I like the original lily pad-like circles of lawn with the statuary. They ruined it with boring old rectangles now. I hope they put something up on the bare pedestal that is tasteful and not ugly or controversial.

Below is the view today. The Beaux Arts Belvedere Hotel still stands four blocks to the north. Former governor John Howard is still astride his patient steed. But noted jurist Roger B. Taney is gone. His empty pedestal probably causing pedestrians to ask, "What was there before?" A Wikipedia search reveals that in 1857 Supreme Court Chief Justice Taney delivered the majority opinion in the infamous Dred Scott decision. Four years later, a bloody Civil War started which would prove him wrong.

For anyone who’s obsessed with either stepping on or avoiding sidewalk cracks, it must be oddly comforting to note that there are people in each of the four corner access points of the park. They’re actually nicely balanced: on one diagonal, two people at each end (all women), and on the other diagonal, one person at each corner (both men).