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Zuccotti Park Cleaning Cancelled For Now
More than a thousand demonstrators celebrated early Friday morning as the Bloomberg administration announced at the last minute that they would not pursue the clearing of the Occupy Wall Street home base at this time. At the request of Brookfield Properties, which owns the occupied Zuccotti Park, the city was set to begin emptying the space of protesters at 7 a.m. for a cleaning, eventually allowing them to return, but without the supplies necessary to maintain the encampment created almost one month ago. The demonstrators responded by offering to clean the park themselves, but also put out an emergency call to action "to defend the occupation from eviction," vowing to stand their ground and be arrested if need be. But that face-off with police was avoided at about 6:20 a.m. when a statement from Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway announced that Brookfield had changed their mind.
"Late last night, we received notice from the owners of Zuccotti Park - Brookfield Properties - that they are postponing their scheduled cleaning of the park, and for the time being withdrawing their request from earlier in the week for police assistance during their cleaning operation," read the reversal. "Our position has been consistent throughout: the City’s role is to protect public health and safety, to enforce the law, and guarantee the rights of all New Yorkers. 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, and we will continue to monitor the situation."
That's a major turnaround from Brookfield's initial request that the park be emptied. In a letter to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly they wrote that they were "extremely concerned about dangers posed by damage that may have been incurred within the Park and by materials and equipment brought into the Park by the protesters." They pleaded, "The situation continues to worsen and we need your assistance to ensure public safety." Some are already wondering if this morning's decision was in fact a change of heart from Brookfield, or if the mayor, faced with resistance, made the call.
An Occupy Wall Street spokesperson said that they attempted last night to deliver Bloomberg a petition with more than 100,000 signatures urging him to let the protesters stay. When the news came down today that they could do just that, some demonstrators set off on a march to Wall Street, which has been barricaded. Some arrests have been reported already, as the elation turns quickly to tension again.
21 Comments so far
Show AllNow folks begin to get a taste of the extent to which weight of capitalism is dependent on extracting its power and right from people to be a society with a voice that has been experienced from the formation of the republic by peoples of color, indigenous peoples, people who live thinking that 'own' the land they have 'bought'. If you have a 'title' to property, read it thoroughly.
Knowing the history of the purchase arrangements of the Zucotti Park land is important for us to know to understand how property law impacts all rights ostensibly claimed to be experienced in our society. The power of possession being exercised by the "owners" of an again 'ostensibly' public space presumes the right to criminalize the exercise of constitutional rights. Criminalization - even the process such as the placement of the sign in the park, is preemptive, a "politics of the consummate fact", immoral. The privatization movement can never be separated from the fact that common weal is held as ultimate resource to be extracted.
goat, does all that mean you actually know something about the land upon which the park sits?
or are you just an old anarchist goat?
the legal history:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/14/constitutional_rights_lawyer_michael_ratner_failed
To politicians, numbers matter.
So many people out at 6 AM. One battle won.
There are no "battles" in non-violent civil protests. Only confrontations. Don't fall into the trap of using "combative" terms to describe what's happening. The media does enough of that on its own.
I disagree. Confrontation also sounds, well, confrontational, and kind of stilted too. Battle can refer to all kinds of things - battle of wits, battle to lose weight, battle with cancer. It does not necessarily connote armed struggle.
Those examples you gave are combat metaphors, y'know. ;)
I think that it would be good to avoid both "confrontation" framings and "battle" ones.
No one in this Occupation is doing anything other than exercising their Rights.
A "battle" or a "confrontation" implies two sides, one of which the observer must choose to support, one of which they must choose to be against.
This is the situation that the Mayor and the NYPD and all of the servants and masters of Empire wish to create.
But in reality there is only one side here -the People.
The other "side" is an ephemeral patchwork of machines and institutions built by the People for -largely- good purposes in the past that have now broken and become harmful.
No big deal really, call it what you will.
Just don't call it a "struggle". Someone in the Corporatist Media will translate it into Arabic and the Occupation might drop below 50% support from the public. ;)
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I agree. There's no sense in tip-toeing around the immense problem that we in fact face: a war against wealthy elites.
"if Brookfield did alert the city of their decision late last night, as Bloomberg said they did, why in the world was this not announced until hundreds of cops and thousands of protestors were facing off in Zuccotti Park?"
Why do you think? I know what my suspicions are. They were hoping for a confrontation which would allow them to clear the park without placing the blame on anyone but the protestors.
