fancyred wrote:
If that was the case, then why weren't they thrown out of the park on night one?  Why did this have to go to court to see if they would be allowed to stay longer?
I would guess that you would have to ask the Democratic mayor of New York why he allowed the OWS folks to stay for two months and then changed his mind and had the police clear them out.

From the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation webpage:

§1-04 Prohibited Uses


Littering, Polluting, Dumping, and Unattended Property
  1. No person shall litter in any park. All persons shall use receptacles provided for the disposal of refuse. No person shall deposit household or commercial refuse in any park receptacle.
  2. No person shall throw, drop, allow to fall, or discharge into or leave in the waters within any park (including pools and bathing areas), or any tributary, brook, stream, sewer or drain flowing into said waters, any substance, liquid or solid, which may or will result in the pollution of said waters.
  3. No person shall engage in dumping in any park.
  4. No person shall, within or adjacent to any park, store or leave unattended personal belongings.
Disorderly Behavior
It shall be a violation of these rules to engage in disorderly behavior in a park. A person in any park shall be guilty of disorderly behavior who:
  1. enters or leaves any park except by designated entrance ways or exits, or enters or attempts to enter any facility, area or building sealed, locked or otherwise restricted from public access; or
  2. climbs upon any wall, fence, shelter, tree, shrub, fountain or other vegetation, or any structure or statue not specifically intended for climbing purposes; or
  3. gains or attempts to gain admittance to the facilities in any park for the use of which charge is made without paying such charge; or
  4. engages in any form of gambling or game of chance for money, or tells fortunes for money; or
  5. interferes with, encumbers, obstructs or renders dangerous any part of a park or park road; obstructs vehicular or pedestrian traffic; or
  6. engages in fighting or assaults any person; or
  7. engages in a course of conduct or commits acts that unreasonably alarm or seriously annoy another person; or
  8. engages in any form of sexual activity; or
  9. engages in a course of conduct or commits acts that endanger the safety of others.
Obstruction of sitting areas
  1. No person shall use a bench or other sitting area so as to interfere with its use by other persons, including storing any materials thereon.
Unlawful camping
  1. No person shall engage in camping, or erect or maintain a tent, shelter, or camp in any park without a permit.
Unlawful solicitation
  1. No person shall engage in any commercial activity or commercial speech in any park, except pursuant to a permit issued under §1-03(b) and/or §2-08 of these Rules.
  2. No person shall solicit money or other property from persons not known to such person in any park, unless such person possesses a permit for noncommercial solicitation issued by the Commissioner.


"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it." --Benjamin Franklin