I opposed the renovation work in Washington Square Park about 4 years ago, thinking that change here was a code word for soulless sanitization of an essential bohemian spirit. That spirit was part of what attracted me to NYU in the first place, and I was reluctant to see it altered. Over the years as renovation expanded, I realized that the disruptions were minimal and the park was still largely usable. I felt the wind slowly come out of my righteous sails.

Now, in May 2009 as I sit in the park, I feel chastened. The park is cleaner, more open, and still a place where people are lounging about with no discernible aim. It has managed to look, and certainly smell, vastly better while keeping what I always loved about it. To wit, a man stands just 20 paces from me with a comically large beard reciting passages from The New York Post, calling the former Vice President some horrible expletives.

Same as it ever was.