When that didn't materialize, the political signifance of arresting individuals willing to clean up the park themselves and highly visible to the world became apparent. Why it wasn't always apparent, one can only surmise that the Brookfield people and local politicians are cut from the same dense cloth as the Wall St. whiz kids that never saw the housing crash coming.
I just wonder how many protestors the NYPD can arrest at one time, before it impacts the performance of their normal duties.? How many missed emergency calls can you justify while arresting non-violent citizens participating in a lawful civil protest?
Coscarelli sez: "... some demonstrators set off on a march to Wall Street, which has been barricaded."
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Who is paying for the infrastructure and security staff of the barricade?
good for Bloomberg. let's hope that the city government can work out a decent compromise with the occupiers and the owners.
OWS is good for business.
About Brookfield Properties:
Diana L. Taylor is Mayor Bloomberg's girlfriend/life-partner. She is one of the board members of Brookline Properties. This OCCUPY WALL STREET movement is NOT working out very well for the establishment -- already, they have taken a lot of criticism for macing, beating and arresting PEACEFUL protesters.
More about Diana L. Taylor from a bio on the Wolfensohn website:
Diana L. Taylor is Managing Director, Wolfensohn & Company. Superintendent of Banks for the State of New York 2003-2007. Previous positions include Deputy Secretary to Governor of New York and Chief Financial Officer of the Long Island Power Authority. Started career as an investment banker with Smith Barney, then Lehman Brothers. Founding partner of M. R. Beal & Co. Director on various non profit boards, including the New York Women’s Foundation, the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and ACCION International. Member, Council on Foreign Relations.
Since Diana Taylor was in charge of banks in NY between 2003 and 2007, she has direct ties to Timothy Geithner, who was in charge of the NY Fed at that time.
BTW -- James Wolfensohn was president of the World Bank from 1995-2005.
All of these people are connected -- like your leg bone is connected to your knee bone, is connected to your thigh bone, is connected to your hip bone, etc.
To think that this movement is NOT being discussed at the highest level of government is to be naive.
OCCUPY WALL STREET!! BRING DOWN THE WALL!
Kevin Bacon
Why do comments get posted during the preview stage?
Just curious!
Duplicate post -- so sorry!
Ya gotta watch out for that "Save" button.
Really it means "Post Your Comment".
Also, this site has glitches out the whiz-wam. ;)
From what I've seen on TV, the park definitely needs cleaning. It would be a good PR move for the protesters to clean it up themselves, and the responsible thing to do.
Not only would it save the city some expense, but it would show some appreciation for the free use of the park.
Public health is another factor. If the piles of trash are not dealt with soon, the park is going to attract vermin, followed by disease. An outbreak of typhoid will end the protest in a way that no-one wants to see.
excellent comment.
there's nothing real good about living in your own filth and there's not much about it that makes people want to take you seriously.
victory for the people - cut and dry. the politicians don't know how to respond to the occupation of the park. no official wants to accept responsibility for forcibly removing these brave demonstrators who are speaking truth to power in the public square.....
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Calls Flood In, City Backs Off and Protesters Stay
By Michael Brabaro and Kate Taylor - October 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/15/nyregion/occupy-wall-street-protesters-remain-in-zuccotti-park-as-cleanup-is-canceled.html?_r=1&hp
{The abrupt and unexpected reversal, loudly cheered by rain-soaked demonstrators in the early morning darkness, averted a dangerous clash at the southern tip of Manhattan and seemed to give the unfolding protests against corporate greed, once dismissed as aimless and ephemeral, a growing air of credibility and endurance.
Behind the scenes, interviews suggested, the change in course was fueled by an intensifying sense of alarm within city government, shared even among some of those who work for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, that sending scores of police officers into the park would set off an ugly, public showdown that might damage the reputation of the city as well as its mayor.}
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{The relative calm of Friday morning followed a tense Thursday night, during which city and state lawmakers waged an aggressive campaign to persuade both the mayor’s office and the company that owns the park to back down, seeking to defend the protesters’ rights and defuse mounting tensions over the encampment.
“Everybody was in agreement about trying to avert something disastrous from happening,” said Jumaane D. Williams, a city councilman from Brooklyn, who called top aides to Mr. Bloomberg on Thursday night.}
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the tactics employed by OWS are effective, they work. the elites are already scrambling for cover... but there's no place to hide. more people in the streets, more public denouncements of greed and amoral politicians -
the people united will never by defeated.
¡Ya basta!
...peace...
the legal situation
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/14/constitution
al_rights_lawyer_michael_ratner_failed
here is new video from october 14
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoKz6myDH-4&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL