The Open Washington Square Park Video

Progressive Source created the website and scripted a highly effective Web advocacy video for the Open Washington Square Park Coalition, a grassroots community group dedicated to maintaining the open spirit of Greenwich Village’s historic park. Using documentary footage to expose the New York City Park Department’s misrepresentation of its plans, Progressive Source created and promoted “The Truth About Washington Square Park.”

Progressive Source marketed the video with local newspaper ads and a Facebook campaign targeted to NYU students. Soon after the video was launched, New York Metro, New York’s largest free daily newspaper (circulation 300,000) featured the controversy as its main front page story, entitled Caught on YouTube.”

Strongly-worded editorials opposing the plan appeared in both the NYU student newspaper and the award-winning community paper The Villager. More than 300 NYU students joined a Progressive Source-created Facebook group supporting the Open Washington Square Park Coalition. Within months, the Community Board overseeing the park rescinded its earlier approval of the plan by a vote of 40 to 5.