Anne-Katrin Titze, a film critic and Park Slope local, filed this special report about Saturday’s Great Googa Mooga in Prospect Park. Due to rain, the event was cancelled on Sunday.
The NOT SO Great GoogaMooga is back in Prospect Park with the same false information as last year.
It is beyond the pale that after last year’s damage the Prospect Park Alliance would allow this again and in fact add a day, Friday this year. The arrogance of everyone involved is destructive to the park. They have their operation trailers all over Wellhouse Drive. What is going on is more than three Hollywood movie shoots at one time.
Not only is this a three plus weeks invasion of the park by a crass commercial operation being allowed carte blanche by the Prospect Park Alliance to do what they want, the Alliance is sending out false information with regard to access and the long term harm done last year by this fiasco.
The NOT SO Great GoogaMooga includes dozens upon dozens of poles stuck into the Nethermead Meadow and surrounding areas. Dozens upon dozens of boards and heavy plates crushing down the grass. This is going on in a public park when it should be held at a concrete parking lot, not harming a Prospect Park meadow.
This is another glaring example of how ineffectual the Prospect Park Alliance/Parks is when it comes to protecting the natural beauty we all enjoy. The NOT SO Great GoogaMooga is back and has already fenced off the Nethermead Meadow loading in huge refrigeration boxes, structures being built since last week.
After last year’s fiasco, the Prospect Park Alliance is allowing the disorganizers to add an extra day of events. The free tickets to allow you to wait on long lines to buy beverages and food are gone, unless you agree to become a member of the Prospect Park Alliance. They have closed off access to try to get naive park visitors to feel as if they are being treated special, when all they are doing is selling, selling, selling.
The Prospect Park Alliance closed the Boathouse/Audubon Center due to mismanagement of their own budget and for two years running turn over the park to a crass commercial misadventure. In addition, there is a lack of commitment of resources to maintain the lakeside and landscape. Allowing any entity to come in during the spring migration of countless species of birds through Brooklyn, is one more illustration of the disconnect from the beauty of Prospect Park shown by those who are paid to protect its value for all.