City gives Occupy Albany Dec. 22 deadline

ALBANY -- All-night camping at Occupy Albany's Academy Park headquarters will end Dec. 22 at the latest, according to a directive handed down Friday to the protesters from city officials.

But protesters are already working to change that, and hope that they can use the three weeks to come up with a plan that allows them to stay through the winter.

The city issued a letter to the protesters Friday afternoon outlining a list of 15 "serious health and safety" code violations detected there during an inspection Thursday and directing those violations be remedied, Mayor Jerry Jennings said.

The violations include "significant accumulation" of garbage and open flames within the encampment.

That letter came with a proposed permit for the now 6-week-old protest outlining conditions that would allow the demonstrators to remain in the park overnight until the first day of winter -- if they also remedy the violations by Tuesday.

Protesters agreed to accept the permit on Friday night, but only because it buys them time to plan their next move.

"The permit would end on Dec. 22, but then we have three weeks to figure out all sorts of things," said Mark Mishler, a member of the Occupy Albany legal team.

The proposed permit mirrors conditions outlined in a memo of understanding the city tried to get the protesters to agree to last month, including limiting the protesters to only a portion of the park, no more than 30 tents and limits on the numbers of heaters.

If the protesters do not fix the violations and abide by the terms of the permit by next week, Jennings suggested the city would take them to court.

"Right from the beginning, we've been very cooperative with them. We've brought these problems to their attention before, we asked them to correct them, and they didn't," Jennings said. "I have concerns about public safety as we get into the colder months. I don't want someone doing something that's going to result in someone losing their life."

At the encampment's daily general assembly meeting on Friday, Jeffery Jamison, the city's director of building and codes, explained the city's move to protesters and took questions from occupiers.

"What gives you the right to take away our right to protest?" one man said.

"We are not saying you cannot protest," Jamison responded, adding that occupiers would be free to protest in the park during the day.

Other protesters raised concerns about the amount of homeless people who now regularly stay at the Occupy Albany camp in the wake of shelters that are at capacity.