The New York Times
November 5, 2000, Sunday
THE CITY WEEKLY DESK
NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: STUYVESANT SQUARE; What's a Park With No Cafe? Wonderful, Neighbors Say
By DENNY LEE (NYT) 346 words
Depending on whom you ask, a plan to convert a restroom at Stuyvesant Square Park into an outdoor snack bar is either a welcome attraction or a commercial eyesore.
Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern, who began soliciting bids from potential operators on Tuesday, envisions a park that would rival the public lawns of Vienna.
''It's a wonderful amenity for people to have a cup of coffee or hot chocolate,'' he said. ''What could be nicer? It broadens the use of the park.''
But residents say the cafe, which would still have a restroom and would be situated at the northeast corner of Second Avenue and 15th Street, would sap the park of its reflective character.
''We don't want our park privatized,'' said Sylvia Friedman, the chairwoman of the Parks Committee of Community Board 6, which passed a resolution last month condemning the plan. ''We want a passive, lovely, landmark park.''
The park, actually a pair of symmetrical halves bisected by Second Avenue, was named after Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of colonial New York, who owned the land. In 1836, his descendants donated it to the city for use as a park.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission included the park in the Stuyvesant Square Historic District in 1975, citing its ornate fountains and wrought-iron fence.
Mr. Stern dismissed the criticism as coming from the ''most negative community board in the city.''
He plans to seek approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Art Commission after choosing a proposal. DENNY LEE
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