Douglas Woodward speaks at the Water St. POPS
Our first Public Space Potluck of the summer was at 77 Water Street, a privately owned public space (POPS) ringed by low concrete benches, a defunct fountain constructed amidst large reflective cubes and speckled with small trees planted in neat circles in the pavement. Community members joined residents, design professionals, and urban enthusiasts interested in the politics of POPS, to share a meal and a conversation on a beautiful summer evening.
Although our first guests were suspicious security guards wary of a congregation in the plaza, the evening marched forward, led by Douglas Woodward of Advocates for Privately Owned Public Spaces, and supported by concerned and curious potluck attendees and their mouth watering contributions.
The current Water street lots were all in the water and Pearl Street was the actual edge of the south east part of Manhattan until the area was filled in circa 1780. The institution of the privately owned public space (POPS) began in 1961. The idea was that a developer of a property would have to provide open space – just open space and nothing else. There were no signs and people very often did not know that the privately owned public space was in fact accessible. There was not even any furniture around. When the City did its first comprehensive analysis of POPS at the turn of the second millennium, there were 503 privately owned public spaces including arcades and plazas.
For the Water Street Arcades, for which the City Council just passed the new zoning several days ago, there was 2.5 million bonus square feet given to developers for about 335,000 square feet of public space in return over the years. In many instances, developers gained about 20% of the floor area of their entire building. The Water Street Arcades were proposed in 2013 after the disaster of Sandy by the NYC Department of City Planning to rehabilitate, program, and activate the area. However, most recently the Downtown Alliance proposed the Water Street Arcade Text Amendment that gave developers the right to fill in the arcades along Water Street in an attempt to activate them by placing retail, restaurants, and other businesses. In compensation, developers had to provide various amenities for the nearby plazas. The City Council passed this amendment on June 21, 2016. Learn more.
Many guests weighed in with questions, concerns, recommendations and visions for what could be done to revitalize public space in Lower Manhattan. The discussion was inspired by the groups' passion for shared open space and a collective yearning for representation, advocacy and equity in the public sphere.
Privately owned public spaces have recently come into the spotlight with a default judgment against Donald Trump for not keeping the public space in the Trump Towers up to standards dictated by the city. But it is not just Trump who is coming under question for his respect of shared open spaces within the city. Sure enough, the new amendment has its critics as many as its lovers, if not more.
The new model does not come without its compromises as developers also will have to make improvements to the accompanying plazas. Yet as Douglas illuminated for us, the compromise is not understood as such by all parties. He explained, critics argue that property owners are getting away scot-free. Very minor improvements that they have made to the plazas are not adequate compensation for the amount of floor area that the developers were given.
The potluck attendees spent much of the remaining evening trying to figure out ways that we could add value to these spaces. Conversation reached far and wide, from discussion of increased property taxes, paying into shared funds, to encouraging small businesses, and using the space to develop climate resiliency.
Standing in a public space that will soon change may have brought the subject to reality for everyone. Looking at the bustling streets and rushed travelers from a designated point of respite served to solidify the importance of preserving well utilized public spaces, but also raised questions. When faced with arcades like 77 Water Street, public in theory, yet "marginal" and even "abysmal" in terms of up-keep and use, as Douglas pointed out, how can the city improve these POPS? Our first potluck of the summer acted as a space for residents to attempt to come to terms with these questions, to look ahead, and to envision public spaces designed with people in mind, and that are put to effective use.
If you are interested in learning more, visit Advocates for Privately Owned Public Space. Our next Public Space Potluck will take place on Wednesday, July 20th, from 6 to 7:30 pm, at the West Lawn of Gantry Plaza State Park, in Long Island City. Join us for a conversation about urban ecology and what it means to be a waterfront park in the era of climate change, while enjoying the amazing views of the New York City skyline. RSVP now!
Many other cities make privately owned public spaces mandatory. So when you build a building you have to provide public space and you don’t get anything back for it. NYC can require the same.