Occupy Wall Street Pre-Empts Park Owners Clean-Up

NEW YORK—The Occupy Wall Street protesters organized a cleanup of Zuccotti Park, where they have been camping for almost a month, pre-empting the park’s owner who planned to clean it on Friday.

On Wednesday night, Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited the park to inform the protesters that Brookfield Global Real Estate, the property owners, would be cleaning the park on Friday.

The owners, Brookfield Global Real Estate, sent a letter to the NYPD requesting assistance to help clear the park so they can perform cleanup and maintenance.

At all hours of the day and night, protesters are sleeping on benches and walkways, blocking normal pedestrian access to the general public and preventing cleaning and maintenance workers from performing necessary upkeep,” states the letter. The increasingly crowded space is filled with tarps, mattresses, gas generators, and other items that impede walkways and “normal public use of the park.”

In response, the protesters organized a voluntary coat check and obtained 200 waterproof containers to hold people’s belongings, and organized a cleanup of their own with more than $2,000 out of the $150,000 they’ve fund raised. They plan to have everyone maintain their personal space and pack their bedding away daily, according to one of their official websites.

“The cleaning will be done in stages,” stated Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway in a statement. ”The protesters will be able to return to the areas that have been cleaned, provided they abide by the rules that Brookfield has established for the park.”

The new rules prohibit activities like camping, items like tarps and sleeping bags, and storage of personal property that “unreasonably interferes” with public use of the park.