N.Y.'s Great Lawn facing usage limits

NEW YORK, April 27 (UPI) -- New York Park Department officials are considering new rules limiting the number of large-crowd events at Central Park's Great Lawn.

The area has seen concerts by Luciano Pavarotti and Simon and Garfunkel, as well as a mass said by Pope John Paul II that all drew more than 100,000 people.

But large crowds wreck the lawn, officials told The New York Times, and so they plan to limit Great Lawn events to six a year. Four of the events would be by the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic, which officials said draw crowds that don't damage the grass as much.

The stated policy has been in de facto effect since 1997 when the city spent $18.2 million to restore the 13-acre expanse, the Times said. Limits on the area's usage were apparent during last year's Republican National Convention when protesters wanted to use the area, but were refused permits.

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe told the Times: "You have two choices. You can have unlimited, large-scale events or you can have nice grass, but you can't have both."