain to align with the arch. "If Stanford had wanted it there, he would have put it there," she said.
White publicly challenged the Tisch family, who donated $2.5 million in 2005 for park restorations, to name the new fountain in honor of the 20,000 bodies buried underneath the park from the 1800s when the park was used as a potter's field.
At the end of the service, the group videotaped a message that will be sent to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and posted on YouTube. The tape calls on Bloomberg to halt the construction, "stop disturbing the dead" and not "transform the spirit of the park."
The crowd left the church at 8 p.m. to march along the east side of the park carrying candles and flowers. They convened in front of the arch, placed the flowers on the chainlink fence and sang "We Shall Not be Moved" and "This Little Light of Mine." Rally participants are asking the Parks Department to fix the park's sidewalks and bathrooms and then end further renovations.
CAS junior B. Han, a former writer for WSN and the leader of Open Washington Square Park Coalition, the group who cosponsored the rally, said he hopes that the fight will continue.
"I want to emphasize this was not just a vigil but a call for action," he said. "The community has a proven record of preventing the plan from happening." He stressed the need for NYU to work with the community to get the park reopened.
Rev. Schaper said tonight left her hopeful, adding, "Let the dead do what the living have not been able to do."
>b>Emily Mathis is a contributing writer. E-mail her at citystate@nyunews.com.
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