Comments Archive

Our website is a digital space for collaboration about physical space. We invite you to participate  in the creation of knowledge designed to secure greater public use of New York City’s 525 or so POPS, those zoning-created plazas, arcades, and other outdoor and indoor privately owned public spaces. Here is an archive of comments from visitors like you.

APOPS on 43-51 Park Place:
Hi Jeffrey, Thank you. You're right and we will fix it.
Jeffrey Kaplan on 43-51 Park Place:
The location for this POPS on the map is incorrect. This is Park Place in Manhattan, the point on the map is in Brooklyn.
TP on 240 East 47th Street:
The 47th Street Passageway is closed daily
J Dinger on 475 Park Avenue South:
The property owner recently renovated the building lobby and facade to make it look more modern and clean. However, the POPS is very outdated, appears dingy, and is in poor condition.
Jon on 325 Fifth Avenue:
This POPS has been closed for over a year. It is used for construction materials storage.
R on 728 Second Avenue:
This one also has "Private Property No Trespassing" signs
Amanda DiLauro on 520 Madison Avenue:
Hello, I am interested in putting up a mural above the waterfall on the side of the building 9 E. 53rd Street. I have the building manager's approval and rate, however heard from their neighbor, Tishman Speyer, that there are regulations for this. Can you please call me back to discuss?
Amber Ruther on 180 Maiden Lane:
According to NYC's POPs guidelines, where a nighttime closing has been authorized, the minimum hours of public access are generally 7am-10pm from April 15-October 31, and 7am-8pm from November 1 to April 14th. Why is 180 Maiden Lane exempt from this guideline? It doesn't seem fair that they receive the benefit of additional square footage at roughly $50/square foot/month, but aren't held accountable to actually ensure their space benefits the public in any significant way. Everyone is at work during those hours, so rather than serving as a public gathering and meeting space, this POPS seems to mostly benefit 180 Maiden's existing tenants. As Comptroller Stringer said after an audit of NYC POPS, “New Yorkers are getting cheated out of public resources – and the developers are getting benefits and giving back nothing in return."
Maria Badunos on 900 Park Avenue:
As someone who frequently walks and passes by 900 Park Avenue, I was surprised to find out that is a POPs space. From the exterior, 900 Park appears to be a residential building with a semicircular driveway. Along the driveway, there is a walkway which leads to the entrance of the building. From this walkway there is a small pathway leading to the side of the building adjacent to Park Avenue. The small corridor looks like it is for private use, and I did not feel welcomed to enter. The corridor did not include any indication that it was for public use, such as a bench or sitting area. The other corridor on the opposite side of the building leads to what appears to be a private door. Unfortunately, this POPs does not look like it is inviting or welcoming for the public. I did not know how to properly navigate this space, since it simply looks like a driveway and entrance to the building. Since there are no benches, I stood along the walkway. However, this was not an enjoyable experience. On my leisure, I would not come to 900 Park Avenue. The cars coming in and out of the driveway obstructed my view of the flowers, and sometimes the sculpture as well. There is no clear distinction of where you can and can not go. I would have preferred to stand closer to the door, but it is where the doormen and residents appeared to be waiting for cars. As I was walking around, I felt like the doormen and residents inside the building were watching me. However, due to the very dark glass, I was not able to see inside. The sculpture in front of the building, and the cleanliness are the two best features of this POPs. The space appears to be very well kept. The sculpture, by Manolo Valdes, is a nice way to bring a form of public art into this residential area. The POPs occupants in this space are mostly residents. I felt like I was the only non-resident in this space.
jaPER on 1 Wall Street:
One Wall Street. I visited “One Wall Street,” which is a privately owned pubic walkway located on wall street from Broadway to New Ave. Even at their most minimal, most privately owned public spaces will have some degree of incorporated sitting space or “nature.” I am not sure how full of an image of the space I was able to grasp, as many of the surrounding buildings (including one wall street) were under construction of some sort. Regardless, One Wall Street has neither of those aforementioned features. The closest thing to a bench would be a series of geometric sculptures that act as barricades. I visited at around 10pm, interested to see if the space was utilized for sleeping or shelter. I saw one small shelter set up in the doorway of a storefront along side the walkway, however the lack of benches makes the space far from practical for sleeping purposes. One man sat in a wheel chair asking for spare change people walked passed. One the other hand, more people were utilizing the space as a walkway than I expected. However, at night time many stock traders and business people have left for the night, most of those walking down One Wall Street were wage workers such as custodians, handymen and security guards. It seems as if a good number of the people who run daily operations within the surrounding financial buildings work late. Presumably lots of cleaning and repair work takes place after the businesspeople have gone home for the night. Another tangible presence in the space was that of security. A security guard’s booth took up an approximately 5 square foot space in the walkway. CCTV and NYPD cameras recorded my movement as a documented the POP, making it so that I felt highly visible even in the pseudo-darkness of the New York City nightfall. My best guess, given that the POP doesn't provide much in the way of leisure, is that its primary purpose is to maintain space between the street and the New York Stock Exchange.
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