Occupy Buffalo was a collaboration that included a

peaceful protest Nonviolent resistance (NVR), or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, const ...

and

demonstrations Demonstration may refer to: * Demonstration (acting), part of the Brechtian approach to acting * Demonstration (military), an attack or show of force on a front where a decision is not sought * Demonstration (political), a political rally or prote ...

which began on October 1, 2011, in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, in

Niagara Square Niagara Square is a public square located at the intersections of Delaware Avenue, Court Street, Genesee Street, and Niagara Street in Buffalo, New York. It is the central hub of Joseph Ellicott's original radial street pattern that he designed ...

, the nexus of downtown Buffalo opposite the

Buffalo City Hall Buffalo City Hall is the seat for municipal government in the City of Buffalo, New York. Located at 65 Niagara Square, the 32-story Art Deco building was completed in 1931 by Dietel, Wade & Jones. The building is one of the largest and talle ...

. It is related to the

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...

movement that began in New York City on September 17, and called for economic equity, accountability among politicians and ending

lobbyist In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

influence of politicians.

Protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

ers camped overnight in Niagara Square as part of the demonstration. Until August 2012, Occupy Buffalo had continued to engage in organized meetings, events and actions, according to their official site (now archived). As of September 18, 2019 their Facebook page continues to be active in sharing photos, events, and information.

JPMorgan Chase

On May 30, 2012, City

Comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior-level executi ...

Mark J.F. Schroeder announced the City of Buffalo was withdrawing $45 million from

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the ...

and depositing the money with

First Niagara Financial Group First Niagara Bank was a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-insured regional banking corporation headquartered in Buffalo, New York. Its parent company, First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. was the 44th-largest bank in the United States with a ...

. The move followed concerns about JPMorgan Chase raised with the Common Council by members of the Occupy Buffalo movement, who asked that the city withdraw its deposits from the institution and invest the money in a local bank. "Not only will the funds earn more interest with First Niagara, a major local employer headquartered in Buffalo, but it also sends a crystal-clear message to JPMorgan Chase that the City of Buffalo is not happy with their business practices," said Schroeder. JPMorgan Chase revealed a $2 billion trading loss earlier that month, and its

Main Place Tower The Main Place Tower is located at 350 Main Street, in Buffalo, New York. The skyscraper is the fourth-tallest building in the city, and home to many technology and communication firms. The tower, built in 1969, rises . The shopping center within ...

office downtown has been the site of multiple demonstrations by Occupy Buffalo since October 2011.

Protest

An early target of the protesters included the Steven J. Baum P.C. law firm in the Buffalo suburb of

Amherst Amherst may refer to: People * Amherst (surname), including a list of people with the name * Earl Amherst of Arracan in the East Indies, a title in the British Peerage; formerly ''Baron Amherst'' * Baron Amherst of Hackney of the City of London, ...

. As the largest foreclosure law firm in the state, it had been criticized by activists and fellow lawyers for its aggressive focus on

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan. Formally, a mortg ...

without any effort to secure modifications where homeowners or businesses might be eligible. The firm also brought about criticism from their use of questionable robo-signed documents until a change in state court rules requiring an affirmation by the lawyer or client, greatly curtailed its new filings. Baum had attracted national attention after ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' columnist

Joseph Nocera Joseph Nocera (born May 6, 1952) is an American business journalist, and author. He has written for The New York Times since April 2005, writing for the Op-Ed page from 2011 to 2015. He was also an opinion columnist for Bloomberg L.P.#Bloomberg O ...

published photos taken of its employees at its 2010 Halloween party, where costumes and decor ridiculed the

homeless Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

and attacked the firm's critics. A week after Occupy Buffalo picketed Baum's offices, the firm shut down due to a loss of business after

Fannie Mae The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and, since 1968, a publicly traded company. Founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the N ...

and

Freddie Mac The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is a publicly traded, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia.mortgage servicer A mortgage servicer is a company to which some borrowers pay their mortgage loan payments and which performs other services in connection with mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. The mortgage servicer may be the entity that originated the mor ...

s from using the firm for foreclosure actions.

