Closed Since 1990s, Areas of City Hall Park To Reopen

The northern end of City Hall Park, an area closed by Mayor Giuliani for renovation and kept off-limits ever since, is scheduled to open to the public later this year.New Yorkers and tourists alike will again be able to play chess, catch, or picnic beneath London Plane trees on verdant lawns surrounding the Tweed Courthouse.As early as July, gates on Broadway and Centre Street will be opened, and a black metal fence will be installed along the southern edge of that walkway running roughly parallel with Warren Street.A Parks Department spokesman said the department is “pleased to have come to this agreement with Friends of City Hall Park,” a neighborhood group. A member of the organization, Sanford Wurmfeld, said he is happy that the park will reopen. A painter who has lived on Warren Street for four decades, he said the park holds many memories for him and his wife, Rella, such as their children learning to ride bicycles there.“It’s a fair compromise between the needs of downtown residents and businesses and the need to keep the mayor and city council secure,” an attorney at Hughes, Hubbard and Reed, Derrick Adler, who represents Friends of City Hall Park, said. The area directly around City Hall, however, will remain closed.In an article last June, the New York Times reported that the police said restricting the area between City Hall and Tweed Courthouse would help prevent potential intruders from avoiding metal detectors. A police spokesman did not return requests for comment by press time.While Mayor Bloomberg reopened the southern part of the park after being inaugurated, a local resident, Skip Blumberg has led the charge to reopen the park by working with neighbors to lobby elected officials and let their opinions be known.Sympathetic to this effort has been the executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Andrew Berman, who said Lower Manhattan “is so starved for park space. We fight for every square inch.”Under the agreement, the park area will be open for passive use (not organized ball games, for example). Two northern gates along Chambers Street will be open, except during arrival and dismissal times of students from a charter school, the Ross Global Academy, which meets at the Tweed Courthouse, where the Department of Education has offices.Greenery and seating will also be added to the northeast plaza near the Brooklyn Bridge subway station. “We want a green oasis,” Mr. Blumberg, whose roots in the area go way back, said. His father opened a restaurant on Canal Street in 1951 called Municipal Cafeteria.A former parks commissioner, Henry Stern, described City Hall Park as among the city’s most historically informative, with educational plaques on the ground at the southern end, showing maps and street patterns.Mr. Blumberg said he is planning a small celebration at a local restaurant on Friday. Still, he remains cautious, saying, “The campaign is not over until the gates are open as promised by the city.”

Closed Since 1990s, Areas of City Hall Park To Reopen

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