Portland Public Safety Committee Rejects Occupy Maine Permit

PORTLAND, Maine -- Thursday night, the Portland City Council's 3-member Public Safety Committee voted unanimously to recommend the city council reject OccupyMaine's petition to continue to camp in Lincoln Park.


The vote came after a 5 hour public hearing with comments split over whether the group should continue to be allowed to stay in the park overnight. The city has allowed the encampment since early October, but police are being called to the camp more and more frequently, and code inspectors found many fire code violations during a recent walk-through of the camp.


Committee chair Ed Suslovic said the situation was quickly becoming a "public safety disaster."


Members of Occupy Maine, meanwhile, acknowledged that there have been problems with homeless people using the protest movement as an excuse to come into the park, sleep and drink alcohol, but they argued that ending the encampment would not end the problems of homelessness in the city. They feel that if they had the power of a city permit, they would have power to kick people out who were becoming a safety problem before police needed to get involved. After the hearing, OccupyMaine's attorney, John Branson said the group would likely submit an amended petition to the city council that did more to address safety concerns at the park.


City officials had asked the protesters to submit a permit to remain in Lincoln Park where they have been camped since October. Occupy Maine submitted the eight-page permit on Tuesday. The group said it addresses safety and health concerns brought up by city leaders.
Occupy members are also asking the city to create a free speech and assembly zone within Lincoln Park to allow them to camp out 24/7.
During the meeting, Portland's acting police chief said there have been 16 arrests and 112 calls for service in Lincoln Park from Oct. 1 to Nov. 29. The chief said in 2010, there were four calls for service and no arrests at the park.
Occupy Maine's attorney, John Branson, faced questions from members of the Public Safety Committee. They asked him about sanitary issues at the park and how the group is keeping people safe, especially in the light of the arrests and violence there.


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