Athens Square Park Statue Unveiled

Greek officials, Greek Orthodox clergy, members of Athens Square Inc., city Department of Parks and Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe, and local elected officials, including Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, city Councilmember Peter F. Vallone Jr., Assemblymember Michael Gianaris and Congressmember Carolyn Maloney, gather in Athens Square Park to display a plaque commemorating the dedication of the latest addition to the park at 30th Avenue and 30th Street, a bust of Greek philosopher Aristotle. On Saturday, April 5, city Department of Parks and Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe, city Councilmember Peter F. Vallone Jr., Borough President Helen Marshall, Assemblymember Michael Gianaris, Congressmember Carolyn Maloney and former City Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr., Greek officials and members of Athens Square Inc., including founding member Dennis Syntilas, celebrated the unveiling of the latest addition to Athens Square Park- a bronze bust of Greek philosopher Aristotle. The statue was a gift from the people of Halkidiki, a peninsula in the Greek region of Macedonia, to the city of New York. Greek cultural performances took place before the installation ceremony, and a reception followed.

Greek dancers perform before the start of ceremonies to dedicate the statue of Aristotle in Athens Square Park on April 5. "The Parks Department is proud and honored to display the bust of Aristotle from the generous people of Halkidiki and made possible by Athens Square Inc.," Benepe said. "In the spirit of Aristotle's words, 'The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance'. This sculpture brings a little piece of Greece to our parks."

"This park is a prominent symbol of Greek culture, and we are happy to add another famous occupant," Vallone said. "The statue will make the park a more interesting and beautiful place for residents to admire and enjoy."

Vallone met personally with Benepe and Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski in January 2007 to help cut through the red tape surrounding the installation of the statue in the park at 30th Avenue and 30th Street in Astoria. He and the Parks Department negotiated a reasonable endowment necessary to maintain the statue, a $45,0000 fund that was raised from private contributors. Vallone's office also wrote letters to facilitate the approval process through the Art Commission and other city agencies.

Photos Carol Marino The bust of Aristotle was sculpted by George V. Tsaras of Greece. Since \the 1980s, Athens Square Inc. has been bringing Greek culture to Athens Square Park by creating a meeting place designed to look like a Greek amphitheater. The square features three other sculptures, three granite Doric columns that replicate classical Greek architecture and statues of Greek philosopher Socrates and Athena, Greek goddess of heroic endeavors. The statue of Athena was given to the park from the city of Athens, Greece.

Athens Square Park is named after the capital city of modern Greece where in ancient times, literature, art, science and philosophy flourished. In 1963, the Parks Department and the Board of Education acquired the oneacre site for a playground for P.S. 17, which adjoins the park. In 2007, Vallone also recently secured $1.2 million from the city budget for the $1.5 million renovation of the park playground. That project will bring two new basketball courts, a small children's play area, new fencing and other improvements to the park. Since he became a councilmember in 2001, Vallone has managed to secure $60,000 for maintenance. In 1990, $1 million was allocated for capital reconstruction of the park to create a meeting place for the many Greek residents of Astoria.

Special thanks are accorded to Governor Vasilis Vasilakis of Halkidiki, Rose Siklas of the Stavros Niarcos Foundation, Fanny Katzaras of Tarpon Springs, Florida and Christopher McGrath of the SCS Astoria Energy Foundation for their financial assistance.