City unclear on plans for Wash. Sq. curfew this weekend
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s offi ce deferred
to the Police Department
when asked if the city will again
enforce a 10 p.m. curfew at Washington
Square Park this weekend, according to a
spokesman.
Hizzoner said he expects to use the
curfew for the popular Greenwich Village
space “rarely when necessary,” at his
Wednesday daily press briefi ng — but
when asked directly about the upcoming
weekend, a spokesman kicked it over to the
police’s press shop.
“Would probably have to defer to Deputy
Commissioner Public Information on
that,” Mitch Schwartz told amNewYork
Metro.
The NYPD also declined to give its
plans for the coming weekend, saying
the decision to move the usual midnight
closing time up by two hours on Fridays,
Saturdays, and Sundays will be “reviewed
on an ongoing basis,” according to Sergeant
Jessica McRorie.
Like many other urban greenspaces,
Washington Square Park had become a
lifeline for pent-up New Yorkers during the
Cops arrest someone at Washington Square Park on June 5.
pandemic, but police in coordination with
the Parks Department, decided to close its
gates earlier following a rash of complaints
from residents about rowdy late-night parties,
drug use, piles of garbage, vandalism
to the iconic arch, and park-goers refusing
to leave after midnight over the past two
months.
On June 4, the 10 p.m. curfew happened
largely without incident, but the following
Saturday night, police called in the Strategic
Response Group and bike-mounted
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
cops to forcefully eject some 100 people
who, police say, refused to leave and threw
glass bottles at offi cers.
Videos posted on social media showed
the tense scenes at the park, and cops arrested
23 people for charges like obstructing
governmental administration, resisting
arrest, unlawful assembly, and disorderly
conduct.
Police also fenced off the northwest corner
of the park, a dark section known as a
place to buy and use drugs, which the Parks
Department will keep locked up until further
notice, according to a spokeswoman.
On Sunday night, the park was a lot
calmer and police did not show up in riot
gear, according to reports, and de Blasio
praised the Department’s strategy.
“If we see something structural where
we think we’ve got a community problem,
a quality-of-life problem, something that is
starting to grow and create confl ict we’re
going to get ahead of it. And lo-and-behold,
you know, the curfew was used a few times,
it did help to calm the environment,” the
mayor said at his June 9 press conference.
A Parks spokeswoman echoed the
Police’s statement, saying that the closure
will be reassessed daily, adding that the
agency plans to launch programming in
the northwest section to improve that area
at some point.
“We continue to work with PD to fi nd
the right balance of education and enforcement
against illegal and after hour activities
that impact the park and the neighborhood,”
said Crystal Howard in a statement.
“Enforced closures have been focused
onaddressing large after hours gatherings,
amplifi ed sound, excessive trashing of the
park and other conditions on weekends.”
Climate activists cuffed at Downtown
protest over Public Renewables Act
BY GABRIELE
HOLTERMANN
City council candidates and
the Public Power Coalition,
which is led by the
Democratic Socialists of America
and local environmental justice
organizations, held a rally and
march on June 2 in City Hall Park
in Manhattan, demanding the NY
State Assembly pass the Build
Public Renewables Act before the
end of the legislative session on
June 10. They also demanded an
end to climate corruption.
If passed, the legislation would
require the New York Power
Authority (NYPA), the nation’s
largest public energy provider, to
lead a mass buildout of 100 percent
renewable energy powering
at least 75 percent of the state
and create tens of thousands of
green union jobs in the process,
according to advocates.
Additionally, the publicly
owned and operated energy supplier,
which currently provides
up to 25% of New York state’s
NYPD officers remove the chains from a climate activist with a
metal chain saw during a Public Power Bill protest.
electricity, would have to ensure
that all publicly owned buildings
run on 100% clean power by
2025.
Protesters in City Hall Park
held up posters featuring NY
State Democratic powerhouses
Senate Majority Leader Andrea
Stewart-Cousins, Assembly
Speaker Carl Heastie, and Assembly
Energy Committee Chairs
Kevin Parker and Michael Cusick,
PHOTO BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
showing the amount of campaign
contribution the politicians have
received from fossil fuel companies
and accusing them of
being the “pocket” of polluters as
detailed in a timeline provided by
Power Public Coalition.
Lee Ziesche with Sane Energy,
the community engagement coordinator
of Sane Energy, a member
of the “No North Brooklyn Pipeline
Coalition” and the “Public
Power New York Coalition,”
urged the NY State Legislature
to pass the bill.
“We don’t have another decade
to keep fi ghting fracked gas,” Ziesche
pleaded. “We need to start
building renewables at scale right
now.”
Following the rally in City
Hall Park, the coalition of about
200 protestors bearing signs and
chanting “Liar, liar privatizer”
marched along Centre Street
towards Broadway, where a
group of seven climate activists,
who were chained together
through PVC pipes -referred to
as a “Sleeping Dragon” maneuver
had already blocked traffi c to
one of Lower Manhattan’s major
throughways.
DSA member Gustavo Gordillo,
one of the climate activists who
participated in the sit-in action,
pointed out that Democratic leadership
in Albany was stalling the
Build Public Renewables Act. He
said climate activists had experienced
nothing but indifference and
resistance from elected offi cials
like Stewart Cousins, Heastie, and
Assemblymembers Amy Paulin
and Cusick.Climate activists also
argue that the Build Public Renewables
Act would be instrumental in
making sure that New York State
met the goals of the Climate Leadership
and Community Protection
Act (CLCPA). CLCPA, a landmark
climate legislation, went into effect
in January 2020 and calls for netzero
emissions by 2050 and 100
percent renewable electricity by
2040.
In the meantime, the NYPD
Strategic Response Group was
preparing to remove the PVC
pipes and chains from the sit-in
protesters with high-powered
buzz saw. At the same time, a
loudspeaker voice warned the
remaining protestors that they
were unlawfully in the roadway
obstructing vehicular traffi c. All
protesters obliged the order to
leave the roadway and utilize the
available sidewalk.
It took NYPD offi cers about 15
minutes to cut through the pipes
and metal chains while the protesters
covered their faces with
towels to protect themselves from
the sparks emitting from the saw.
They were immediately arrested
and taken to a local precinct.
6 June 10, 2021 Schneps Media