From: NYPOST.com
An angry Mayor Bloomberg blasted local politicians yesterday for strong-arming the owners of Zuccotti Park into reversing a decision to clear out encamped Wall Street protesters -- and allowing the activists to claim a victory over the city.
“My understanding is Brookfield [Properties] got lots of calls from many elected officials threatening them and saying if you don’t stop this, we’ll make your life more difficult,” the mayor said on his weekly radio show, referring to the company that owns the plaza.
“If those elected officials had spent half as much time trying to promote the city to get jobs to come here, we would [be further along] towards answering the concerns of the protesters. I’m told they were inundated by lots of elected officials.”
One source said Brookfield caught the city off guard when it first requested help Tuesday night from the NYPD to clear the park, which is open to the public 24 hours a day.
“They sent the letter without checking with anyone at City Hall or the Police Department,” the source said. “The city had no choice but to respond.”
The mayor declined to say which politicians applied the pressure, but without naming him, Bloomberg appeared to single out Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-Manhattan), who earlier this week said the right of free expression outweighed the concerns of local shop owners who complain their businesses are suffering because of the protests.
“We had a congressman, I gather, who said it’s much more important than that. In the end, I’m not sure it’s more important than that,” the mayor said yesterday. “The First Amendment applies to everybody.”
Aided by the NYPD, Brookfield personnel had been scheduled to start cleaning the park at 7 a.m. yesterday. A confrontation seemed inevitable, since many protesters vowed to stay put.
On Thursday, “as of 8 o’clock at night, they were going ahead to do it, but as of midnight, they called and said they wanted to postpone the cleaning operations to see if they could work out an agreement with the protesters,” Bloomberg said.
Some of the protesters had even started to clean up after themselves, bringing in mops, brooms and cleaning supplies.
Brookfield confirmed that it had changed course late Thursday at the “request of local political officials” who were urging a negotiated settlement.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) and state Sen. Daniel Squadron (D-Brooklyn) all acknowledged having discussions with Brookfield, but they insisted no threats were made.
“It was a totally positive conversation,” Stringer said. “I made the case with more dialogue and more discussion there could be movement on a number of issues.”
Council spokesman Jamie McShane said “Speaker Quinn was concerned about an unnecessary confrontation and had numerous conversations with Brookfield Properties over the course of Thursday night urging them to give more time in an effort to move towards negotiations.”
Brookfield’s about-face has strained its relations with the administration, said one insider, even though the mayor’s longtime partner, Diana Taylor, sits on the company’s board of directors.
Bloomberg has stressed that the city’s options in dealing with private property are limited.
“In the end, it is Brookfield’s decision,” he said, uttering a mantra he repeated three times during the broadcast.
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