May 6, 2002 - The New York Times

A City Roiling and at Rest, Yards Apart

By JOYCE PURNICK

The layers of New York. The notion of this multilayered city is difficult to explain. New York is like a horizontal archaeological dig. Walk a few yards and you've hit another reality.

Especially yesterday, in a small section of Midtown Manhattan. "It's unbelievable," reflected Elizabeth Nehls, an artist, as she sketched a field of tulips in Central Park. "I went to the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, 9 a.m. services," Ms. Nehls was saying, "then I started walking over here and I saw all the bikers, and then the cops and the marchers and the protesters, and then the beauty in here - all the different layers as you are walking. It's just unbelievable."

The bikers, an estimated 30,000 of them, were part of yesterday's 42-mile Bike New York, an annual event that began in Lower Manhattan and converged on Central Park about 10:30 a.m. Cyclists streamed into the park through entrances at Fifth Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas, just as supporters of Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters converged on Fifth Avenue for the Salute to Israel Parade.

The parade was a joyous, but tense event, a mix of roaring cheers, angry chants and some furious confrontations that were stark reminders of the pain in the Mideast. At one point, a protester waving a Palestinian flag and a supporter of Israel began shouting at each other near the Plaza Hotel. In seconds they'd drawn a crowd and seemed close to blows when two police officers deftly inserted themselves between the men. End of confrontation.

Police power was everywhere - from officers and dogs on the ground to helicopters in the air. Everywhere, too, were tourists, who had been warned about the controlled pandemonium, but couldn't stay away.

"They told us to avoid the area, but I spoke to a police officer and he said he didn't think anything would happen and it's fine, I love it," said Paula Sterns of Arlington, Tex., watching the parade and keeping an eye on members of the James Bowie High School band, who had performed at a weekend event at Lincoln Center.

A few feet away, Stephen Baum, an art director at Time Warner, stopped to watch the parade before beginning his three-hour tour with the Central Park Skate Patrol - a volunteer group that helps new skaters with the basics. Especially how to stop, explained Mr. Baum, as he skated away balletically, to admiring stares from a group of youngsters, who were asking a police officer, when the Cuban Day Parade began. Answer: at 1 p.m., farther west, though it began unofficially hours earlier, when a joyous man marched alone up the Avenue of the Americas singing a bilingual version of "Happy Birthday!"

Back in the park, people were deliberately avoiding the politicized chaos outside or just taking in a spring day in nature's equivalent of a renovation. That's another thing about the layers of New York. One can be in the middle of a phenomenon and not realize it. The south end of Central Park is now one of those phenomena. The Pond, 11.5 acres from 59th to 62nd Streets, was in bad shape two years ago, filled with sediment and weeds and attracting vagrants.

The Central Park Conservancy got a $4 million gift from Josie Robertson and Julian H. Robertson Jr., the billionaire investor. Last month, with no fanfare, the pond and newly landscaped area reopened after an 18-month restoration.

The concrete that bordered the pond has been replaced with soil - which should prevent erosion - and there is greenery planted everywhere, including 125,000 bulbs, 133 trees and 6,315 perennials. The once-deteriorated area looks magical, the pond will be restocked with fish, after it fills with more rainwater and it is already attracting ducks - and human fans.

The Rapavy family came up from Stuyvesant Town yesterday with bags of bread for the ducks. Tourists came from Chicago and Italy and neighbors came from Cherry Hill, N.J., Los Angeles and Locust Valley, N.Y. Ms. Nehls came with her sketchbook and Harold Baer, Jr. and Suzanne Baer came to check out the park bench that would, in exchange for a donation to the Conservancy, be dedicated to the Family Baer.

The bench was on the northern end of the pond, but the couple were headed now for Fifth Avenue. Mr. Baer, a federal judge in Manhattan, wanted to glimpse the parade. Ms. Baer, a doctoral candidate in human development, was a bit hesitant to leave the banks of the tranquil pond for chaotic Fifth Avenue. But she did. There was another layer of New York to check out.