I agree with post not liking the plaques on benches.It's somehow not appropriate.Why in world would I want my name on a park bench? People stop and read them,why I can't imagine. A bench should be a bench, not a dedication to a person. Do people donate& get their name on the bench? Is this due to taxes on the wealthy being so low, this is how they raise money? In past decades this was never done.The city could support itself without selling every inch to ads, and the park benches could remain anonymous. This bodes ill.

The Gates were a great thing, because they lead me to parts of the park I had never seen, and now I know where to go if I want to get away from other... or be around others. The park should have more art like that.

I truly loathe the ego plaques on all the park benches. The park is for everyone...I'm sicking of reading people's Facebook posts set in steel on every goddamn park bench. A park bench should be completely anonymous...I don't want to sit on someone's memorial or read about someone's romance. It just goes to show how sensitivity to these nuances in modern people has completely disappeared.

I was lucky to have grown up next to Central Park and I love it. However, there is one thing that I consider a "blight" which is the statue of Dr. James Marion Simms at 103rd and 5th Avenue. Dr. Simms is widely known to have performed medical experiments on African American women, in particular slaves that he owned. Why is his statue here? It should be removed.

I am the author of The ABCs of Central Park. When I was showing my prototype of the book to parents in the Great Lawn, I showed it to a family who told me that they are the great grandchildren of Frederick Law Olmsted. I was shocked and found out that we are also neighbors.
G. Lynas

Why isn't Central Park more like Prospect Park?

I am so greatful to the Central Park Consevancy, which keeps the Park so beautiful and user feriendly.
I use it to keep up my rock climbing chops, at the southern end. CPC has clearly cared for the area, making it so user friendly!

I am the author of The ABCs of Central Park and when I was showing my prototype to a few parents in the Great Lawn, I happened to show it to the great grandson of Frederick Law Olmsted and his family. I nearly fainted.

I'm sorry, Leonard, but it isn't true that "anybody can do anything." One needs a permit for more than 20 people, at the discretion of the conservancy, and see my post below.

Was any integration of streetcars ever thought in it's creation?

I am unhappy about the outsourcing of the management of the park to a private, albeit nonprofit, entity. For example: who decided to plant grass that is intolerant for large crowds in the meadow? The refusal to allow a large demonstration during the Republican Convention contradicts the use of the Mall in Washington DC, which is planted with grass that tolerates large crowds. I realize that the meadow had deteriorated to sand prior to its revitalization; however, the *city* is directly responsible to the people who elect its officials, and the conservancy, however well intentioned, distances the park(s) from the citizenry.

Despite 46 years of protests against them, cars are still permitted on the park's six-mile loop road, which the park's creators intended to be an integral part of the park, not a shortcut to and from Midtown. Admittedly, car access has been scaled back, but it is hard to think of a continuing blight on the park that is more obvious or easier to remedy. What is stopping us?