OWS, Valley Forge & Mayor Bloomberg

Snow on the tents at Liberty Plaza Park

PEOPLE have been wondering what will happen to Occupy Wall Street when winter arrives. Will it be like Valley Forge, with a few hearties holding the fort until the troops start straggling back in the spring?

Well, it's only late October, and it's only 34°, but it's snowing, and towers and bonus plazas and nor'easters can make strong winds that make it feel a lot colder. The crowds are way down today, and Mayor Bloomberg says Brookfield Properties hasn't complained about the tents. so they can stay for now.

Mayor MIke's a good mayor, whom I've voted for three times. But there's an obvious conflict of interest when his girlfriend remains on the Board of Directors of the real estate company that tells the city what it wants done at Liberty Plaza Park.

The Mayor rightly said, ""The [OWS] protesters have a Constitutional right to demonstrate and have mostly been peaceful. You may not like it, but these people have generally obeyed the law." But week or so ago, Mayor MIke called off an early-morning clearing of the site requested by Brookfield for "cleaning" only after the public told City Hall what they thought about that pretense. Friday morning, the police took biofuel and gas powered generators that had caused no problems since OWS started more than a month ago. Was that at the request of Brookfield? I also think the Wall Street billionaire was on the wrong side of the issue when he barricaded Wall Street. 

What if Brookfield asks him to get rid of the tents? According to a new poll, 87% of all New Yorkers support OWS.

What difference a day makes: