The coalition and other activists had filed suit against the Parks Department and Union Square Partnership, on grounds that opening a privately owned and operated restaurant in the park would violate zoning and environmental review laws and would also be at odds with the Public Trust Doctrine governing the city's parkland. Solomon dismissed all of these claims.

Pointing out that a restaurant known as Luna Park operated in Union Square Park between 1994 and 2007, Solomon ruled that the city was within its rights to renovate the pavilion to accommodate an eating establishment. The section of the park that had housed Luna Park is being converted for use as an expanded playground, Solomon noted.

In a statement, Ramin Pejan, a New York City Law Department attorney who argued the case before Solomon, says the city "will continue to move forward with the rehabilitation and renovation of Union Square Park, which will restore the park's historic pavilion, triple the playground space, plant more trees, improve the public restrooms and better support the Greenmarket" that operates there seasonally. "We are also happy that the court has allowed the parks department to move ahead with its plans to allow for the operation of a restaurant concession in Union Square Park. and that the court has recognized that a restaurant concession would be consistent with public purposes."