{"id":9402,"date":"2011-11-02T08:10:01","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T12:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=9402"},"modified":"2011-11-02T10:45:42","modified_gmt":"2011-11-02T14:45:42","slug":"extended-occupation-meets-further-delay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/city-council\/2011\/11\/02\/extended-occupation-meets-further-delay\/","title":{"rendered":"Extended Occupation Meets Further Delay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Occupy Raleigh\u2019s request for a two-week, renewable permit to camp on city property is delayed for at least another week as the City Council moved the issue to its Law and Public Safety Committee.<\/p>\n

Joseph Huberman, a Raleigh resident who was chosen to speak at the meeting by the Occupy Raleigh group, said they wanted a permit to \u201coccupy the small park behind the municipal center between Dawson Street and the parking deck, at the intersection with Morgan Street.\u201d<\/p>\n

Occupy Raleigh has been protesting in front of the Capitol building since Oct. 15. The group is part of a national Occupy movement, which started on Wall Street. They are protesting against a variety of issues such as corporate personhood and eliminating money from the political process.<\/p>\n

Huberman said the area will be used \u201cfor people to have shelter, eat and sleep and keep items we need to support the occupation, including a portable toilet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huberman also requested the use of an electrical outlet for charging electronics to \u201cmaintain communication,\u201d as well as \u201coccasional use\u201d of the circular area beneath the municipal building \u201cfor meetings and shelter in inclement weather.\u201d He also said they would continue protesting in front of the old Capitol building.<\/p>\n

City Attorney Thomas McCormick said picketing is allowed \u201c24 hours a day, seven days a week\u201d anywhere in Raleigh.<\/p>\n

McCormick said there is \u201cample opportunity to exercise First Amendment rights\u201d in the city, but if the city opened up areas like Upchurch Park and the rotunda underneath the municipal building to the group, they would not be able to exclude other groups from doing the same.<\/p>\n

Mayor Charles Meeker asked McCormick if they can possibly speak with another landowner nearby about using space, to which McCormick said, \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCormick said there are also other ordinances that might \u201ccome into play\u201d that don\u2019t have to do with picketing or free speech, such as those against as blocking the sidewalk.<\/p>\n

Questions about arrests
\n<\/strong>During the City Council\u2019s afternoon session, Meeker requested a report on Thursday\u2019s arrests.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Police arrest a woman Thursday at the site of the Occupy Raleigh protest.<\/p><\/div>\n

Eight people were arrested on the sidewalk in front of the Capitol building for refusing to stand. One was a disabled woman sitting in a lawn chair on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n

He asked for clarification on why the Police Department\u2019s stance on chairs and blankets had changed, what the circumstances were regarding the arrest of a disabled woman and what the city\u2019s legal obligations were in terms of assisting the Capital Area police.<\/p>\n

City Manager Russell Allen said the state would have to answer the question about the change in stance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what has been communicated to us, but they would need to answer that directly,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my understanding that the state Department of Administration and the Capital police did believe that the accumulation of gear, other things\u2014tables, chairs\u2014was creating a pedestrian hazard, was beginning to block the street, even though it was only covering half, that it was creating a condition that exceeded what they thought was reasonable for assembly and public protest,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n

Meeker didn\u2019t believe a report on police conduct was needed because, after viewing a video of the arrests, he thought \u201cour police and Capital police were acting most professionally.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Occupy Raleigh\u2019s request for a two-week, renewable permit was sent to the council\u2019s Law and Public Safety Committee at Tuesday night\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24038,"featured_media":9230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24038"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}