There have been a LOT of problems with Occupy Wall street, if you're a local business. No, not a business on Wall Street, but if you're around Zuccotti Park .... well, there are a lot of problems kicking around, more or less by the bucketful. Local businesses have lost almost half a million dollars since this started in September.
Even one of Examiner's political examiners, Joe Newby, when comparing and contrasting movements, lists a lot of crimes.
The list of crimes committed by the OWS crowd, in general, is not reassuring.
Right now, around Zuccotti park, there are tales of extortion and demands from OWS protestors that businesses are obligated to give them free food, and, well, this is how it was recently reported by one local owner, Stacey Tzortzator, owner of Panini & Co. Breads. She's right across from Zuccotti Park, and she doesn't feel a lot of love going around.
"I've been told 'Watch your back' ten times," she told the New York Post on November 7th.
Why don't they like her? Why are they threatening her? She told them to stop using her restroom's as their public bathhouse, especially after they trashed a sink and flooded her store.
It has gotten to the point where the cops are in and out of her place about ten times a day, Tzortzator says.
And this doesn't even count the squatter who came in and demanded they fill a ten-gallon container of water for him. "He said he was entitled to have it for free." Not to mention problems with drunks, drug users, people using the doorway for a bathroom.
It gets better ... the protestors are digging in with two dozen 16x16 foot tents for the winter. The local businesses have organized their own counterprotests.
So, if you are one of these stores facing boycotts, extortion, and demands for free stuff from what appears to be an unruly mob, what can you do?
You can't: hit them, shoot them, touch them with your body, a ten foot pole, throw things at them, or cause anything to touch them in any way, shape or form. Unlike in Oakland, you can't even point a loaded weapon at them. This is, after all, New York, and someone will probably sue you, or report you to the police, no matter what they were doing to provoke you. We've got the ACLU swarming Zuccotti park, at times, and anything you say or do will be video taped and used in evidence against you.
It's time for security cameras. And I don't mean and older, connected to a VHS tape recording system. Wifi, digital cameras can stream data to the internet, and some even come complete with night vision. All in all, it would probably cost a few hundred dollars to completely wire your place of business.
This works several ways. You can monitor your place of business in real time, even when you're not there. You can stream the video footage to your iPhone, and call the cops every time someone looks like they're about to do something unpleasant to your store.
It can help the cops arrest the perpetrators, obviously, and, more importantly, you can stream all of their activities online. You can make a new business out of livestreaming the more colorful aspects of the Zuccotti park crowd. If that doesn't at least make them more worried about what they do in your store, it might work as free advertisement for your store.
Can't you see the website? "OWSgonewild.com: for the latest entertainment and destruction from Zuccotti park."
Yes, the setup being suggested will cost some cash. However, it won't break a thousand dollars, unless you're buying a lot of cameras.
There is also another possibility: leave. We don't say that as a recommendation, but if you are already firing employees due to the profits lost thus far, it might be a viable option. Let's face it, Manhattan has some larcenous real estate prices; moving out to Long Island might not hurt. And, if the protestors have no restrooms to go to (because who would fix the washrooms after they're broken?), and the buildings around Zuccotti park become a ghost town, they'll have all sorts of new problems to deal with, while you set up shop in Queens, or Staten Island.
And, if the city starts to lose money because you've moved to a section of the city with lower property taxes, even Mayor Bloomberg might consider moving them.
Hopefully, this will be of use to somebody. Sadly, there isn't much more to be done.
Good luck, and be safe.
UPDATE: Someone just posted Stacey Tzortzator's home phone number on twitter. This could be bad.
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