What's Going On In Washington Square

Whether you’re going to Washington Square Park to be your authentic self, let your freak flag fly, commune with the similarly inclined, enjoy the nice weather or because you’re simply trying to walk through it to get to the other side, can’t we all agree that – as it’s a public space – it should be an experience that DOES NOT involve brazen drug abuse (we're not just talkin' weed), prostitution, the threat of violence and late-night, high-volume bacchanalia in a residential neighborhood?

It’s also a complete, goddamn bomb-site every morning with trash all over the place. I’ve lived in NYC my entire life, and even compared to the freewheelin’ 80s, it’s never been as off the rails as it is now. By all means, use your public space, but at least attempt to demonstrate some courtesy, restraint and respect while you do it.

Comments

[NoOriginalArt]

And I thought it was just me getting old and even more cranky than I was as a youth. Actually, I was walking through the park with my son, who was visiting from the Pacific Northwest last week. (He's 30 now and just bought a car, which makes me feel like I survived the Jurassic period, or something like it. We also hadn't seen each other in person since Christmas of 2019, so I had to keep fishing Kleenex out of my bag to dab up my old lady tears.) When I groused about the "goddamn pigs in this city" he snickered and said,"I remember you used to talk about how crazy New York was in the early 80s and how you wouldn't sit down on the subway because the seats were filthy." Which was true: the city and downtown/SoHo in particular looked like the county landfill on Monday mornings. Admittedly a lot of the trash in the Square came from partying classmates from NYU, but the drug dealers, sex workers and mayhem-makers just seemed to rise from out of the ground after the sun went down. Then came Giuliani and his quality of life policing, and the place became almost bougie in its cleanliness and quiet. Now that lockdown restrictions have been lifted, it's like the ghosts of the late 70s-early 80s have returned from Hades and are wreaking revenge on the city. Or again, I may be just getting old.