Clearing out

Occupy Lansing is voluntarily calling itquits for the winter. Within a week, protesters plan to clear ReutterPark of tents and supplies, a spokesman said Tuesday.

The decision was made Monday night atthe downtown Capital Area District Library — across the street fromReutter Park — during the group’s General Assembly meeting. Thedecision goes beyond a deal reached last week with Mayor Virg Bernerothat would have ended overnight camping.

“The general consensus was that we aredraining too many resources trying to keep camp open during thewinter,” said Edge Brussel, who arrived at Monday’s meeting shortlyafter the vote to close it down. “While we thank the mayor and thecity’s continual support, the plan is to reopen in the spring,withdrawing from the park in the winter to focus our efforts elsewhere.”

Brussel said the goal is to have thepark cleared by the middle of next week. On Occupy Lansing’s Facebookpage late Monday night, one member offered to keep tents and suppliesin his basement until spring. “Emphasis on keeping/cleaning re-useableitems for Spring: tents, tarps, sleeping bags, etc. Arrangements stillbeing worked out on paying for porta-johns ($470 back payment).Porta-Johns being removed soon,” minutes from the general assembly say.

Brussel said Occupy Lansing willcontinue “outreach to the community, education” throughout the winterbefore returning in the spring. Some of the first protesters arrived onOct. 10.

Unlike Occupy protests in New York City,Oakland and Philadelphia, Occupy Lansing is voluntarily leaving, notbeing forced out by the police. Brussel said the weather was thedeciding factor in leaving.

“We decided we’re exhausting ourselves —that’s not our fight. We’re not mad at Mother Nature. As much as thosewilling to stay in the park are patriots, that willingness to sacrificetheir personal comfort is important symbolically,” she said. 

“We were all jazzed and hopeful to livein the park (through the winter) and make that statement, but it’s beenslowly chipped away,” Brussel added.

When county and city public healthofficials cleared the park of portable heaters and a kitchen two weeksago, Brussel said, “That was the first moment when we startedquestioning whether or not this is possible.”

Another low point came recently when theU.S. Senate passed Senate Bill 1867, the National Defense AuthorizationAct, Brussel said. “Hearing the language of that feels like it could bevery directly used to squelch the Occupy movement. … We’re passionateabout this (issue) part of our lives until we see reform in ourcountry.”

Brussel called the decision to vacatefor the winter “a good step forward. We do have the advantage that thecity is supportive of us.”

Brokering a deal

Supportive and compromising are bothways to describe Bernero’s attitude toward Occupy Lansing. As the storygoes, Bernero arranged a meeting with three local occupiers — includingBrussel, Chris LaMere and a man with the nickname “Bear” — to talklogistics. It lasted roughly an hour-and-a-half on Wednesday night inBernero’s 9th floor office in City Hall — two blocks north of ReutterPark.

During that time, Bernero and his deputychief of staff, Randy Hannan, had health concerns for those who wantedto camp overnight in the dead of winter. Hannan said the first hour ofthe meeting was about “business” while the last half hour included “themayor’s broader thought on political issues.”

“It was a good discussion,” Hannan saidMonday night, before he received the news that Occupy Lansing woulddisband entirely for the winter. “The mayor is a strong supporter ofthe movement.” Indeed, Hannan said, Bernero “has been talking about theunholy alliance of Wall Street and Washington for years. I think thefirst time he threw that out was to Neil Cavuto on Fox News in 2008.”

Hannan said for Occupy encampments inMichigan, “winter really made it impractical to sustain outdoors.” Headded that “Basically, out of our concern for health and safety at thepark, (we wanted to see them) discontinue overnight camping.”

He added that the idea was presented tothe occupiers, who then took it before the General Assembly on Saturdayto be agreed upon, which it was.

Hannan said he’s not “ruling it out atthis point” to allow protesters to camp overnight again in the spring.“I think our relationship has been a model. Our Occupy Lansing peopleare very reasonable, responsible, practical.” 

LaMere, who is 55 and has lived inLansing for “30-some years,” said Bernero was concerned about “someonefreezing to death or a tent going up in a fire. He said that when hegoes home at night, he drives by here and worries someone is going todie down here.”

LaMere agreed with Brussel that some ofthe low points of the movement have been having heaters and the kitchenremoved and “internal conflicts.” But, she thinks Occupy Lansing hasbeen successful in localizing a global movement.

Brussel said Bernero spoke “verygenuinely. We went into the meeting wanting very much to keep ourovernight presence and stay in the park. On both sides, compromiseswere made. The mayor wants to support our movement, we want to supportour mayor.”

Brussel said Bernero told the group, “Icould have just arrested people. I have every right to do that. But forhim to come and talk to us was a beautiful example, and sets an examplefor the rest of the country.”

The meeting left an impression on LaMere.

“It was very cool,” she said. “He wasreally great, totally supportive. He kind of took off his mayor’s hat,was a person, you know?”