Washington Square Voices: What 331 Neighbors Told Us About Gates in Washington Square Park

Bar chart showing survey respondents by ZIP code, with 10011 as the largest group.

Earlier this year, the Washington Square Association asked our neighbors a straightforward question: what do you think about the idea of installing gates at the entrances to Washington Square Park? Over the following weeks, 331 people wrote back. Their answers, in their own words, are now published in our first Washington Square Voices report.

What the survey found

The community is not evenly split on gates, but it is far from unanimous either. Of 331 respondents, 176 (53%) oppose gates, 116 (35%) support them, and 39 (12%) are neutral or unsure. Nearly eight in ten respondents live within walking distance of the park, and seventy percent visit daily or several times a week. This is overwhelmingly a neighbor-driven response, not casual park users passing through.

What came through even more clearly than the split itself is that supporters and opponents agree on more than the headline suggests. Both name real problems. Both credit the recent NYPD work and the 6th Precinct sweep with improving conditions. Both want a park that works. Where they disagree is on what to do next: whether the fix is permanent infrastructure or sustained enforcement and staffing.

Overall Views

Pie chart of 331 survey responses showing 53% oppose gates at Washington Square Park, 35% support, and 12% neutral or unsure.

Why we published this the way we did

We wanted this report to be useful, not persuasive. It does not take a position for or against gates. It publishes what the community said, including the strongest arguments on both sides, and includes the caveats about how the survey was reached and who is not fully represented. Younger voices, in particular, are underrepresented, and closing that gap is a stated goal of the next round.

The findings are best read as a directional picture of where the community conversation is, not as a referendum result. They are most useful as a guide to which themes deserve a serious hearing, and where the community wants the decision-making process to go from here.

What happens next

On May 21, Community Board 2 passed a resolution asking the Department of Parks and Recreation to study and present alternatives to the temporary French barricade system currently used to close the park overnight. The resolution did not endorse any single outcome; it asked DPR to look at a range of possible approaches, from simple chains and signage to more substantial gates, weighing safety, inclusivity, efficacy, budget, and the historic district.

CB2 has transmitted the resolution to Parks. We are in regular contact with the CB2 Parks Chair and will share updates here as they come. If and when proposals for closing the entrances to Washington Square Park are put forward, we will survey the community again, with a special focus on closing the younger-voices gap.

Separately, one process question remains open at CB2. Because signage, park rules, and the entrance-closure question are the same conversation from the community's perspective, we are asking that when Parks Department signage proposals are ready for CB2 review, they be assigned to the CB2 Parks Committee alongside the perimeter-access conversation, rather than to Landmarks. That is the clearest path to a coherent decision and to a process the public can follow.

Over the coming months the Association will be attending meetings of Community Board 2 and will keep you informed through our newsletter and blog. We hope you will join us when you can. 

This fall, we'll also be inviting the community into a broader conversation about what else deserves the Association's attention. Have thoughts, questions, or context we should know in the interim? Email us at washsquareassn@gmail.com. 

Read and Share the Report

If you have not already, read the full report and share it with a neighbor who should see it. This report is the community's, not the Association's. Our job was to collect what you said and put it in front of the people who need to hear it. That work continues.