In the absence of any info connected to Occupy, I sought out a food vendor on the square and asked him if he'd been around when the event was going on. The vendor, Mohammed Ali is his name, said "yes," he was visibly and audibly unimpressed with my question, but he went on to voice his frustration with the movement and the people involved as he was displaced during the event and lost significant income over the course of the occupation. He went on to share with me an article about him that was published in the local Tribeca Trib, that placed him in an earlier battle for space in 2008. He had a second article on hand published in the New York Times, which he, for whatever reason, refused to share with me. Back at home, I was able to recover the NYT article which was an extension of the Trib article. As it turns out, Ali went toe to toe with Greenmarket, a group that organizes farmers markets in the City. Greenmarket's mission is to "to promote regional agriculture by providing small family farms the opportunity to sell their locally grown products directly to consumers, and to ensure that all New Yorkers have access to the freshest, most nutritious locally grown food the region has to offer." In the food vendor-Greenmarket conflict, Ali was confronted by police as he refused to move his cart from his usual location, which Greenmarket, by permit, had begun staking claim to, and his cart was confiscated. The NYT article, comically titled, "In Pursuit of Justice--and the Hot Dogs," reported on Ali's lawsuit against the NYC Police who threw out all the food on his cart after confiscating it. Greenmarket has a current presence in Zuccotti park as well, though a compromise with that permits vendors to have a presence at the same time has been made.
Interesting about this whole thing is its tie to my inquiry on the history food and food sourcing in NY. As I prepared for that question I learned of the movement in NY to bring more fresh produce to the city and to grow more food there as well as on rooftops. However, underneath the somewhat romantic idea to eat fresh food is, in NYC at least, a class conflict. You have Ali, who lives in the Bronx and earns his daily bread on the sale of street meat and drink, and the high class New Yorkers' desire an improved diet.
Another interesting thing that I came across in my exploration was the naming of Zuccotti Park in 2006, after Chairman of Brookfield Properties, John Zuccotti. Until then, the park was known as Liberty Park. The Park, with its vicinity to the 9/11 Memorial and Freedom Tower, makes the name changing from an American ideal to a successful American businessman raises questions. One critic noted, "Taken in a local context, the label “Zuccotti Park” might be seen as a vestige of a boom-era race by Wall Street to remake the city’s most visible semi-public landmarks in its own name with infusions of capital." Another said “Zuccotti Park’s the slave name, to us it’s always Liberty Plaza.”
After a little digging, this little park (33,000 sq. ft.) revealed big and complex stories. Zuccotti has much to say about NY in regards to history, current trends, and ongoing conflicts.
Sources:
Here's a link to the Declaration of the Occupation of New York City.
Matt Harvey, Street Smart Reporting
Brookfied Properties
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| "Double Check,"days after 9/11 |
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| Inscription beside Double Check |
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