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Many Living, Working Near Zuccotti Park Happy To See OWS Camp Gone

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Some residents and business owners who have been fed up with the encampment at Zuccotti Park say they're glad the city evicted Occupy Wall Street protesters and cleaned up the park early Tuesday morning.

For nearly two months, the demonstration has been a source of tension between the protesters and the neighborhood surrounding Zuccotti Park.

After receiving numerous health and safety concerns from residents, businesses and Brookfield Properties, the owners of Zuccotti Park, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he decided it was time to clean up and clear out.

Many in the area say it's about time.

"They urinate, these guys, they don't take showers. It's not helping anybody, whatever they're doing," said nearby business owner Mike Rouach.

"I don't what they're doing all the time there," said resident Emma Lebowitz. "They're just partying. They need to go look for a job instead of complaining."

But not everyone agrees. In fact, the latest the latest Siena College poll shows most New York voters support the demonstrators' right to stay in public parks around the clock.

The poll showed 45 percent of voters statewide have a favorable view of the movement while 44 percent have an unfavorable view, up six percentage points from a month earlier.

However, 57 percent of those polled said the demonstrators should be able to stay in the parks all day and all night, while 40 percent say they should not.

And while they seem to support protesters' First Amendment rights, two-thirds of those surveyed said they don't believe Occupy Wall Street represents 99 percent of people and 58 percent said the movement does not have a clear message.

A new Rutgers-Eagleton poll  shows voters in Garden State seem to agree.

It found that nearly two-thirds of New Jersey registered voters think demonstrators should be allowed to camp out and protest while 23 percent say officials should clear out Occupy camps and arrest anyone who will not leave.

But only 34 percent said they support the Occupy Wall Street movement as a whole.

"While many New Jersey voters do not explicitly support the Occupy Wall Street movement, a majority endorses their key messages," David Redlawsk, poll director and professor of political science at Rutgers University said in a statement.

Results from the Nov. 9-12 Rutgers-Eagleton poll of 753 registered voters had a margin of error of  plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

The Sienna College Nov. 8-13 telephone poll of 803 registered voters had a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Would you like to see OWS protesters allowed back into Zuccotti Park or do you want them out for good? Sound off below in our comments section...

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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