Judge gives Occupy group 3 days to exit Mellon site
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Matt Wheeler of the South Side, center, and Halley Katz of Bloomfield comfort each other while Tracie Doyle of McKeesport looks on Thursday at the Occupy Pittsburgh camp in Mellon Green, Downtown. -
Celeste Taylor, who participated in the first Occupy Pittsburgh march in 2011 and who has stayed at the site about 10 times since then, cleans up the area Thursday where one of the tents was removed because of its condition.
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Even as she kicked them off BNY Mellon's property, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Christine A. Ward found Thursday that the Occupy Pittsburgh protesters who have encamped along Grant Street since Oct. 15 had reached at least some of their goals.
"[I]t bears noting that Occupy Pittsburgh has benefited greatly from their time occupying BNY Mellon Green. They have been able to spread their message -- the message of the 99 percent -- to people walking past and sometimes entering their encampment," she wrote. "They have benefited from the expressive conduct of occupying the land, a protest symbol, which has undoubtedly impressed certain messages upon passersby."
Even more, she continued, the eviction "will certainly draw publicity and may even assist in communicating the Occupiers' message."
Still, in the same 21-page opinion, Judge Ward found that the occupation of the park is causing BNY Mellon "immediate and irreparable harm" that would not likely abate without granting the injunction.
She gave the occupiers three days to get out once BNY Mellon files a $10,000 bond with the court, which is expected today.
"We are pleased with the judge's ruling," said Ron Gruendl, a BNY Mellon spokesman.
The bank filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in December, arguing that the occupiers were trespassing and creating a nuisance at the small park sandwiched between Grant and Ross streets, Downtown.
Attorneys for Occupy Pittsburgh made several arguments as to why the group should be permitted to remain, including that they believe the park is a public, urban open space, and that by allowing the group to encamp in the first place, that they were given an "irrevocable license" to stay.
However, Judge Ward disagreed with each claim in her opinion.
She found that Mellon Green is not urban open space, but instead was "intended to be reserved for future commercial development," and "intended to be used temporarily as open space, pending future development."
First Published February 3, 2012 12:00 am
