Where to Occupy Next?

With Occupy Wall Street’s one-year anniversary celebration in the Financial District scheduled for Sept. 17, New York city officials are wondering if OWS protestors might have anything else in the works to commemorate their inaugural occupation of Zuccotti Park.
Another takeover, perhaps?

Michael Levine, professor of urban planning at Pace University and director of planning for Community Board 1, doesn’t know when the next wave of public advocacy groups will move in, but he can say where in lower Manhattan the occupation is most likely to occur.

Levine’s students rated 28 POPS south of Canal Street on a scale of 0 to 4, from invulnerable to highly vulnerable. They based their rating on four categories: convenience, size, signage or lack thereof and reputation of owner. The following three plazas scored over 3.0, making them the top of the POPS—the three privately owned public spaces in lower Manhattan most vulnerable to occupation.

140 Broadway
Owner: HSBC
Area: 3,347 square feet
Score: 3.1
 Student Nellyn Caraballo gave this plaza across from Zuccotti Park major points for its high-traffic location along Broadway and its big-time corporate owners, but noted that it is too small and busy for group occupancy—plus the owners have been clever enough to post a sign prohibiting camping.

388 Greenwich St.
Owner: Salomon Smith Barney
Area: 51,635 square feet
 Score: 3.2
 A huge, visible area with benches, grass and trees makes this Tribeca park ideal for group gatherings, according to student Arlida Bucaj, and the park’s corporate owners make it all the more enticing. The location lost points for clear signage, though nothing is posted to prohibit sleeping.

59 Maiden Lane
Owner: Amtrust Realty Corporation
Area: 32,604 square feet
Score: 3.5
 This capacious plaza surrounds part of the New York City Finance Department at the intersection of Maiden Lane and William Street. The plaza scored big on size, absent signage and its suit-wearing owner. The majority of the plaza is open concrete, however, with scatterings of trees and benches on the ends, so student Erin Hanraty deducted points for convenience and comfort. The plaza might be a great place for gathering, but protestors had better be sure to bring some chairs and padding, as well as watch out for trampling commuters.