Bryant Park Today
Bryant Park is one of the signature examples of New York City's revival in the 1990s. With a minimum of crime, the park is filled with office workers on sunny weekdays, city visitors on the weekends, and revelers during the holidays. Daily attendance counts often exceed 800 people per acre, making it the most densely occupied urban park in the world. In 1995, an article about midtown office workers who had found the newly reopened park a good place to go to after work bore the headline "Town Square of Midtown." In the early 2000s, BPRC added a custom-built carousel and revived the tradition of an open-air library, The Reading Room, which also hosts literary events. The Bryant Park Grill and Bryant Park Cafe have become popular after-work spots, and 'wichcraft, the sandwich chain owned by Tom Colicchio, operates four kiosks on the park's west end. With security largely in the hands of the Business Improvement District, corporate control of the park has meant that amenities catering to white-collar professionals have been encouraged, while those that might cater to a broader urban public have been notably absent.
In the summer of 2002, the park launched the free Bryant Park Wireless Network, making the park the first in New York City to offer free Wi-Fi access to visitors. Improvements in 2008 significantly increased the number of users who could log-on at a given time.
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“Another hand thy sword shall wield,
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Till from the trumpet’s mouth is pealed
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—William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878)
“Borrow a child and get on welfare.
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—Susan Griffin (b. 1943)
“In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)