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Parks & Public Spaces
Promotions USA, application to hold NBA “National Tip Off” press conference and Youth Clinic in Union Square Park on Tuesday, October 28, 2008.
WHEREAS, Promotions-USA LLC has applied to hold a major event featuring the NBA (National Basketball Association) "Tip-off" in the South Plaza of Union Square on Tuesday, October 28th; and
WHEREAS, The event will feature a nationally broadcast press conference by the Commissioner of Basketball, various sponsor events, celebrity basketball games and community basketball clinics; and
WHEREAS, The event will begin with a set-up at 8pm on Monday, October 27th after the Greenmarket has closed, be live from 9am to 7pm, and will conduct a tear-down, or "load-out" until midnight; and
WHEREAS, Construction for this event will be extensive, including:
- a 30'x 30' hospitality tent
- a red carpet leading from the tent to a 40'x 60 elevated basketball court
- four cars provided by KIA, one of the event sponsors
- two 10'x 10' tents for Footlocker, another event sponsor
- a 15'x 15' inflatable tent for the NBA
- a DJ/Video broadcast tower; and
WHEREAS, Under normal circumstances, Union Square Park is heavily used during the day, and currently, while construction to the North End of the Park is underway, the South End and the steps are particularly heavily used, and
the proposed event will block the area entirely; and
WHEREAS, The proposed barricades on the sidewalks on the eastern side of 14th Street and the southern side of Broadway will cause potentially dangerous disruption to pedestrian flow; and
WHEREAS, The applicant did not provide final Security, Garbage and Signage Plans, a detailed schematic of the placement of corporate logo plans or a Revised Site Map to the Community Board; and
WHEREAS, Although the applicant and the NBA have agreed to offer free basketball clinics to community children, no confirmation of the participation by the Association or any player was offered; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five has repeatedly denied access to its parks for commercial events and this event prominently features corporate sponsors, logos and products which constitutes an excessively commercial use of Union Square Park; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That Community Board Five recommends the denial of the application by Promotions-USA LLC to hold a major event featuring the NBA "Tip-off" in the South Plaza of Union Square on October 28th, 2008.
The above resolution passed by a vote of 20 in favor; 8 opposed; 1 abstaining.