Residents have mixed reactions to St. Vincent’s triangle park plans

Residents of Greenwich Village got a first look at plans for a large
park on the triangle of land that used to be part of St. Vincent’s
hospital, DNAinfo reported.

At a recent community board meeting, landscape architect Rick Parisi, of M.
Paul Friedberg and Partners, presented the plans for a proposed
15,102-square-foot park with more than 600 seats, 31 trees and 4,861
square feet of plantings on the St. Vincent’s Triangle at Seventh
Avenue between Greenwich Avenue and West 12th Street.

Residents had mixed reactions to the park. One said she thought the
design was “extremely generic” and that she wanted it to reflect the
unique character of the neighborhood.

“This could just as easily appear next to a high-rise on the Upper
East Side,” she said to applause at Wednesday night’s meeting.
Residents were also worried about the upkeep of the park with vermin,
homeless residents and lack of a playground.

“That’s a huge seating area with no activities and nothing for
children,” said Tobi Bergman, head of the community board’s parks
committee. Melanie Meyers, a lawyer representing Rudin Management, owner of the property,
promised that the park would be the company’s responsibility.

“It
would be the obligation of the developer to develop the space and
maintain it in perpetuity,” Meyers said. She said the park will include a
memorial to the Sisters of Charity of New York, who founded St.
Vincent’s Hospital. Representatives from the Queer History Alliance, an advoacy group,
said the park could be a New York City Aids Memorial Park, since St.
Vincent’s played a big role in the AIDS epidemic.

Another resident said the discussion of the park was “irrelevant”
since the fraud investigation of St. Vincent’s is still underway. North Shore-Long Island Jewish Hospital and Rudin Management are under
public review in connection with building a medical complex containing a 24-7 emergency
room, full-service imaging center and outpatient surgery
facility, as well as apartment complexes.
[DNAinfo]