02Logo WFAN 1010WINS WCBS tiny WLNYLogo

Business

‘Occupy Wall Street’ Protest Prompts Concern About Conditions In Zuccotti Park

Organizing Web Site Goes Down Friday Morning

View Comments
(credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

(credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

diamond_feature

Reporting Marla Diamond

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – The Occupy Wall Street protesters who have been based out of Zuccotti Park for the past three weeks lost their online home briefly.

WCBS 880′s Marla Diamond reports: Residents Are Complaining About The Protesters


Friday morning, visitors to the Occupy Wall Street website were greeted with a message that said the website was “temporarily down for a hardware upgrade.”

“Please check back soon,” read a brief message on the website, along with “So sorry.”

By 9 a.m., though, the site was back up.

The physical occupation, however, doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon. Zuccotti Park’s owners – Brookfield Office Properties – are required to grant the public access to the park. However, they’re somewhat frustrated by the conditions that are emerging there.

WCBS 880′s Rich Lamb reports: Ray Kelly On The NYPD’s Response


“Sanitation is a growing concern,” Brookfield said in a statement. “Normally the park is cleaned and inspected every weeknight… because the protestors refuse to cooperate… the park has not been cleaned since Friday, September 16th and as a result, sanitary conditions have reached unacceptable levels.”

Police have fielded complaints about the noise, garbage and barricades that make it difficult to get anywhere, especially during the marches, reported WCBS 880′s Marla Diamond.

“We also spoke with the protesters about other sites that they might also be looking at,” said Julie Menin, chairwoman of Community Board 1. “Since Zuccotti Park is obviously a smaller park, and the protests seem to be getting larger each and every day.”

Protester Yusneia Beerian says the protesters are making an effort to be good neighbors. Beerian says protesters are sweeping sidewalks and stop their drumming at night.

“Even if the tomorrow this plaza is cleaned out, the struggle continues,” Beerian said.

Photos: Occupy Wall Street

“We are accommodating peaceful protests. We are proud of the fact that we do that in this city,” NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said.”People are going to be here for an extended period of time. We’re going to accommodate them as long as they do it peacefully and in accordance with the laws and regulations.”

“Right now, they’re on private property and people who own that property don’t have the power to eject them,” Kelly said.

Meanwhile, Kelly claimed that some protesters were deliberately stirring up trouble and sparking skirmishes with his officers.

“They actually had a countdown – 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 – they grouped together, they joined arms and they charged police,” Kelly said. “They attacked the police. They wanted to get into Wall Street.”

Kelly warned protesters that if they deliberately attacked police they can expect a stern response.

“They’re going to be met with force when they do that. This is just common sense,” Kelly said.

On his weekly radio show on WOR, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he’s sympathetic to what some of the protestors are complaining about and indicated he’s inclined to let the demonstrations play out as long as they remain peaceful.

1010 WINS’ Stan Brooks reports: Bloomberg Speaks About Protest


“I think what you see here, is a lot of people are disaffected,” Bloomberg said. “Whether they see government not working or they read about government not working, it’s a good chance to get together and protest.”

He also noted that the protest is starting to gain momentum around the country and said while some of the demonstrators’ complaints are legitimate, others are not.

Should more be done to improve conditions at Zuccotti Park? If the protests continue to grow, should they take up a new space?

View Comments
  • X Agenda

    Why are you reporting that Bloomberg is sympathetic to these unwashed idiots when I read in the newspapers that he is against what they are doing. You push your agenda without shame CBS.

  • Mr Clean

    Yeah, the park is getting filthy, but so are the other places

    The Securities and Exchange Commission didn’t get high marks as a watchdog during the recent economic crisis, and it turns out that some SEC employees occupied themselves at the time by viewing and downloading pornography on government computers.

    Dozens of SEC staffers used government computers to access and download explicit images and many of the incidents have occurred since the global financial meltdown began, according to a new watchdog investigation. The SEC inspector general conducted 33 probes of employees, 31 of which occurred in the last 2 years. Several of the employees held senior positions, earning between $99,300 and
    $222,418 per year.

    In one instance, a regional office staff account admitted viewing pornography on his office computer and on his SEC-issued laptop while on official government travel. Another staff account received nearly 1,800 access denials for pornography Web sites in a two-week period and had more than 600 images saved on her laptop’s hard drive, the report said.

    A senior attorney at SEC headquarters in Washington admitted he sometimes spent as much as eight hours viewing pornography from his office computer, according to the report. The attorney’s computer ran out of space for the downloaded images, so he started storing them on CDs and DVDs that he stored in his office.

  • HOPE you try working for a CHANGE

    Any sympathy serious protesters may attract through a real, honest presentation of ideas is lost upon the large percentage of you clueless, whiny, malcontent students that expect something for nothing. Since when does attending college entitle you to a living? You want a job, start on the bottom rung and work yourself up like everyone else does- including the large majority of the wealthy people you rail against. Note: If tuition is too high, I suggest you rally against those rich leftist professors at NYU and Columbia who indoctrinated you to believe you shouldn’t have to pay the price of an overrated education, and demand they redistribute their wealth to needy students. See the response you get…and be prepared for a real education.

1 2
blog comments powered by Disqus
Listen Live!

Follow CBS New York

Like us on foursquare

New York City Guides

Tornado Help
Tornado Relief
How to help the residents of Moore, Okla., after the deadly top-of-the-scale EF-5 twister.
 New York City Guides
Food & Drink
The latest on New York City’s diverse dining scene: Restaurant openings, the best meals, and fun takes on food.
 New York City Guides
Nightlife & Bars
From events to the latest cocktail creations, all you need to navigate the extensive NYC nightlife scene.
 New York City Guides
Family & Pets
Plan a weekend getaway with the kids, share tips with fellow parents or find a groomer that suits your pooch.