Privately Owned Park, Open to Public, Has Its Own Rules (NYT)

[struggle4progress]

By LISA W. FODERARO
Published: October 13, 2011

Zuccotti Park, the half-acre plaza in Lower Manhattan now synonymous with Occupy Wall Street, exists in a strange category of New York parkland, identified by a seeming oxymoron: a privately owned public space.

The park was established in a wave of development that spurred corporate plazas after changes were made to the city’s zoning laws in the early 1960s. The laws generally give real estate developers zoning concessions in exchange for public space. There are now at least 520 such parks, arcades and plazas in New York City, both indoors and out, with a total of 3.5 million square feet of space ...

Perhaps most important, from the perspective of a long-term protest like Occupy Wall Street, Zuccotti Park — unlike city-owned parks — is open 24 hours a day. Private parks and plazas that were developed under the original zoning rules governing them are generally open around the clock, while those created under more recent rules may close from dusk to dawn. About half of the privately owned plazas are required to be open 24 hours a day, according to the Department of City Planning ...

Brookfield Office Properties, the owner of Zuccotti Park, recently posted new rules against camping, lying on the ground or benches, and using sleeping bags, but up until now those rules have not been enforced ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/nyregion/zuccotti-park-is-privately-owned-but-open-to-the-public.html?_r=1

[meow2u3]

1. The rules were changed in the middle of the game

for the express purpose of serving a self-styled dictator mayor, whose girlfriend's family has stock in the property, and to try to get rid of the OWS movement for being a "threat" to his fortune.

Can you say, "conflict of interest" or "f*** the Constitution. I'm the Mayor, I'm a billionaire, and I can move the goalposts if I damn well want to because I'm too rich to be subject to the rule of law"!!!

[grasswire]

2. who is his gf? n/t

[Michigan-Arizona]

3. Diana Taylor

The mayor’s girlfriend Diana Taylor is on the Board of Directors of Brookfield Properties

[BR_Parkway]

4. Then people should get in touch with Brookfield's tenants - let them

know that their money is paying for this action against OWS - many will laugh but some unknown number calling their landlord concerned that they could be boycotted or protested will be enough to tip the scales back

Brookfield Properties is currently building at 33rd Street & Ninth Avenue, New York, New York - a project called Manhattan West - having the Mayor of NY owing you a favor because you gave him a PR friendly way out of a situation would be very helpful I would imagine.

Here's a list of their Midtown property Tenants, the link will be updated through out the day with their other NYC holdings.

http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BzNkwl2ceFkTZjQ4YmU2OWYtYWVhYy00Y2VkLTk5NWQtMTU4ZTc3ZjY1MWNl&hl=en_US

You can also contact Brookfield Properties directly -

Richard B. Clark
Chief Executive Officer

[e-mail]

Brookfield Office Properties
Brookfield Glooal Real Estate
Three World Financial Center
New York, NY 10281-1021

T 212.417.7063
F 212.417.7272