Occupy Wall Street Getting on The Nerves of Residents and Businesses

You've seen the videos.  Perhaps you've checked out their web site.  It appears that most of the protesters are persons who want what others have without any sweat equity.  They claim they want jobs, but they don't want to work, or to even work to get those jobs.  They want "happiness" handed to them.  They're spoiled brats, from what I can see.

 

So, is it surprising that they feel entitled to use the bathrooms of nearby businesses without ever buying anything?  Is it surprising that their literature actually encourages people to use bathrooms of local businesses without having to make purchases?  Is it surprising that their noises are such that they're keeping toddlers from their afternoon naps?  Or that they are so self-absorbed and selfish that it doesn't occur to them that pounding on drums past 10 pm might bother the persons who live in that neighborhood?

 

This thing was planned in advance.  Wouldn't you think that whoever is paying for this thing would have provided porta-potties for the protesters?

 

 

Panini and Company Cafe normally sells sandwiches to tourists in Lower Manhattan and the residents nearby, but in recent days its owner, Stacey Tzortzatos, has also become something of a restroom monitor. Protesters from Occupy Wall Street, who are encamped in a nearby park, have been tromping in by the scores, and not because they are hungry.

Ms. Tzortzatos’s tolerance for the newcomers finally vanished when the sink was broken and fell to the floor. She installed a $200 lock on the bathroom to thwart nonpaying customers, angering the protesters.

 

“I’m looked at as the enemy of the people,” she said.

 

The anticorporate participants in Occupy Wall Street, which began three weeks ago, say they have no intention of leaving soon. The protest has been building in size, with sister demonstrations erupting in other cities, and politicians, labor leaders and celebrities adding their support. But for many neighborhood businesses, the protest’s end cannot come soon enough. In interviews, business owners said they were especially annoyed that the organizers of the grass-roots movement neglected to include portable toilets in their plan to bring down Wall Street.

 

Residents, too, say they are losing patience.

 

Mothers have grown weary of navigating strollers through the maze of barricades that have sprouted along the streets. Toddlers have been roused from sleep just after bedtime by chanting and pounding drums.

 

Heather Amato, 35, a psychologist who lives near the protest area, said she felt disturbed by some of the conduct of the protesters. She said she had to shield her toddler from the sight of women at the park dancing topless. “It’s been three weeks now,” Ms. Amato said. “Enough is enough.”

 

Local politicians have expressed sympathy for the residents’ complaints, even as they try to avoid offending the protesters. The speaker of the State Assembly, Sheldon Silver, a Democrat whose district includes Zuccotti Park, the site of the protests, said on Wednesday that the neighborhood had been burdened enough by the protesters’ takeover of one of the few parks in the area.

 

“I would suggest that they move their message to other parts of the city and state,” Mr. Silver said.

 

Zuccotti Park is privately owned but open to the public. Melissa Coley, a spokeswoman for Brookfield Office Properties, which owns the park, said in a statement that sanitation conditions had reached “unacceptable levels.”

 

“We continue to work with the City of New York to address these conditions and restore the park to its intended purpose,” the statement read.

 

Brookfield apparently has not asked the police to remove the protesters. On Friday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said that the authorities were somewhat limited because Zuccotti was not in the city park system, which usually bars people from sleeping overnight in parks.

 

Still, Mr. Bloomberg expressed sympathy for residents. On his radio show, he received a call from a woman whose apartment overlooks the park.

 

“I want to know about my rights to use that park,” the woman said. “This is our little sliver of greenery that we reclaimed after Sept. 11. It’s now unusable. There is a general presence of incivility down there.”

 

Mr. Bloomberg responded, “We are trying to deal with this in a way that doesn’t make the problem grow and protects everybody’s rights.”

 

Several businesses said they had no choice but to respond to the influx of protesters by closing bathrooms.

 

Mike Keane, who owns O’Hara’s Restaurant and Pub, said that the theft of soap and toilet paper had soared and that one protester had used the bathroom but had failed to properly use the toilet. Both Ms. Tzortzatos, owner of the Panini and Company Cafe, and Mr. Keane said the protesters rarely bought anything, yet hurled curses when they were told that only paying customers could use their bathrooms.

 

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It appears that these folks have overstayed their welcome on Wall Street.  I wonder if they care?