To the fury of Lower Manhattan dwellers, Occupy Wall Street protesters show no signs of putting away their drums.
Last week, protesters met with members of Community Board 1 to address noise complaints from residents who live near Zuccotti Park. CB1 drafted a resolution calling on protesters to limit loud noise, including drums, to two hours per day.
But their plea did not seem to make much difference.
Kelly Magee, communications director for City Councilwoman Margaret Chin, whose district includes Zuccotti Park, told Metro yesterday she still received calls from downtown residents complaining of eight hours of drumming on Friday and 11 hours of drumming on Saturday.
The Occupy Wall Street camp has established two phone numbers for residents and business owners to voice complaints. Eric Lazarus, a member of the OWS mediation team, answered the line for merchants on Monday.
He said he received fewer than 10 calls from businesses, with the biggest complaint being that protesters have been using restrooms without making purchases.
“This is an unusual situation in that all we have is the ability to say to our people, ‘We would like you to be polite,’ and tell them why it’s important to be good citizens,” said Lazarus.
Metro called the number designated for residents multiple times, but could only reach a voice mail greeting, which did not identify the line as associated with Occupy Wall Street.
Community Board 1 will meet again tonight to discuss the noise complaints.
Cuomo vs. Protest
The mayor of Albany defied instructions from Gov. Andrew Cuomo over the weekend to enforce an 11 p.m. curfew at a city park where Occupy Albany protesters are camped out.
Cuomo’s press secretary reportedly called Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings to ask the state police to enforce the park curfew, and arrest protesters if they didn’t leave. Jennings, however, refused to comply.
