Our Open Letter to the Semi-Finalists in the Pershing Square Renew Design Competition

Dear Friend of Pershing Square, In response to your emails asking that a restoration option be included in the public vote aspect of the Pershing Square Renew design competition, we were invited to City Hall to meet with representatives of the competition and Council District 14. At this meeting, we were informed that there will be no opportunity for the public to vote for the restoration option. We are disappointed, but committed to continuing our advocacy for a restored Pershing Square. That's why we've written an Open Letter to the 10 architectural firms who are semi-finalists in the design competition, asking them to make John Parkinson's 1910 park plan central to their proposals. As a supporting document, we've shared with them the eloquent comments from some of the more than 2000 people who have signed the Restore Pershing Square Petition. See the Open Letter here: http://restorepershingsquare.blogspot.com/2015/11/an-open-letter-to-semi-finalists-of.html The next important date in the design competition is December 11, the tentative date for the exhibition of proposed designs. We'll let you know how you can view these, and provide your feedback to the competition judges. We'd also like to share an editorial in which The Architect's Newspaper bizarrely calls our campaign to restore John Parkinson's classic 1910 Pershing Square "kitsch": http://archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=8315#.VjzR5aTJVq4 For more information about the historic park, the restoration campaign and what comes next, please visit: http://restorepershingsquare.blogspot.com yrs, Kim Cooper & Richard Schave LAVA - The Los Angeles Visionaries Association & The Pershing Square Restoration Society