Hundreds of West Village residents packed an emergency meeting on Wednesday to vent about disorder in Washington Square Park, as police promised to take a stronger hand in enforcing against loud parties and drug use.
The NYPD-sponsored event came weeks after the department announced a temporary 10 p.m. weekend curfew in the park, setting off a fierce showdown for public space between activists and riot cops. Police leaders in attendance said they’d pulled back in recent weeks because of the confrontations, but hoped to make the new curfew permanent.
“I’m going to try to get that park back to being quiet at night,” Chief Stephen Hughes, the commanding officer of Patrol Borough Manhattan South, pledged to the group. “I would prefer an earlier closing, but I’ll go with the consensus.”
After an impromptu vote on the curfew, which most attendees backed, Hughes promised to present a plan to Mayor Bill de Blasio — garnering applause from many in attendance. He blamed “anti-police” groups for throwing bottles at cops who attempted to close the park earlier this month.”
The escalating tension between late-night park-users and older, mostly white residents was also on full display Wednesday. Locals accused outsiders of staging a “hostile takeover” of their park, and called on police to confiscate skateboards — “it will not be that traumatic for the snowflakes,” quipped one resident — and sound equipment.
“We’re open minded people,” said Maureen Remacle, a long-time community council president who supports the curfew. “This is something that no one in the entire world would ever tolerate. When you want to go to bed, you want some peace and quiet.
The event also drew dozens of younger New Yorkers, who’ve accused locals and cops of sealing off the park from the growing number of people who’ve flocked to it during the pandemic. The majority of those who showed up to oppose the curfew were barred from entering because of capacity restrictions. They held their own counter-event outside barricades that police erected in front of the Bleecker Street church.
“All of this because of a little music, some teenagers smoking a cig?” asked Damean Hoyl, a homeless man who said he has been brutalized by police inside the park. “If this is a community meeting, the community should be treated as equal partners. How many Black people do you see in this line?”
Alan Silverstein, a 59-year-old who lives near Union Square, told Gothamist that police were right to exclude dissenting voices from the “Build the Block” meeting.
“The community was invited in for a community meeting. He’s not part of the community. He’s a visitor to the park,” Silverstein said of one counter-protester. “They were letting us in first because they didn’t want to have a bashing situation.”
A dance party on a recent Sunday in Washington Square Park
Inside the church basement, the pro-curfew audience found a sympathetic ear in both police and parks officials. Acknowledging “setbacks” in the last year, Chief of Department Rodney Harrison told residents that police were "ready to protect you. We’re going to do whatever it takes to make sure you feel more comfortable in the neighborhood you live in."
Manhattan Borough Parks Commissioner Bill Castro also condemned an increase in “bizarre” behavior in the park, citing skateboarders, kids doing “donuts” on motorcycles, and drug use. He announced plans to reopen two lawns in the park to “flood the zone with good people — normal people, so to speak.”
Washington Square Park on Sunday night
Not everyone was on board with the curfew. Aaron Gamman, a 21-year-old street musician, accused police of stirring conflict by storming the park in riot gear earlier this month. “There’s no doubt that the NYPD’s presence invites challenge, and that’s just a fact,” he told the crowd, eliciting boos.
While several residents were permitted to speak at length about problems in the park, Gamman was told to wrap up his statement after just two minutes.
As attendees filed out of the church venue, demonstrators gathered outside tried to convince local residents of the merits to the park's pandemic-fueled changes.
“I see gangstas and white people, the LGBT community and people dressed in suits all coming together and celebrating life,” said 25-year-old Desmond Marrero, a park regular. “We don’t see that on the regular. The park just needs some understanding.”
