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National Lawyers Guild – New York City Chapter – www.nlgnyc.org -
212-679-6018
CONTACT:
Jennifer Carnig, 212.607.3363 / jcarnig@nyclu.org
NLG Contact, Gideon Orion Oliver, 212.766.8050
Rights Groups Urge City to Halt Illegal Restrictions at Zuccotti Park
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 9, 2012 – Arbitrary and inconsistently applied rules and security
measures restricting the public’s access to Zuccotti Park violate city
zoning laws, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Center for
Constitutional Rights, and the New York City chapter of the National
Lawyers Guild argued today in a letter to the New York City Department of
Buildings.
The groups urge Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri to promptly
address the violations and ensure that Zuccotti Park is open and
accessible to all members of the public on an equal basis.
“Right now, Zuccotti Park is a public space in name only,” said NYCLU
Executive Director Donna Lieberman. “The metal barricades, security
checkpoints and selectively enforced rules not only raise serious
constitutional concerns, they violate city zoning laws. We expect the
city to ensure that the park is managed in a manner consistent with its
own laws.”
Metal barricades have encircled Zuccotti Park since the NYPD cleared the
Occupy Wall Street encampment there on Nov. 16. The public can only enter
the park through two gaps where security personnel selectively subject
people to searches.
The groups maintain that these security measures and the constantly
changing, selectively enforced and unwritten park rules violate zoning
laws, longstanding city policies, and park-owner Brookfield Properties’
legal obligations under a 1968 special zoning permit that established the
park as a “permanently open park” for “the public benefit.”
In its letter, the groups present a list of these violations. Among them:
* The metal barricades encircling the park violate a city voting law
requiring at least 50 percent of the plaza’s frontage be unobstructed
with unrestricted access to all walkways through the park.
* The barricades and checkpoints interfere with the public’s use and
enjoyment of the park, in violation of Brookfield’s legal obligation to
maintain the space as a “permanent open park.” People are reluctant to
enter an area encircled by metal police barricades.
* The barricades constitute a major design modification to the park.
Under zoning law, such modifications must go through a city approval
process, which has not occurred.
* Security personnel have prohibited individuals from bringing an
ever-changing list of items into the park, including food, cardboard
signs, musical instruments and yoga mats even though the park’s written
rules do not prohibit any particular items from entering the park. The
written rules only apply to prohibited conduct.
“In a statement issued by Mayor Bloomberg explaining his decision to
evict peaceful protesters from Zuccotti Park, the mayor noted that ‘we
must never be afraid to insist on compliance with our laws,’” said NYCLU
Senior Staff Attorney Taylor Pendergrass. “That is precisely what we are
asking the City to do now-comply with its own laws and restore the park
to its role as a functioning public space open to all New Yorkers.”
“First Amendment freedoms are particularly vulnerable to selective
enforcement by the government,” said Baher Azmy, legal director of the
Center for Constitutional Rights. “Like the constitution, City zoning law
also recognizes that in New York City’s public plazas, members of the
public cannot be selectively targeted for the enforcement of patently
unreasonable restrictions.”
“Brookfield and the City must remove these restrictions and restore
Liberty Park to the people immediately,” said Gideon Orion Oliver,
president of the National Lawyers Guild – New York City Chapter. “Every
day they refuse to do so, they compound the irreparable harm they have
done – and continue to do – to our First Amendment freedoms.”
In addition to the complaint filed today, others have made similar
complaints to the Department of Buildings. The Department of Buildings’
online complaint website shows an open complaint regarding the barricades
at Zuccotti Park, and the group “whOWNSspace” states that nearly 100
additional complaints have been filed by other individuals asking the
Department of Buildings to investigate the ongoing zoning law violations
at the park.
Images by Vanessa Swanson