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Wednesday, November 16, 2011
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Crackdowns reach epicenter of Wall St. protests By Chris Hawley and Meghan Barr Associated Press
NEW YORK — Crackdowns against the Occupy Wall Street encampments across the country reached the epicenter of the movement Tuesday, when police rousted protesters from a Manhattan park and a judge ruled that their free speech rights do not extend to pitching a tent and setting up camp for months at a time. It was a potentially devastating setback. If crowds of demonstrators return to Zuccotti Park, they will not be allowed to bring tents, sleeping bags and other equipment that turned the area into a makeshift city of dissent. But demonstrators pledged to carry on with their message protesting corporate greed and economic inequality, either in Zuccotti or a yet-to-be chosen new home. “This is much bigger than a square plaza in downtown Manhattan,” said Hans Shan, an organizer who was working with churches to find places for protesters to sleep. “You can’t evict an idea whose time has come.” State Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman upheld the city’s eviction of the protesters after an emergency appeal by the National Lawyers Guild. The protesters have been camped out in the privately owned park since mid-
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get feedback on what effect more buses in the area might have. Commissioners did hear from one concerned neighbor who lives on the north side of Seventh Street and believes increased bus activity will make it more difficult for her to exit her driveway. But commissioners heard from nearly a dozen proponents of the project, including several that live near the depot. Commissioners did not set a date for the issue to come back to the commission for consideration, but negotiations with BNSF are expected to take several weeks. Commissioners also said they wanted more detailed financial analysis of where the city could find money in its current budget, if it had to make emergency repairs to the roof or heating and cooling systems, both of which were described as being on “life support” by a city-hired architect that has reviewed the building. “I just think there are a number of things we need
Recall effort against Wis. governor begins MADISON, WIS. (AP) — Jubilant opponents of Republican Gov. Scott Walker launched their effort Tuesday to try to recall him from office, starting a 60-day blitz to gather more than half a million signatures to force an election next year. The drive to collect an average of 9,000 signatures a day, fueled by anger over Walker’s successful push to take away nearly all public worker collective bargaining rights, began with pajama parties and other events after midnight. Daytime activities included rallies, neighborhood canvasses and booths set up around the state Capitol. A signing event was even held outside of Walker’s personal home in a Milwaukee suburb, where he stays with his family when he’s not in Madison. Walker bristled at how personal the recall had become. “You see a total disregard for people’s families and others here,” Walker said Tuesday on WTMJ-AM in Milwaukee. “I do think that’s crossing the line and I think most people in Wisconsin would agree with that, no matter where they’re at in the spectrum.” Talk of a recall began almost immediately after Walker released his proposal in February taking away nearly all collective bargaining rights for most public workers and forcing them to pay more for their pensions and benefits.
Mary Altaffer/AP Photo
A DEMONSTRATOR AFFILIATED WITH THE OCCUPY WALL STREET MOVEMENT YELLS at a New York City police officer outside Zuccotti Park on Tuesday in New York. Hundreds of police officers in riot gear before dawn Tuesday raided the New York City park where the Occupy Wall Street protests began, evicting and arresting hundreds of protesters from what has become the epicenter of the worldwide movement protesting corporate greed and economic inequality. September. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he ordered the sweep because health and safety conditions and become “intolerable” in the crowded plaza. The raid was conducted in the middle of the night “to reduce the risk of confrontation” and “to minimize disruption to the surrounding neighborhood,” he said. By early Tuesday evening, some protesters were being allowed back into the park two by two. But they could each take only a small bag. Later Tuesday, the protesters held a general assembly
where they discussed topics including where and how to retrieve their belongings that had been swooped up in the raid and options for going forward, including appealing the judge’s decision. Still, some protesters believed the loss of Zuccotti Park may be an opportunity to broaden and decentralize the protest to give it staying power. “People are really recognizing that we need to build a movement here,” Shan said. “What we’re dedicated to is not just about occupying space. That’s a tactic.”
Commission approves longevity payments Lawrence city commissioners at their Tuesday evening meeting unanimously agreed to award about $400,000 in year-end “longevity payments” to city employees. Full-time employees who have worked at least five consecutive years with the city will receive a payment equal to $48 per year of service they have with the city. The city has provided the longevity payments for more than two decades. “We benefit from people to be very careful about here,” said City Commissioner Mike Amyx. In other business, commisAmyx sioners deferred action on an apartment complex proposal for a site near Clinton Parkway and Crossgate Drive. Amyx asked that a vote on the project be delayed until Dec. 13 in
staying at their jobs longer,” said Mayor Aron Cromwell. “Although we are in tight financial times, I think this is the right thing to do.” City Commissioner Hugh Carter, however, did offer one suggestion for the city when it cuts the checks later this year. He said the city should create a program where local merchants can insert coupons or other offers into the city envelopes to encourage employees to spend the year-end money locally. order to give him more time to research the history of the project, and what the commission’s intent was when it approved plans for the existing complex, Remington Square Apartments. The latest proposals calls for expanding Remington Square by 136 apartments. Neighbors in the area came out in strong opposition to the request Tuesday. — City reporter Chad Lawhorn can be reached at 832-6362. Follow him at Twitter. com/clawhorn_ljw.
But without a place to congregate, protesters will have a harder time communicating with each other en masse. The leaders of the movement spent most of Tuesday gathering in small groups throughout the city — in church basements, in public plazas and on street corners — and relaying plans in scattered text messages and email. Robert Harrington, owner of a small importing business in New York, stood outside the barricade with a sign calling for tighter banking regulations. “To be effective it almost has to move out of the park,” Harrington said. “It’s like the antiwar movement in the ’60s, which started as street theater and grew into something else.” “The issues,” he added, “are larger than just this camp.” Protesters milling around Zuccotti Park said they were dismayed by the ruling. Chris Habib, a New York artist, said he hoped the group could settle on a new protest site during a meeting later Tuesday evening. He was confident the movement would continue even if its flagship camp was dismantled. “A judge can’t erase a movement from the public mind,” he said. “The government is going to have to spend a lot of time in court to defend this.”
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