Bloomberg: Occupy protest hurts residents

The Occupy Wall Street protest, now in its seventh week, is "really hurting small businesses and families" in lower Manhattan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Wednesday.

Though the city has worked hard to preserve the protesters' First Amendment rights, Bloomberg said, he is very concerned about the rights of others in the Zuccotti Park area. The city will take action if and when it's appropriate, he said.

The mayor's statements came a day after area politicians asked the city to enforce laws against excessive noise and public urination.

Police removed many of the metal barricades in the protest area Wednesday.

The action came a day after several elected officials representing the protest area, including Assemb. Speaker Sheldon Silver, sent a letter of concern to the mayor, urging him to remove what they said were excessive police barricades that impeded pedestrian traffic.

"We, working with the community, came up with a solution that will help business and quality of life in the area while maintaining public safety," the mayor's spokesman said.

On Long Island Wednesday, about 25 students and faculty members held an event called Occupy Post at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville.

"Have you been to Wall Street?" asked senior Jeremiah Wenutu, 21, a film major and Occupy Post organizer, speaking into a bullhorn. "Well, we'll bring it here."

Meanwhile, legislators from minority communities, labor unions and other activists said Wednesday they will march 11 miles next week from the Washington Heights section of upper Manhattan to the Occupy Wall Street protest site downtown.

March leaders said they would provide additional details at a news conference at 11:30 a.m. Thursday outside an abandoned building at 182nd Street and St. Nicholas Avenue.

"The abandoned building is significant because it is a symbol of the revitalization this community needs," Ibrahim Khan, a spokesman for Democratic State Sen. Adriano Espaillat, who represents the Washington Heights area, said in an interview.

Kahn said Espaillat would be joined at the news conference by the local City Council member, Democrat Ydanis Rodriguez, and representatives of the NAACP, Occupy Wall Street, the Working Families Party, transit workers Local 100 and others.

The website of the Occupy Wall Street Movement listed the march among its upcoming events for next week.

With Keith Herbert and AP