Occupy Wall Street Park Cleaning Postponed After NYC Protest
Occupy Wall Street Park Cleaning Postponed After NYC Protest
Mary Altaffer/AP
Demonstrator affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street confront New York City police officers as they march on the street in the Wall St. area, on Oct. 14, 2011.
Demonstrator affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street confront New York City police officers as they march on the street in the Wall St. area, on Oct. 14, 2011. Photographer: Mary Altaffer/AP
Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Niall Ferguson, a history professor at Harvard University and a Bloomberg Television contributing editor, and Michael Novogratz, principal and director of Fortress Investment Group LLC, talk about the Occupy Wall Street protests. They speak with Erik Schatzker and Stephanie Ruhle on Bloomberg Television's "InsideTrack." (Source: Bloomberg)
Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- William Cohan, a Bloomberg View columnist and Bloomberg Television contributing editor, talks about the so-called Occupy Wall Street protests and the impact on the political environment. Cohan speaks with Matt Miller on Bloomberg Television's "InsideTrack." (Source: Bloomberg)
Occupy Wall Street Park Cleaning Postponed After NYC Protest
Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images
Members of Occupy Wall Street pick up brooms to clean Zuccotti Park near Wall Street in New York on October 13, 2011.
Members of Occupy Wall Street pick up brooms to clean Zuccotti Park near Wall Street in New York on October 13, 2011. Photographer: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images
NYC’s Zuccotti Park Cleaning by Brookfield to Be Postponed
Jin Lee/Bloomberg
A protester sweeps her living space during the Occupy Wall Street demonstration at Zuccotti Park in New York.
A protester sweeps her living space during the Occupy Wall Street demonstration at Zuccotti Park in New York. Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg
A confrontation between Occupy Wall Street demonstrators and New York City police was avoided after Brookfield Office Properties Inc. postponed cleaning its Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, where the protesters have been camping out for almost a month.
“Brookfield believes they can work out an arrangement with the protesters that will ensure the park remains clean, safe, available for public use and that the situation is respectful of residents and businesses downtown,” Deputy Mayor Caswell Holloway said in an e-mail today.
Protesters vowed to “defend the occupation” after police said they wouldn’t allow them to return with sleeping bags and other gear following the cleaning, under rules set by the private park’s owner.
Demonstrators formed cleanup crews that swept and mopped through the night as crowds gathered ahead of the owner’s planned move. More than 3,000 people had gathered at the site, according to an e-mail from Patrick Bruner, an Occupy Wall Street spokesman.
“I’ve slept here, and the conditions are more sanitary than my own apartment,” said Max Hodes, 28, from Brooklyn, who said he’s a member of the protesters’ crew that swept and scrubbed the area last night. “We have a moral imperative to stay here,” he said, standing next to brooms and buckets.
‘Inspired’ People
The Occupy Wall Street protest that began Sept. 17 has spread to cities including Denver, Boston and San Francisco. Demonstrations against widening income disparity are planned across the Asia-Pacific region tomorrow as protesters organizing via social media from Tokyo to Sydney join London in the movement.
“Many people are very inspired by what’s happening around the world, and I know there are 1,300 people on Facebook saying they’re coming,” a spokesman for planned demonstrations in Sydney, Josh Lees, said today by telephone.
While New York’s protesters are being allowed to stay at their encampment, officials in other cities aren’t as tolerant. Near the Colorado state Capitol in Denver, hundreds of protesters were told to vacate a park or risk arrest, the Associated Press reported. In Trenton, New Jersey, protesters were ordered to remove tents from their encampment near a war memorial.
In New York City today, police took one man into custody at the protest after he tried to pass through a closed entrance. While police said the number of arrests and their location weren’t immediately known, the New York Daily News reported they totaled at least four.
700 Arrests
More than 700 demonstrators in New York have been arrested since the protests began, mostly on disorderly conduct charges. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he supports the protesters’ free-speech rights as long as they don’t violate the law.
Brookfield, a New York-based real-estate developer, had said earlier that crews would close sections of the park for cleaning beginning at 7 a.m. New York time to relieve “unsanitary conditions.” In a letter to the city last night, Brookfield Chief Executive Officer Ric Clark said the cleanup would be postponed “a few days while we attempt to work out an arrangement with the protesters.”
The developer put off the work after receiving calls from elected officials, Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, said on his weekly radio appearance on WOR.
‘Made the Difference’
Stephen Levin, 30, a City Council member from the 33rd District in Brooklyn, said the gathering of thousands at Zuccotti Park “made the difference.”
“This park has become a symbol of this movement,” Levin said. “The fact that it’s a block from Wall Street with thousands of people here, you can’t ignore it.”
Brookfield agreed to create the park at the intersection of Broadway and Liberty Street, near the World Trade Center site, as a public amenity open 24 hours a day, year-round.
Protesters have been camping there since the demonstration began. The park has become a sea of backpacks, blue tarps and sleeping bags, which the occupants rolled up and stacked in piles during daylight.
“I work in retail, and it’s impossible to find a real job -- you just get jobs that are for high school kids,” said Adam Natera, 24, from Queens, who said he arrived last night and was prepared to be arrested in support of “economic justice.” “It’s just awesome what’s going on here.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Esme E. Deprez in New York at edeprez@bloomberg.net; Joel Stonington in New York at jstonington@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net
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