Museum as Hub

Hub Notes: NYC Public Space In Jeopardy

Today I learned that Sidewalk conversations may be illegal in New York City. An article in the New York Times covered a story of a Mr. Jones who was arrested and found guilty for having a conversation with some friends on the corner of the street. The street corner was at the tourist-popular 42nd Street. Although the man has fought the case up to the Court of Appeals, he has been found guilty in the lower courts.

The article was dispensed to me by a visitor (via email) after talking about city planning and the failures of Tlatelolco. A few projects in the exhibit address the lack of proper public space allocated by the planners who modernized the neighborhood in the 1950s. We considered the possibility of people in Tlatelolco utilizing the streets and sidewalks as communal spaces like people have done throughout the history of New York City. We then became concerned about the diminishing public spaces in the city which has been a major concern among many artists, activists and communities. The uncontrollable mushrooming of new construction projects booming throughout the city, threaten allocated public spaces such as sidewalks to become increasingly privatized and sterilized.

The labeling of sidewalk conversations as disorderly conduct will inspire MANY projects and outcries, just as Nicholas Confessore predicts, "Should [the case] rule against Mr. Jones, the available evidence on the scene on Wednesday suggested that the police would soon have their hands full."

-Lena Imamura