for mourners. People created spontaneous candle and photograph memorials in the park and vigils were held to honor the victims. At the time, non-emergency vehicles were temporarily banned and pedestrian travel was restricted in Lower Manhattan below 14th Street. The Square's tradition as a meeting place in times of upheaval was also a factor in its being used as a vigil gathering site. North end renovation In March 2008, an eighteen-month renovation began on the northern end of the park. Proponents of the plan described it as the completion of a renovation of Union Square Park that began in the mid-1980s that would improve the park by increasing the amount and quality of playground space, improving the quality and function of the public plaza, rehabilitating the badly deteriorating bandshell structure, improving the working conditions for park employees, and maintaining the "eyes on the street" presence of a restaurant at the heart of the park. Protests and political action in response to the original renovation plans resulted in a reduction in the degree to which the pavilion was to be renovated, a reduction in the total amount of space that the restaurant would occupy, and an increase in the amount of dedicated play space, but stiff opposition remains to the idea that any commercial uses might occupy the pavilion. Despite the fact that the overall amount of play space in the park would be increased as a result of the renovation, those critical of the plan claimed that the bandshell pavilion itself ought to be converted to play space. The status of the historic pavilion building was later brought before the State Supreme Court. In early 2009, a judge dismissed the lawsuit against the renovation, paving the way for a seasonal restaurant in the pavilion. One element of contention not related to the restaurant concession is the inclusion of a single line of street trees, spaced apart, along the north side of the plaza. The inclusion of trees was made possible without reducing the usable gathering space of the plaza by the simultaneous decision to remove a painted median strip, that had separated eastbound and westbound traffic along 17th Street, thus increasing the northern limits of the plaza by several feet. The "temporary" metal rails, welded together to make a continuous fence along the north side of the site, were removed as part of the renovation of the plaza. A double