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Fine, Obama Won't Close the Entire Damn Park
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 25, 2013
Modified Oct 25, 2013
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Tom Prendergast / Park Slope Stoop
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 25, 2013
Modified Oct 25, 2013
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You win, Brooklyn. Obama's visit to Crown Heights this afternoon will NOT necessitate the closure of Prospect Park in its entirety. In a reversal, the Prospect Park Alliance announced via its website that "only portions of Prospect Park will not be accessible on Friday, October 25 during the President's visit. The closure will not affect the entire park. We apologize for the inconvenience and any confusion associated with earlier messages." So no ExtraMoogaVVVVVIP status for Obama, but the change of plans has already screwed over a wedding scheduled for today.
"At least one event planned for that day, a wedding, was canceled," the Times reports. All together, now: THANKS, OBAMA! It's unclear why it was announced that the entire 585-acre park would be closed between noon and 6 p.m. so that Obama's helicopter could land for a presidential visit to Pathways in Technology High School in Crown Heights. But on the bright side, it gives somebody the perfect excuse to back out of that marriage; this is obviously a sign that it just wasn't meant to be.
Preparations inside Prospect Park today (Andrew Adler)
Eric Landau, a spokesman for the Prospect Park Alliance, would not say which parts of the park would be closed, and referred us to the White House press office. Asked if the wedding would now proceed as planned, Landau said he had "no further comment beyond what is on the Prospect Park Alliance website."
The closures will still take place from noon to 6 p.m. We'll update if the White House gets back to us on what's open and what's closed, but given the nature of presidential security, we're going to assume that information won't be made public. You'll probably just have to find out on your own, assuming anyone actually has the leisure time to enjoy the park on this gorgeous fall day. Oh, do you have today off? Well, isn't that nice. Though I don't know why you're reading this instead of sleeping. Not that I'm telling you to turn off your computer or read another website! Wait, click on the ads!
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brooklyn
obama
p-tech
president obama
prospect park
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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