Session: 1234567891011121314151617         Page 760761762763764765766767768769770771772773774775776777778779780781782783784785786787788789790791792793794795796797798799800801 of 824

had to deal with, like the Parks Council, which has only one purpose and that's to keep parks pristine, clear, and clean. With which I agree, except that Bryant park was not a park. It was a square that was occupied and controlled by pushers. [laughs] Nobody was enjoying it, except between noon and two o'clock on a sunny summer day! But they kept snapping at our heels, and they have just enough clout with the parks commissioner to make life difficult.

You mean the Parks Council?

The Parks Council.

And they were snapping because of what?

Because whatever changes we were going to make in the park were going to be bad as far as they were concerned, particularly a restaurant. Their theory is you should never remove a bush or a tree or anything. I agree you shouldn't, if you've got a park that is used. If you have a park that has been lost to the public, you've got to do something to return it to the public. If I'd only been able to get the board or the Parks Council to spend twenty-four hours locked in to Bryant Park, they would have had a very different view of the whole thing. But unfortunately, they don't live around there. The people who were around there all wanted us to do something! The people who were criticizing weren't around there. Anyway, it's been a bloody battle for five years. Particularly because the parks commissioner who was for the whole plan that I worked out, Gordon