Park competitions raise plenty of questions

Dear Friend of Pershing Square, Things have been fairly quiet, as we await the unveiling of the four finalists' designs for the park, with fingers crossed that one or more of the competitors will take the great public interest in historic restoration into account. But we do have two recent newspaper articles to share, both of which explore the issues raised when municipalities seek to start over with a public park. In the Los Angeles Times, Christopher Hawthorne admits that John Parkinson's Pershing Square was lovely, but proposes a reimagining of the current, hated design by Ricardo Legorreta as a more progressive option than restoring the only design that ever worked. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/architecture/la-ca-cm-pershing-square-redesign-20160228-column.html Also, in the Times story, we find casual mention that Pershing Square Renew has delayed selection of the winner of its design competition until the end of April. (Not announcing a competition winner on April Fool's Day is always a good strategy.) And from the Washington Post, the "other" Pershing park competition on the far side of the country raises issues of preservation, funding and design quality which should be familiar to Pershing Square watchers. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/america-is-chock-full-of-world-war-i-memorials-so-why-build-another-one/2016/01/21/f1d09e66-be1a-11e5-83d4-42e3bceea902_story.html 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