![](http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/newyork/file-172-.jpg")
Chimes from City Hall and the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception—the municipal a touch ahead of the church—coincided with a scheduled picket line at City Hall on Sept. 17 to mark the first anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which spun off in Syracuse last Oct. 2. One slightly early arrival with purple-streaked hair had gone into City Hall in search of the action, and came back out to stand in the shade with media types gathered from YNN, WAER and the Syracuse New Times.
It was Maria Face, in a long cell phone conversation with Eric Block, who, she said, was coming to City Hall to try to meet with Mayor Stephanie Miner to propose a community garden in the space at Perseverance Park, where Occupy Syracuse had encamped before being forcibly dismantled on Jan. 19.
Face had joined the local effort on South Salina Street adjacent to Common Center on its second day, but, dubbed Occumommy by fellow protesters for her pregnant condition, she was not allowed to sleep over in the tent village. She told the media types that Eric would arrive in 20 minutes, noting that extensive emails and flyers had promoted the picket to focus attention on workplace rights, before admitting, “I can’t believe nobody showed up.”
A three-person, two-uniformed, security patrol conferred briefly on the City Hall steps, and moved on. “We’ve lost a lot of numbers,” Face reflected, “but we’re still here, still active in the community. We want people to look at other {political} parties, like the Greens. It’s been the lesser of two evils for generations.”
Block arrived and asked the mayor’s security guard for an audience, and waited with Face at the front desk. Eventually a staffer emerged, said the mayor was in a meeting, and listened to Block’s proposal for the community garden. “The whole project would be on our dime, instead of putting taxpayer money toward it,” he stressed. Told his idea would be referred to the mayor and city planning commission, Block replied, “This will not be our last attempt to gain audience with {Miner}, although we may bring it to the Common Council.”
That evening three dozen folks gathered at the Perseverance Park site for a scheduled 5:30 p.m. rally, to be followed by a march at 6 p.m. and a conversation on building community at 6:45. A half-dozen from the Syracuse ANSWER coalition carried multiple message picket signs reading: “Evict Mayor Miner,” “Hands Off Syria” and “Money for Jobs and School Not War.” Other signs included “Stop the GOP War on Women,” “Minimum Wage for Congress” and “Let’s be Realists, Let’s do the Impossible.”
Local Green Party coordinator Howie Hawkins surveyed the crowd. “The movement’s gotten pretty scattered,” he observed. “It’s really a Facebook page now.” Green congressional candidate Ursula Rozum held a banner insisting “Another World is Possible.”
A red, white and black Occupy Syracuse information box had pigeonholes with handouts labeled: “Ten Things Monsanto Does Not Want You to Know,” “Why Occupy Targets Goldman Sachs,” “Corporate Personhood,” “Who Owns the {Mainstream} Media,” “Prison Profiteering” and “Federal Reserve.”
A chant arose as four dozen marchers headed for City Hall: “Show me what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like.” Surprised to find the front door unlocked, about half the marchers had sprinted up the stairs and into the building, chanting “Evict Mayor Miner” before six police cars arrived quickly to evict them and secure the front door without incident. The marchers headed for the Justice Center, but, when they didn’t garner much attention, headed back to Perseverance Park.
The quiet conversations among small groups, however, never reached the occupiers’ traditional General Assembly format, so no one got to reprise the finger-wiggling signals indicating that they agreed, disagreed, were asking a clarifying question, or chiding a person for being long-winded or off topic.
As folks began to drift off, openly savoring the evening’s energy and heading for nearby nightspots to continue their conversation over beers, Face and Block agreed that the former Occupiers would be gathering again. And while there was no real thought as to where or when, the why remained clearly as a strong bond, a passionate focus on economic inequality.
Whatever format the next incarnation of Occupy Syracuse might take, however, if they really want the city administration’s support for their community garden, the movement’s non-leaders need to reflect on how Miner’s support for their original encampment was lost when a lack of discipline to enforce their agreement with her on all their villagers precipitated demolition of their village. They can’t be asking for her support while loudly calling for her eviction from City Hall. This is one battle they won’t win.
