Forum Post: Occupy Wall Street protesters not noticeable one block away from Zuccotti Park, Mayor Bloomberg says

BY Erin Einhorn & Matt Lysiak NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Wednesday, November 9 2011, 12:54 PM

Despite ongoing gripes from lower Manhattan residents and businesses, Mayor Bloomberg insisted Wednesday that problems from Occupy Wall Streeters are largely limited to the area right around Zuccotti Park.

“If you go one block away from this park, you would never know it exists,” Bloomberg told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“Literally in any direction, one block away, there’s just nothing.”

In a neighborhood where protests are drowned out by the heavy construction of the World Trade Center redevelopment and the cacophony of jackhammers and blaring horns, some agreed with the mayor.

“I don’t hear them ever,” said Ivan Fedder, 56, who can see the protests in Zuccotti Park from the nearby vitamin shop where he works. “Not a noise, and we’re a block away.”

But the City Councilwoman Margaret Chin (D-Manhattan), who represents the neighborhood, said the impact of the protests goes far beyond the one-block perimeter.

“The protest has had ripple effects throughout lower Manhattan,” said Chin. “The bulk of protesters may be in the park, but they are also on the sidewalks, and they march through the neighborhood daily. . . . Local businesses are struggling. Almost all of them have had to fend off people trying to use their bathrooms. They deal with the noise, the trash and the smell.”

A worker at the nearby McDonald’s rolled his eyes when asked about the impact of the protests.

“What do you think?” he asked, gesturing to three protesters waiting to use the bathroom. “We spend half the day picking up their trash.”