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Location Information:
Occupy
Wall Street (OWS) is an ongoing
series of demonstrations in New York
City based in Zuccotti Park in the
Wall Street financial district. The
protests were initiated by the
Canadian activist group Adbusters.
They are mainly protesting social
and economic inequality, corporate
greed, corruption and influence over
government, particularly from the
financial services sector, and
lobbyists. The protesters' slogan,
"We are the 99%", refers to the
difference in wealth between the
wealthiest 1% and the rest of the
population.
The
original protest began on September
17, , and by October 9, similar
demonstrations were either ongoing
or had been held in 70 major cities
and over 600 communities in the U.S.
Internationally, other "Occupy"
protests have modeled themselves
after Occupy Wall Street, in over
900 cities worldwide. Wall Street
refers to the financial district of
New York City, named after and
centered on the eight-block-long
street running from Broadway to
South Street on the East River in
Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term
has become a metonym for the
financial markets of the United
States as a whole, or signifying New
York-based financial interests. It
is the home of the New York Stock
Exchange, the world's largest stock
exchange by market capitalization of
its listed companies. Several other
major exchanges have or had
headquarters in the Wall Street
area, including NASDAQ, the New York
Mercantile Exchange, the New York
Board of Trade, and the former
American Stock Exchange. Anchored by
Wall Street, New York City is one of
the world's principal financial
centers.
Wall
Street's architecture is generally
rooted in the Gilded Age, though
there are also some art deco
influences in the neighborhood. The
layout of streets doesn't have the
rectangular grid pattern typical of
midtown Manhattan, but small streets
"barely wide enough for a single
lane of traffic are bordered on both
sides by some of the tallest
buildings in the city", according to
one description, which creates
"breathtaking artificial canyons"
offering spectacular views in some
instances. Construction in such
narrow steep areas has resulted in
occasional accidents such as a crane
collapse.
Wall
Street is a major location of
tourism in New York City. One report
described lower Manhattan as
"swarming with camera-carrying
tourists". Tour guides highlight
places such as Trinity Church, the
Federal Reserve gold vaults 80 feet
below street level (worth $100
billion), and the NYSE. A Scoundrels
of Wall Street Tour is a walking
historical tour which includes a
museum visit and discussion of
various financiers "who were adept
at finding ways around finance laws
or loopholes through them".
Occasionally artists make impromptu
performances; for example, in 2010,
a troupe of 22 dancers "contort
their bodies and cram themselves
into the nooks and crannies of the
Financial District in Bodies in
Urban Spaces" choreographed by Willi
Donner. One chief attraction, the
Federal Reserve Building in lower
Manhattan, paid $750,000 to open a
visitors' gallery in 1997. The New
York Stock Exchange and the American
Stock Exchange also spent money in
the late 1990s to upgrade facilities
for visitors. Attractions include
the gold vault beneath the Federal
Reserve and that "staring down at
the trading floor was as exciting as
going to the Statue of Liberty.
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