Signs banning camping emerge in Brookfield, Rudin parks after Zuccotti controversy

From left: 345 Park Avenue and Grace Plaza

Following the controversy surrounding the Occupy Wall Street movement’s ongoing presence in Zuccotti Park, which is owned by Brookfield Properties but is open to the public,
new signs forbidding camping have gone up at similar parks in Midtown
owned by Brookfield and Rudin Management, the New York Times reported.

The signs have gone up at Grace Plaza, next to the W. R. Grace
Building at 43rd Street and Sixth Avenue, owned by Brookfield, and
plazas attached to 40 East 52nd Street and 345 Park Avenue, owned by
Rudin.

A woman who answered the phone at Rudin told the Times that there was a connection
between the protests and the new signs.

“Sure, it has
a lot to do with it,” the woman, who was not named, said.

Brookfield declined to comment.

Unlike city-owned parks, the rules for public access are not as clear
for private parks, with about half of them required to be open 24
hours a day, though the parks can establish rules about behavior. Brookfield did not end up enforcing its rule against camping
gear in Zuccotti Park at the end of last week.

Spaces that do not have plaques in Midtown so far include a plaza by the
Seagram Building at 375 Park Avenue, and a subterranean plaza by the
Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street subway station and space by Rockefeller
Center. And As Occupy Wall Street supporters plan to march to Lincoln
Center this evening , there are so no signs at Lincoln Center’s Josie Robertson Plaza or the
Barclays Capital Grove, which are in that area. [NYT]