Worst. Park Name. Ever.
The charming statue of an befuddled capitalist foot soldier, who had gone missing like so many other men in ties with attache cases after 9/11, has returned to the former Liberty Plaza around the corner from Ground Zero. The park is now named after one John E. Zuccotti.
Who the fuck is John E. Zuccotti, you ask? Is he a fireman who died that day, or perhaps a waiter at Windows on the World or a stockbroker at Cantor Fitzgerald? The classic comedic duo George Pataki and Dan Doctoroff revealed all in a high-larry-us send-up of award ceremonies at yesterday’s unveiling:
“In the category of New Name for a Refurbished, 26-Year-Old Park,” Mr. Doctoroff began, “the winner is – ”
” – the winner is,” Mr. Pataki continued, “the chairman of Brookfield Properties, the chairman of the Real Estate Board of New York, the former first deputy mayor of the City of New York, former chairman of the City Planning Commission, and one of New York’s finest citizens: John Zuccotti. This is Zuccotti Park, from this day forward.”
Oh. That John E. Zuccotti. It’s funny that while every other street, park or airport is being renamed “Liberty” or after some fallen hero, this park – so near the site of that five-year-old tragedy – is having “Liberty” stripped from its name in order to salute a real estate tycoon. Well, it is an accurate statement of our values in this post-9/11 age.
Of course, this was easier to do because Liberty Plaza was not a public park, but was instead “privately owned public space” – a concession granted to the public by real estate developers in exchange for the ability to exceed zoning and add even more lucrative floors to a skyscraper. This public space – open air plazas, gardens and parks and enclosed arcades – is meant to provide space for anyone to sit, relax, meet, eat or take shelter from the elements in a congested city.
However, while those extra half million square feet of rentable office space will provide real estate developers with revenue for generations, the public space that was granted in exchange is constantly under threat of privatization. The arcade in Sony building has had much of its space claimed as a dining area for one of the restaurants that leases from the landlord (so if you want to sit there now you must buy an overpriced martini). Citibank has tried to decorate the public area of the Citigroup Center with an “art” installation of red umbrellas – its corporate logo. And now Liberty Plaza has been renamed for the Chairman of the corporation that owns it.
I’ve got a new name for it: Corporate Pinhead Park.
The Death and Life of Urban Planning
Hearing of Jane Jacobs’ death, I am reminded that Elana borrowed my copy of “Death and Life of Great American Cities” and never returned it (and people wonder why I’m stingy about lending out books and CDs). She does work in policy, and I’m just a union organizer. I would like to read it again, though.
When I was in my final semester at Queens College, I was able to indulge a budding interest in urban planning with a few courses on the subject. Within that stale air of academic urban planning – with baroque architecture, the White City of the Chicago World’s Fair, garden cities and Le Corbusier – Jacobs’ writing still is a breath of fresh air. Her simple theses about the “eyes on the street,” diversity of use and how success can drive out success remain such a useful way for viewing street life. I still think about these ideas when driving around on lawnguyland, with its lifeless cul de sacs, sterile office parks, smoggy highways and antiseptic shopping malls.
But I’m also sympathetic to Le Corbusier and the idea of high rises and green space. It’s socialist, albeit the variety of socialism puts academic planning ahead of how people actually live their lives. And Jane Jacobs is so anti-socialist, particularly the convoluted plan for corporate welfare that she proffered as an alternative to simple, public housing (form does not follow function; publicly-owned housing doesn’t have to be cheap, drab and ghettoized – that’s just what capitalist politicians did to it).
Moreover, Jacobs’ simple observations missed the obvious points that not every street can be Christopher Street, and that no one wants to live in the tenement apartment building next door to the hog fat rendering plant. Some planning is required.
McLaughlin is Presumed Innocent
In a very troubling development, FBI agents raided the offices of the New York Central Labor Council and the district office of Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin, the President of the CLC. McLaughlin has been President of the CLC for two decades, the third of three representatives of IBEW Local 3 who have headed the Council for the entirety of its 51 year history. His files were seized in connection to an investigation of a contractor, Petrocelli Electric, that did business with the city.
While McLaughlin’s tenure as President of the city-wide coalition of trade unions is open to criticism (McLaughlin is a skilled politician who has strived for unity in the labor movement; that unity has often been achieved through a lowest common denominator agenda that has precluded bold leadership stands), I have never heard any of his critics accuse him of corruption. To date, there have been no charges or allegations against McLaughlin or the CLC. The raid does have the unmistakable whiff of a politically motivated hatchet job. We should keep a critical eye on situations, as they develop.