Parks in New York aren’t as “acceptable” as Mayor Bloomberg would like them: the current 83 percent success rate didn’t quite reach the Mayor’s goal of 85 percent, said the May 2010 Mayor’s Management Report. In Bryant Park, however, no one was complaining. This 9.6 acre park was, in their eyes, a haven.
“I like the little pieces of green,” said Miriam Talamni, an office worker from one of the buildings surrounding Bryant Park. Sitting alone at a one of the park’s green tables, Talamni nursed a cup of coffee, enjoying her Saturday afternoon break and the late-February sun. “Concrete’s nice,” she added, “But so are trees.”
Even hardened New-Yorkers need a break from the pavement.
Talamni is not alone in loving the “green” of the city. Lisa McCarty, a frequent visitor to New York, said the city’s parks were what she liked best. Nowhere but New York can McCarty find such a compelling combination of urban congestion and green space. Only seven blocks south of Times Square, Bryant Park is truly at the heart of the city.
For such a central space, Bryant Park was surprisingly spotless. With no garbage surrounding the tables, the park seemed to defy statistics in the May 2010 Mayor’s report.
As of 2006, the report suggests, the city’s parks are growing dirtier every year. In 2006, 93 percent of the city’s parks were rated “‘acceptable’ for cleanliness.” That figure has since dropped to 88 percent in 2010.
Visitors to Bryant Park, however, would be hard pressed to find even a cigarette butt on the ground. The only thing floating between the park’s tables was an occasional pigeon.
Though it is a haven, in reality, very little of Bryant Park was actually green. Despite the warm wind and a high of 43 degrees, the park’s ice skating rink -- the Citi Pond -- was still open, covering a lawn that sits at the park’s center. The trees surrounding the park were leafless, and cobblestone walkways travel at right angles around the park. There was, in the end, very little space for the would-be color.
The skating rink that covered the lawn, however, did not go unappreciated. The ice, at noon, was packed: the fanciest skating anyone had space for was to travel clockwise with the crowd around the edge of the 170-by-100-foot rink.
It was the last Saturday of the season where Bryant Park’s visitors could kick off their shoes at Citi Pond and strap on a pair of ice skates -- $13 if visitors need the rink to supply their blades of glory.
On Sunday, February 27th, the rink closed for the season. This year was, according to Citi Pond’s website, the best season yet: over 300,000 skaters took a turn around the ice.
One week later, Bryant Park was still more brown than green. Tables around the fountain, however, remained crowded: a group of 12 people stood because they couldn’t find a seat.
With the Stephen A. Schwarzman Public Library as a backdrop, visitors watched as construction workers pulled down a building’s metal skeleton, the last official marker of the ice rink. Afternoon conversations mixed with the breeze and the sound of a single backhoe. Even the 58 degree weather couldn’t summon leaves: two plastic bags were all that blew in the trees’ branches.
Still, visitors to Bryant Park seemed happy, as a mother and her two sons posed for a picture in front of the construction. In the end, green or not, the park remains a sanctuary.
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