Relation with the city

Compared to other cities where the Occupy movement has taken root, Occupy Buffalo's relations with the city were relatively amicable. The occupiers and the city had a contract that allowed the group to encamp in Niagara Square,Occupiers given ultimatum on Lafayette
''WIVB-TV''. Retrieved December 20, 2011. which expired February 2, 2012. On November 14, 2011, the protestors marched from the

to various police and Sheriff's Office buildings to show their appreciation for the Buffalo Police. During December 2011, the city allowed the installation of a 20-foot

geodesic dome A geodesic dome is a hemispherical thin-shell structure (lattice-shell) based on a geodesic polyhedron. The triangular elements of the dome are structurally rigid and distribute the structural stress throughout the structure, making geodesic dom ...

on the southwest portion of Niagara Square.

Medea Benjamin

On July 7, 2012, after rallying in front of City Hall

Medea Benjamin Medea Benjamin (born Susan Benjamin; September 10, 1952) is an American political activist who was the co-founder of Code Pink with Jodie Evans and others.

, members of Occupy Buffalo and the Western New York Peace Center presented legislation to Buffalo Common Council to keep drones out of the skies in Buffalo stating, "Armed drones and surveillance drones present an unreasonable an unacceptable threat to the rights of individual privacy, freedom of association and assembly, equal protection and judicial due process in the City of Buffalo."

Michael Moore

On November 17, 2011, filmmaker

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism. Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...

spoke directly to members of Occupy Buffalo in a

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

video encouraging them make their voice heard and not to pull back on their efforts despite the winter weather approaching.

Controversy

Following the eviction of Chris Phillips on December 26, 2011, for moving to Lafayette Square, and of Steve Norris on January 5, 2012, for allegedly speaking to a reporter from WKBW without authorization, both individuals were helping a Facebook-based group named "Liberate Buffalo" to evict the group. Both individuals launched online campaign against the OB, went to local city politicians e.g. Councilmember Richard Fontana who was known to be against Occupy, and spoke to radio and newspaper reporters about alleged violations of various city ordinances and codes on top of unaccountability concerning the group finances. As a result, there was an animosity within City Hall ranks towards Occupy Buffalo, a fact that contributed to the group getting booted from Niagara Square.

Lafayette Square

A half dozen individuals left Niagara Square and attempted to encamp in Lafayette Square without discussing their action with the rest of the group before doing so. The splinter group informed the media that Occupy Buffalo was expanding. Occupy Buffalo released a statement disassociating itself with the individuals who left stating they falsely represented Occupy Buffalo to the media and that Occupy Buffalo would continue to honor the agreement with the city and remain in Niagara Square only; On December 22, 2011, the Buffalo Police Department evicted the group from Lafayette Square with one arrest.

Eviction

On February 2, 2012, after 2am Buffalo Police forced demonstrators out of Niagara Square as a swat team waited on standby. Ten protesters who sat on the sidewalk and refused to leave were arrested for trespassing and disorderly conduct. The disorderly conduct charges were later dropped pending conditional terms.

Timeline

* October 1, 2011: The first

general assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

occurred. * October 8, 2011: The second general assembly was held and later in the evening the first tents were pitched in the park. * November 14, 2011: The protestors marched to various police and Sheriff's Office buildings to show their appreciation for the Buffalo Police * December 9, 2011:
formal agreement
for the ongoing, peaceful occupation of Niagara square is reached between the protestors and the city of Buffalo. * December 22, 2011: The Buffalo Police Department evicted splinter group from Lafayette Square * February 2, 2012: The permit for occupation of Niagara square expires and the Occupy Buffalo demonstrators are evicted. Post Eviction * May 21, 2014: Had an event to vote on donating Occupy Buffalo's bank account to an ill man.

Gallery

File: Occupy buffalo igloo.JPG, Igloo and Tipi File: Occupy buffalo1.jpg, Occupy Buffalo protesters camp, Niagara Square, Buffalo New York

References

Additional sources

* Graham, Tim (October 9, 2011.
"Protesters ‘Occupy’ Niagara Square."''Buffalo News''
Accessed October 2011.
"Occupy Buffalo in Niagara Square."
(Photos)
WIVB4 News
Accessed October 2011. * The Buffalo News (September 30, 2014.
"Federal judge dismisses Occupy Buffalo suit against FBI."''Buffalo News''
Accessed November 2014.

External links

Official website (archived)Occupy Buffalo photos
ctober 8, 2011 (Flickr)
"Occupy" photographs from around the nation
from the ''Denver Post'' {{Occupy movement Occupy movement in the United States Organizations based in Buffalo, New York Culture of Buffalo, New York