Release #395-00

 

Contact:	Sunny Mindel/Lynn Rasic 212-788-2958
	Robert Lawson (Parks) (212) 360-1311

MAYOR GIULIANI AND PARKS COMMISSIONER STERN
OFFICIALLY OPEN FOLEY SQUARE PARK

Park Opens After Three Year, $18 Million Redesign and Reconstruction

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today joined Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern to officially open Foley Square Park after a three-year, $18 million redesign and reconstruction. The Foley Square project, whose design phase began with traffic studies, unifies six irregularly shaped open spaces (including the 1.5 acre Thomas Paine Park) to form one five-acre park. It also rerouted seven blocks of streets surrounding the park to improve automobile and pedestrian traffic flow.

"I am pleased to open this central civic space that reflects the pride we take in our City and our courts," Mayor Giuliani said. "The goal of the redesign of Foley Square Park was to enhance the area and create a park with an emphasis on public assembly, rest and reflection, while commemorating the history of the Square and adjacent areas in Lower Manhattan."

The Foley Square redesign began in 1991 with $5 million from the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), a law written by United States Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. An additional $10 million came from the City, $2 million from Consolidated Edison, and $800,000 from Empire City Subway. Construction began in the Fall of 1997.

Elements of the project include the creation of a two-tiered plaza lined with hex-blocks; a black granite amphitheater with a center fountain; flares of blue rock cut into the pavement leading to additional public space in front of the government buildings surrounding the square; World's Fair benches; London plane and Linden trees; holly and rose bushes; old fashioned lighting fixtures; and a black granite sculpture. Five bronze medallions installed throughout the park tell the history of the park and its surroundings. Two gathering places were also created. One larger 100' diameter circle is located around the fountain, and a 60' diameter section lies inside the northern section of the park named for Thomas Paine.

The sculpture "Triumph of the Human Spirit" by Lorenzo Pace stands near the center of the redesigned square. At more than fifty feet tall and weighing more than 300 tons, the black granite sculpture is the world's largest site-specific installation commemorating the experience of African American enslavement.

Foley Square is named for Thomas F. "Big Tom" Foley (1852-1925), a prominent Democratic Party leader from the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Foley left school at the age of thirteen to support his widowed mother, working for a period as a blacksmith's helper. In 1877 he began his active connection with politics as an election district captain and rose to be First Assembly District leader.

Foley also served as a member of the City Council, as Alderman, and as Sheriff. He also supported many candidates for public office, including-most notably-in 1903, future Governor and Presidential nominee Alfred E. Smith for the New York State Assembly.

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