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Seen & Heard: Cantor Fitzgerald Banners at the World Trade Center
••• “Do you have any news on the encampment taking place in Foley Square for the last week?” asks P. “It is organized by Occupy ICE. They are there 24/7 sitting in chairs, on tarps smoking cigarettes and hanging FU signs and Palestinian flags.” I don’t know anything about it, but it sounds like a good reason to avoid Foley Square.
••• The Franklin St. Showroom is having a sample sale July 10-12.
••• K. emailed to ask whether it was really possible that Cantor Fitzgerald would really promote itself next to the World Trade Center—a fraught location, given that the financial firm was nearly decimated during 9/11 (and is now based in Midtown). I never got a response from Cantor about the decision; the banners are elsewhere in the city, but presumably it gets to choose where they go. The Department of Transportation, which manages the banner program, said it would look into it, but it went silent, too. That’s a shame, because I was also curious how Cantor’s banners jibe with the DOT’s rules: “Banners must promote a public event or a cultural exhibit. Business improvement districts and local development corporations may also install banners to promote their areas.”
••• In the post about Zaitzeff burger joint closing, the tipster said, “I don’t know the name of the lady that runs it but she was always very nice and conversational. She said she lost her lease and the building [72 Nassau, at John] would be torn down for a high-rise.” Now I hear from someone else that none of the leases in the building are being renewed—which certainly points toward the building being redeveloped (and likely torn down). Moreover, “Building rumor was that the owner had sold the air rights to the Federal Reserve next door, so there will be limits as to how tall they can build on our site. Ten floors is what I had heard. But that’s totally unconfirmed!”
••• Opening July 6 at Soho Photo: 2018 National Photography Competition winners. Below: “Vilma e Lourdes” by Geralyn Shukwit, first-prize winner.
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Presumably promoting NYC and FiDi as “Financial Capital” (which seems like a redundant term) is considered a “cultural exhibit”.
Like the (hilarious) banners proclaiming NYC the “Fashion Capital of the World”.
The rules state: “Banners shall contain no advertisements. The trade name or logo of the sponsor of the event (if applicable) shall occupy no more than 10% of the lower portion of the banner.”
This banner would seem to comply with the rules.
While “Financial Capital” may seem like a redundant name, it is certainly less redundant that promoting NYC as the “Capital Capital”! (And less confusing than a possible term for the main ATM for Senators and Representatives in Washington DC: the “Capital Capitol Capital Capital.”) :-)
The lady who ran Zaitzeff’s is Amina.
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/zaitzeff-new-york?select=2PI3rdwtS6onHeRu4FdZrQ&reviewid=ZbPwtf6YT-tGzqEOQbjBJA
ACRIS shows that the neighboring buildings but NOT 72 Nassau St had transferred air rights amongst themselves, so unclear what height limits beyond the zoning resolution would apply.
Does anyone know the laws around encampment? I thought it was illegal in a public park (at least if you are homeless but these protesters are no different). I called 311 to log a complaint against them but the 311 rep was pretty clueless.
See “NYPD FINEST Message – Homeless Encampment Procedure” issued January 2016:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/306316333/NYPD-FINEST-Message-Homeless-Encampment-Procedure
Re: “stifling” political protest see: https://www.alternet.org/story/152743/12_most_absurd_laws_used_to_stifle_the_occupy_wall_st._movement_around_the_country
“Most cities have an anti-camping ordinance on the books that prohibits camping or sleeping in public spaces, particularly public parks, to minimize the risk of nighttime criminal activity. […]
“Officials in various cities are citing ordinances that prohibit the erection of permanent or semi-permanent structures, referring to tents, tarps, sleeping bags, and in one city, umbrellas. […]
“Fortunately for the Occupy Wall Street protesters in NYC, the privately owned Zuccotti Park is open 24 hours a day, unlike city-owned parks that are usually closed in the late night to early morning hours. In city and state-owned parks occupied by protesters throughout the country, authorities are using park curfews to their advantage. […]
“The ‘burn ban’ generally applies to outdoor cooking, like grilling in the park, and is strictly followed by Wall Street protestors who refuse to give NYPD any reason to evict them. […]
“a ban on the area 6 feet from the building (almost the entire sidewalk), followed by the enforcement of a Chicago city ordinance preventing people from blocking the public way, aka sleeping or sitting on the sidewalk. (In NYC this is called ‘impeding pedestrian traffic.’) […]
“In NYC at least five protesters were arrested for violating a state statute that dates back 150 years and prohibits masked gatherings of two or more people, with the exception of masquerade balls. […]
“NYC protesters were required to have a permit to amplify sound”
“Occupy ICE” aims to abolish this agency and its cruel and inhuman incarceration of refugees at our border. Disruption is a common tool used by protesters to draw attention to create change. Foley Square is emblematic of the justice system and therefore an apt choice for these protestors.
I think it’s a great reason to not avoid Foley Square. I intend to drop by and give them two thumbs up. I hope others will as well.
The people camping in Foley Square Park – on the basis of what I’ve seen so far – are not focused and not really serious about anything but self-expression. Though “abolish ICE” signs are most prominent, there are many other messages mixed in on small signs scattered over the grass like trash. An immediate turnoff to me are the anarchist signs and symbols. They have stew of diffuse grievances and causes with a peppering of PC and anti police messages. I spoke with one of the campers to ask what they’re actually doing – they said (I was corrected for using male identifier (“no labels!!”) they occasionally take good to immigrants waiting in line to get into Federal Plaza – and they’re sending a message to DiBlasio about NY being a sanctuary city.
I don’t think they are organized or effective and they are trashing one of the few green spaces people have in this area.