Push Back Picnic @ Union Sq!

Anarchists and church members, (Stop Shopping, of course!) First Amendment Defenders and yoga practitioners, children and caregivers, skateboarders and students, workers just having lunch and lovers lured towards a romantic rendezvous are ALL requested to reclaim Union Square as the people’s park, a not-for-profit piece of real estate
WE PAY FOR WITH TAX DOLLARS!
First, the word from the anarchists:
Friends and Neighbors,

Celebrate this year's national nativity party ye olde fashioned way...
COME TO THE PUSH BACK PICNIC JULY 2ND, 6:00PM,
BY THE ABE LINCOLN STATUE

There will be Watermelon.
As the nation prepares to celebrate it's 232nd Birthday, and the Union Square BID (Business Improvement District) prepares to privatize the LANDMARKED Pavilion building, come join the Community Improvement District (CID), along with your favorite radical heroes of Union Square for an olde tyme hoedown and radical auction action. Make a bid on your favorite national chain store franchise! Dance circles around stodgy, stogie-smoking, sell-out politicians! Marvel as the park pushes back against the greedy takeover artists!
Let's push back the privatizers and keep Union Square a place for public gatherings, public rallies, and public play! PUSH BACK THE BID! UNION SQUARE IS NOT FOR SALE! more info: www.unionsquarenotforsale.org
Here’s the word from the good Rev. Billy:
Picnic And PUSH-BACK At The Pit Of Sin!
Wednesday, July 2nd, 5pm-7pm
at Union Square in Manhattan
The Reverend and Savitri are leaving for a while, and they'd like the chance to say goodbye to the Church on Wednesday, July 2nd from 5pm to 7pm...near the Abomination Medley of Squalid Temptation known as the construction site at Union Square. We'll start at 5 pm with our petition gathering and 1st Amendment singing at the NW corner, then retire to the picnic area near the Abraham Lincoln statue at six o'clock.
Exorcisms and possessions of the spirit are always a possibility, but the ordinary fun of a July picnic will offer a safe alternative for those of you who don't have to go "over the top and into the bullets." There are many ways to enjoy and help us resist the theft of our parks by vulture investors. So bring some food and drink, let's remember our remarkable year - and create a blessing for the future!

• Sign the petition to keep our park public!
• Article About Pushing Back In The Villager
• Save Union Square 2008 Website

Pushback-a-lujah!
Sign the petition here: http://www.revbilly.com/petition/

Union Square Must NOT be Privatized

RALLY AND SURPRISE PARTY:
Thursday, June 5th, 5pm
Union Square - North Side

Who: marching bands, hoola hoopers, soapbox preachers, park lovers, green growers, sun tanners, art vendors, likely a wingnut or two, and a walking tour performance by the ghosts of Union Square past. And Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Gentrifying. And YOU!
HERE'S THE SKINNY:
http://www.saveunionsquare2008.blogspot.com
http://www.revbilly.com/petition
After letting the pavilion building fall into disrepair for over a decade, the city government was finally ready to pony up the cash to repair the building and return it to public use. Before the city could even complete their own plans, the Union Square Business Improvement District, or BID, (led by corporate chain stores such as Barnes and Noble and Whole Foods) got involved, dangling wads of extra (anonymously donated) cash, and before you know it the plans that emerged took on a decidedly unfriendly tone, particularly if you happen to be an artist selling your work, a farmer selling food, or any citizen who might want to spend time in the park without spending money.
The Union Square Partnership, led by celebrity chef Danny Meyer, plans to turn the pavilion on the north side of this park into an upscale restaurant. They are pushing around the Greenmarket and the artist vendors, cutting down 80 year old trees, ending the day-care resources, driving out local residents and making it harder and harder for us, regular new Yorkers, parents, students, residents, visitors, to enjoy our own park. This park is being privatized. It is part of a city-wide pattern. The city underfunds the park, pushes aside public funds and then brings in a BID and a few millionaire friends posing as saviors. We don’t need saving. We need transparency, a real democracy, and a public park.
We want to know who donated 5 million dollars to “buy” the pavilion and who will profit from the planned restaurant? We want to know why 17th street needs to be four lanes instead of two, and why the Farmers Market, artist vendors and park lovers were sold out for a fancy Chardonnay restaurant.
Union Square is a national Free Speech landmark, the pavilion was built as a stage for public assembly and democratic gathering. This is where our American conscience erupted in the songs of Paul Robeson, the shouts of Emma Goldman and the prayers of Dorothy Day. The 8-hour workday was born at Union Square and crowds surged before that reviewing stand in the tens of thousands. The first Labor Day Parade took place here in 1882 and after 9/11 we gathered here instinctively just like George Washington and the Continental Army did in 1776.
Help keep the park public - show up to the rally on Thursday June 5th at 5pm in the north side of Union Square. The Union Square Partnership (the group behind the swanky restaurant scheme) is holding their annual dinner just a block or two from the park that night. A fitting occasion to invoke the history of Union Square by speaking out for its future!
Message sent by: The Change You Want To See, 84 Havemeyer St, Brooklyn, NY, 11211