Thursday, December 29, 2011
Art / News Wall Street Bull Kept Behind Barricades Despite Community Pleas
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 9:46 AM
In the wake of November's Occupy Wall Street eviction from nearby Zuccotti Park, the famed "Charging Bull" sculpture by Arturo Di Modica at Bowling Green Park has been surrounded by NYPD barricades, and local community members are calling for its freedom. The formerly illegal sculpture's ongoing incarceration, many fear, is driving tourists away from the area and consequently depriving local businesses of many holiday sales.
"One of the most popular monuments and sources of tourism is being kept away from the public," Bowling Green Association chairman Arthur Piccolo tells the Post. "It is an outlandish decision to keep those barricades there. Uncage the bull!"
The NYPD, for their part, fears that without the barricades the oft-photographed symbol of a resilient American populace would be defaced by protesters. Said an officer guarding the statue earlier this week: "I know they’re mostly gone from the park, but I saw 10 of them [protesters] here today. [...] Our thinking is that they might come back and try something. We don’t want anything to happen to the bull."
Pressed to take action on behalf of the bound bovine, Mayor Bloomberg deferred to the judgment of the generals in his private army. "The cops have to make a decision," he told the Post. "If it looks like somebody’s going to deface it, they’ve got to be there." He continued: "It’s just a symbol of our times. Hopefully, with time, people will stop focusing on that."
The Wall Street Bull, for its part, is growing tired of the NYPD occupation of Bowling Green Park. It tweeted:
How am I supposed to sleep with the lights flashing, @NY_POLICE? I was dreaming I was in a disco—turns out, it's actually your lights. Oy!
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