Time’s up: The Zuccotti Park vagabonds have had their say – and trashed lower Manhattan – for long enough.
They need to go.
Be it voluntarily – by packing their tents and heading off in an orderly fashion.
Or by having th NYPD step in – and evict them.
But go they must: Their lease on Zuccotti Park has expired.
And it’s their own fault.
What began as a credible protest against bank bailouts, crony capitalism and the like has, in large measure, been hijacked by crazies and criminals.
Beyond that, too many protesters demonstrate by their actions a level of contempt for residents, businesses and workers in the area that long ago crossed the line.
No one should have to put up with the incessant noise, filth and downright dangerous conditions the protesters have foisted upon lower Manhattan.
The drumming and tambourines.
The yelling and screaming.
The public urination and defecation.
The drugs.
The lewdness.
The criminals and their crimes.
It’s all got to end.
No one has greater respect for the First Amendment than this paper. Even radicals — especially radicals — have a fundamental right to public protest.
We don’t even quibble with some parts of the protesters’ message — such as their resentment of the massive bailouts of banks using taxpayer money.
And we certainly respect the right of Brookfield Properties, owner of the park, to permit the protests.
But there comes a time when enough is enough.
Certainly, Brookfield does itself no great honor by pretending to be satisfied with the status quo.
Sure, we understand the pressure the company’s been under — including, most shamefully, from cynical New York pols looking to cozy up to the heavily out-of-towner-based group, local radicals, and their manipulators in the labor unions seeking to capitalize on the “occupation.”
That pressure explains why Brookfield has been reluctant to push City Hall — publicly — for action.
Brookfield wasn’t speaking yesterday. But surely, it wants the nightmare to end — even if it’s too frightened to say so.
“My guess is that we basically look to the police leadership and mayor to decide what to do,” Brookfield’s chairman, John Zuccotti, said last month.
But passing the buck to City Hall solves nothing. Mayor Bloomberg & Co. have essentially been hiding behind the fact that Zuccotti Park is not city property.
“If Brookfield were to come to us and say that their rules are being violated … the Police Department will do what it has to do,” Bloomberg said last week. “But this is not a public park.” No, it’s not.
But it is a public nuisance — and it needs to be dealt with just like any other public nuisance.
Clearly, the city has the right to do just that.
What’s needed right now is mayoral leadership.
Could Mayor Bloomberg, at long last, be leaning in that direction?
“You know, I think increasingly you’re seeing that communities, businesses and residents in lower Manhattan feel that they are the ones that are being occupied,” Bloomberg said yesterday.
“This isn’t an occupation of Wall Street. It’s an occupation of a growing, vibrant residential neighborhood in lower Manhattan, and it’s really hurting small businesses and families.”
Added the mayor, “Other people have rights, too, and I am very concerned about the other peoples’ rights, as well as those of the protesters.”
Spot on.
Now he needs to take the next step — and start the process for an orderly end to the extravaganza.
That means giving the protesters fair warning that their party is over — and then standing firm in the face of the firestorm that surely will ignite.
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.