Part-time Occupation

Elizabeth Waibel

The City Council voted Tuesday to allow Occupy Jackson protesters to stay in Smith Park from dawn until 11 p.m. each day.

by Elizabeth Waibel
November 30, 2011

After weeks of debate, the Jackson City Council agreed to a compromise to allow Occupy Jackson protesters to stay at Smith Park later in the evening, although they will not get to occupy the park overnight.

The City Council voted Tuesday to allow Occupy Jackson to stay in the park from dawn until 11 p.m.—a compromise worked out by the Planning Committee Nov. 22. The measure passed 4-1.

Occupy Jackson has been in and around Smith Park since October. The participants initially had a special-events permit that allowed them to stay in the park during the day, but that permit expired several weeks ago. Since then, supporters have moved many of their signs, books and pamphlets decrying corporate greed to the sidewalk outside the park.

The protest group incorporated as a nonprofit organization and applied for another permit to stay in the park day and night through Dec. 26, but the city told the protesters they could only be in the park during the hours it is normally open, from dawn until dusk.

The group appealed to the City Council, where some argued that allowing the protesters to stay overnight was crucial to protecting freedom of speech, while others said it was unfair to downtown residents and businesses to allow an around-the-clock protest in a public park that others might like to use.

Jackie Warren Tatum, a supporter of Occupy Jackson, said the group still wants a 24-hour permit. "If not, we ask for accommodation in inclement weather to use the pavilion," she said.

Tatum asked if the protesters could move off the sidewalk and into the park's pavilion at night if it started raining or snowing. The council did not officially approve allowing the occupiers to stay in the pavilion overnight during inclement weather, but Council President Frank Bluntson said he doubted anyone would bother them if they did. He voted forthe compromise.

"That's free speech," he said. "Even if you have 24 hours, after 11 o'clock you're asleep anyway—you're not speaking anyway."

Ward 2 Councilman Chokwe Lumumba and Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes favored allowing the protesters to stay in the park 24 hours a day and abstained from the vote this morning. Ward 1 Councilman Quentin Whitwell, who has been the most vocal against allowing Occupy Jackson to stay in the park for extended hours, voted against the measure.

During this morning's meeting, as at other hearings regarding Occupy Jackson's permit application, Lumumba compared Occupy Jackson to civil-rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. And made a motion to allow the protesters to stay in the park overnight. Stokes seconded the motion, but the other council members voted against it.

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