Discord over plan for US Central Park path

New York

"THIS is the path," Theodore Grunewald said after leading the way past the Delacorte Theater in New York City's Central Park and around Turtle Pond, just south of the Great Lawn.

Mr Grunewald, a preservationist, had already stopped a couple of times, talking about Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who designed the park, and something that Mr Grunewald is certain they would have objected to: a ramp-like elevated walkway that he calls the "Great Wall of Central Park".

The Central Park Conservancy, which manages the park, wants to build the walkway. Mr Grunewald is adamantly opposed.

"It would alter the experience of Central Park," he said. "You'd no longer be experiencing the contours Olmsted designed. This is part of Olmsted's genius. …