Session: 1234567891011121314151617         Page 760761762763764765766767768769770771772773774775776777778779780781782783784785786787788789790791792793794795796797798799800801 of 824

would allow us to really run a nice park, patrol it, give it security, light it, have activities. We have had activities in the park also, every year for six months. Which has helped. And we have cut the crime rate very considerable--by seventy-five percent--with these activities.

But we have to manage it ourselves, because even the parks department, they will have three people working on it on the average day. But then if they have a big shindig in Central Park, all the men are sent up there to clean it. So far Bryant Park doesn't get cleaned at all! You allow one week of dirt and filth to accumulate in there you never get it cleaned up again! You've got to keep at it all the time. On the front steps of the Library, we have to clean them every three hours. Because people are just dirty, you know? They sit there, they leave their coca-cola can on one side, and the paper with their half-eaten sandwich on the other, and walk off.

You haven't really mentioned the step whereby Bryant Park would be rehabilitated under private management. The agreement that was reached in the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation. Why don't you talk about that? Was that a difficult--

Negotiations?

Yes.

No it wasn't very difficult because Gordon Davis--he was then parks commissioner--and I were agreed about what we wanted to