4 October 2011

Humane Services for Occupy Wall Street

After reading minutes of the NYC General Assembly (http://nycga.cc) about health and safety needs for Occupy Wall Street at Zuccotti Park and observing the site conditions for two weeks, a quick "pop-up" response is deserved followed by a durable resolution:

In consultation with and approval by the NYC General Assembly and the local Community Board, The City of New York should immediately allow -- if not provide as emergency services -- temporary toilets and erection of tents in Zuccotti Park as a municipal health and safety (extended police) service. Electrical service should be provided with capacity for heating units. Emergency stand-by services for health and sanitation should be provided by local, state and federal governments and aid agencies like the Red Cross. And bill the cost to Silverstein Properties, developer of Ground Zero, Brookfield Properties and the National 9/11 Memorial Foundation, all in cahoots to monetize the area.

Zuccotti Park, the restored Liberty Park destroyed on 9/11, was designed by a prominent urban design firm, Cooper, Robertson & Partners, which was given an award for it. None of the firm's other projects can now compete with the site's global signature for Occupy Wall Street. The design firm is well known for working with giant commercial developers like Brookfield Properties which owns Zuccotti Park, the adjoining One Liberty Plaza, many of the buildings at the World Financial Center and others in NYC, the US, Canada, and Australia. The park is named for a former head of the NYC Planning Commission, John Zuccotti, also Chairman of the Board of Brookfield Properties. Rename the park Zuccotti-OWS in honor of democracy prevailing over finance.

What would be impressive for Brookfield's reputation would be to provide the resources for a permanent home on the site for Occupy Wall Street, comparable to Federal Hall and the iconic of Wall and Broad Streets, "Wall Stree", with proper health and safety facilities for the courageous occupiers, tourists and passersby -- all now lacking in the area around Ground Zero and Wall Street due to over-control by commercial and their compliant municipal interests.

In contrast to mean commerce, public toilets are available in several federal buildings such as the Javits Federal Building at 26 Federal Plaza, the Moynihan Federal Courthouse at 500 Pearl Street, the African Burial Ground across the street from Javits, and others locations like the Atrium of the World Financial Center, albeit after passing through security points. Most buildings, commercial memorials, restaurants and shops restrict bathroom use to occupants and customers, leaving the underserved public service to McDonald's and other underclass food outlets sneered at by Wall Street plutocrats wolfing $200 meals, or worse, at the luxurious dining rooms atop the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and, yep, NYPD headquarters.