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The NY Post Hates Occupy Wall Street Even More Than Bloomberg Does
By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 3, 2011
Modified Nov 3, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 3, 2011
Modified Nov 3, 2011
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Mayor Bloomberg keeps insisting that Occupy Wall Street protesters down at Zuccotti Park are bad for tourism and worse for local businesses. We've heard about some business owners complaining, but the Post has now found several more willing to go on record with their gripes. And based on their newest, grouchiest anti-OWS editorial, it makes total sense why they would bring their complaints to the Post!
Marvin Raffelin, who has owned Fourteen Wall Street Jewelers for 31 years, claims every business in the area has been affected by the occupation: “I didn’t realize what was going on until the middle of October. I looked at my ledger from the October before, and my customer account was off by half. They’re hurting the people they want to help,” he told the Post. Jason O’Brien, owner of Trinity Place Bar and Restaurant on Cedar Street, echoed him, saying customers were hesitant to come by: “We’re down about 30 percent. We feel like we’re still in August, when everyone’s away."
Doug Smith, owner of the Business World Trade Art Gallery at 74 Trinity Place, more bluntly said potential customers are afraid of OWS: “The worst is when you see your merchandise is not selling. To buy art, it’s foot traffic. They have to be walking by, and they’re not,” he said.
Before now, one of the major examples of OWS negatively affecting businesses in the Zuccotti Park area we've come across was the upscale food court Milk Street Cafe, who complained about police barricades, not protesters, hurting their business. And to add to the confusion, those barricades were placed back up mere hours after the city agreed to remove them! Not to mention that some are alleging that even before OWS came to town, Milk Street Cafe likely "wouldn’t last past Christmas."
But whatever anger those business owners harbor, it's nothing compared to the NY Post, who sound even more fed up than Bloomberg with Occupy Wall Street's continued presence in lower Manhattan. Echoing Bloomberg every time he's gone on record about how annoyed he is with OWS's continued existence, the Post claims that, "No one has greater respect for the First Amendment than this paper"—but regardless, "The Zuccotti Park vagabonds have had their say—and trashed lower Manhattan—for long enough."
They complain that the credible aspects to the protest have been usurped and "hijacked by crazies and criminals." They complain about the drumming AND the tambourines, the yelling AND the screaming, the public urination AND defecation. Because who could choose just one of each of those! And if Bloomberg needs to crack some skulls to clear out the park, then that's just fine: "If they choose not to leave—which they probably won’t—then Bloomberg needs to instruct the NYPD to clean the mess up. Today wouldn’t be a day too soon."
Tagged
haterade
mayor bloomberg
ny post
occupy wall street
ows
Zuccotti Park
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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