Green Party Mayoral candidate Billy Talen is supporting a community effort to protect Union Square from private development in the form of a restaurant. Talen used the opportunity of his press coverage to bring attention once again to Mayor Bloomberg’s antics regarding running for another term (despite the fact that he had been term limited.)
(excerpt from) Chelsea Now
The ‘War of the Rosie’ centers on U. Sq. pavilion’s use
By Jefferson Siegel and Lincoln Anderson
Back in the days of the singing telegram, a popular phrase was “Say it with flowers.” That’s what the group Union Square Not For Sale did on Wed., April 8, when it held a rally calling on City Councilmember Rosie Mendez to help keep the Union Square pavilion restaurant-free.
At a gathering called “Rosie, Be a Love,” dozens of people hung roses and other blooms on a fence surrounding the construction area in the square’s north plaza.
“It’s a romantic plea to Rosie Mendez to save the pavilion,” explained John Quilty, of Hell’s Kitchen.
Last month a judge lifted an injunction preventing construction of a white-tablecloth-style restaurant in the pavilion.
Green Party mayoral candidate Reverend Billy [Talen] led his choir in calling for Mendez’s help.
“She opposed Bloomberg’s third term,” Billy said. “She might be changing.”…
Almost all the area’s elected officials, except for Mendez — and, of course, Mayor Bloomberg — have spoken out against the use of the pavilion as a restaurant…