Washington Square Park, famously known for its openness and association with NYC’s freewheeling counter-culture, has moved a step closer to installing permanent gates that would facilitate closing down the park at night.
Greenwich Village‘s Community Board 2 on May 21 voted to ask the city’s Parks Department to come up with different options — including possibly gates — to close the park instead of the jumble of metal police barricades that are currently dragged across its 10 entrances each night to enforce its midnight curfew.
The issue is controversial, with some arguing gates would run counter to the spirit of the park in the legendarily liberal neighborhood. But the vote sailed through, with only six out of the 50-member board opposed.
Barricades are pictured at an entrance to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, on Monday, May 4, 2026. (Lincoln Anderson / New York Daily News)
Two alternatives to the metal NYPD barriers have been discussed so far: Ornate permanent gates to match the style of the landmarked park’s perimeter fence, or simple chains — with a “Park Closed” sign attached — draped across the entrances. The Parks Department hasn’t yet presented designs or cost estimates for gates or any other ways of closing the park.
Parks officials say the initiative comes from within the community board, spurred by concerns about closing the Village park during the pandemic, when it was slammed by heavy use, often late at night after its curfew, which led to the police gates being used, starting in 2021.
Before the May 21 full board vote, Rich Caccappolo, chairperson of the board’s Parks & Waterfront Committee, addressed concerns that asking Parks for options on how to close the park would effectively pave the way for gates.
“We don’t know what (the final plan) is,” Caccappolo said. “There’s no ulterior motive. We’re just trying to get some options on the table. We’re not proposing that it be gates. There is no proposal — it could be a rope, a chain… ”
Barricades are pictured at an entrance to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, on Monday, May 4, 2026. (Lincoln Anderson / New York Daily News)
But Georgia Silvera Seamans, a former CB 2 member and director of Washington Square Park Eco Projects, which monitors the park’s flora and fauna, said, “The outcome feels predetermined. Once gates are on the table as an option, it is hard to remove them from any final recommendations.
“The park’s openness is not a design flaw: An open public square is the point,” she said.
Erika Sumner, president of the Washington Square Association, who feels the board’s process needs more community input, is conducting a survey on the idea of gating the park, with nearly 300 responses collected so far. “Neighbors overwhelmingly told us they want to be part of this process,” she said. “Neighbors want transparency, they want to be heard, and they want adequate time to engage.”
Once Parks comes up with its proposals, Sumner told CB 2, there should be at least two subsequent board meetings on the issue before a final vote, giving community members a chance to review the options and provide input.
Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, is pictured in this file photo. (Shutterstock)
Brian Maloney, a W. Fourth St. activist, shrugged that the issue isn’t so complex.
“Most folks I’ve talked to boil it down to either ugly metal gates or nice ones,” he said.
Addressing the board’s Parks & Waterfront Committee meeting earlier in the month, George Vellonakis, who led the park’s redesign 20 years ago, admitted that closing the 100-foot-wide open space in front of the park’s famed arch presents “a huge problem.” But he said it could be done with “an accordion fence that folds.” He called the current police barriers a bad look for the destination park.
Barricades are pictured at an entrance to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, on Monday, May 4, 2026. (Lincoln Anderson / New York Daily News)
Gates were part of the park’s approved renovation plan in the early 2000s but, due to mounting community pushback, were yanked at the last minute, Vellonakis said, after “everything in Washington Square Park became controversial.” Washington Square Park was gated long ago — from the 1820s to the 1870s, when Fifth Ave. was extended through it.
A Parks spokesperson said there is currently no timetable for when the agency will present CB 2 with its design options for closing the park.