Mixed Reviews for Giuliani's Promise of Another Drug Crackdown

By MICHAEL COOPER

NEW YORK It has been some time since Washington Square Park offered what
Henry James called "a kind of established repose which is not of frequent
occurrence in other quarters of the long, shrill city."

These days the park has been a haven for skate punks, folk singers, buskers
and bikers, a draw for tourists looking for the unusual, and, much to the
chagrin of the police and neighbors, a drug bazaar.

There have been crackdowns before: in 1985, 1987, 1996. Each time, there
was an increased police presence and a flurry of arrests followed by a
declared victory and then detente. Each time, law enforcement officials
said, drug dealers returned to the park as soon as they had made their way
through the criminal justice system. One man was arrested for selling drugs
there this summer for the 76th time, police said.

So when Mayor Rudolph Giuliani declared Wednesday that he would make
Washington Square Park a "drugfree zone" as part of his $80 million war on
drugs, many parkgoers said they had heard that tune before. But Giuliani
said that his administration would go further than others and place the
park off limits to those convicted of selling drugs there as a condition of
their probation or parole.

Thursday as they ate pretzels, walked dogs, watched children, played
chess and gave odd performances the people in Washington Square Park
gave the mayor's proposal mixed reviews.

Many welcomed a new, more concerted effort to rid the park of its marijuana
dealers.

"It's been a perennial, serious problem," said Kris Kruse, who was sitting
on a bench in one of the park's playgrounds and watching her children,
Turner, 8, and Sophia, 5, play. "I couldn't walk through the park here
without being propositioned anywhere from four to six times, even with the
kids in tow. I think, frankly, it just got to be too much."

Ms. Kruse said that when the drug dealing was at its most prolific, she
made it her custom to enter the park only at the northeast corner, the
entrance closest to the playground. "That way I could make it to the
playground only being accosted once or twice," she said.

But others worried that the mayor's plan would sap the park of some of the
character that has made it famous the world over. And they questioned just
what is meant by the establishment of a "drugfree zone."

"If this is going to be a drugfree zone, our question is, where is the
drug zone?" said Robert MacDonald, who was arrested in Washington Square
Park last year after he held a rally without a permit at a smokein and
demonstration calling for the legalization of marijuana. "It's an
acknowledgment that there will be drugs somewhere, just not there."

"Washington Square Park is a playground for the active imagination of
Greenwich Village," said Mr. MacDonald, who works for a group called Cures
Not Wars and who plans to go ahead Saturday afternoon with a previously
scheduled rally outside City Hall for legalizing medical marijuana.

Many residents and park users said they long for a middle ground. "I would
like to see the park cleaned up," Joan Dankovich said. "It's your
neighborhood park and I have children and we use the park. But I wonder if
this goes too far? It's getting to be a Big Brother situation. People do
make mistakes. Does that mean they should be banned from the park? In my
generation, there's hardly anyone who didn't try pot and they're not all
criminals."

Ms. Dankovich also asked how the new policy would be enforced. "Will people
wear tags on their heads saying they've been arrested?" she said.

Since last spring, police commanders have been discussing how to put such a
policy into effect. At one debate, several commanders suggested giving
parolees identifying bracelets to let police officers know that they had
been arrested in the park, according to a police official who attended the
meeting and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The suggestion was shot
down as a violation of individual rights, the official said.

At the chess tables, Earl Biggs, a speedchess enthusiast, questioned the
mayor's assertion that "Washington Square Park can be used for playing
chess, not for shooting heroin."

"Heroin? There's no heroin here, just some weed," Mr. Biggs said. "I
believe this $80 million program is a waste of the taxpayers' money."

But Wendell Headley, a performance artist, said he welcomed the plan, as he
is trying to get off drugs himself. "People here are open to me, and they
can smell the future," he said. "And the future smells a lot better than
marijuana."

Copyright 1997 The New York Times Company