The crowd gathered in the City Council chambers for Monday night’s meeting was the largest Councilor David Brown had ever seen in almost eight years as an elected official. Occupy Charlottesville members and symphatizers came out full force to sway Councilors to let them stay in Downtown’s Lee Park indefinitely, thus lifting the park’s 11pm curfew.
After more than three hours of heartfelt pleas and moving confessions, they got their wish. City Councilors deferred the curfew decision, thus delaying a formal stance that would define the future of the camp. They proposed, on the suggestion by The Rutherford Institute, opening a dialogue between the group and the City of Charlottesville to find alternate locations for the occupation and possibly extend the camping permit.
The overwhelming majority of speakers supported Occupy Charlottesville’s current camp ground in Lee Park. Occupier Bailee Elizabeth Hampton told Councilors she had collected 27 letters from residents and 434 signatures in support for Occupy Charlottesville. Former City Council candidate Brandon Collins asked for the curfew to be lifted and acknowledged the city’s “legal right to remove us” and the “legal right to leave us there, too.” 
“We are asking you which side you are on,” he said.
It was UVA Professor Daniel Bluestone, however, who caused the biggest uproar and was granted a standing ovation. Bluestone, a vocal opponent of the Meadow Creek Parkway and a known figure at City Council meetings, told Council that if occupiers were forced to leave their current occupation space, then the Robert E. Lee statue that anchors the park should leave as well; if the group were to follow the curfew rules, so should the statue.
More after the photos.
Occupy Charlottesville rallied at Lee Park before marching to City Hall.
Occupiers marched on the Downtown Mall on their way to City Hall.
The crowd in the City Council chambers wearing red in sign of passion and solidarity. Chiara Canzi photos.
Although a handful, those who opposed letting the group camp in Lee Park came forward and stated their case. Elizabeth Breeden, who is on the board of PACEM, the seasonal night shelter, voiced her concerns about the homeless who choose the sleep in Lee Park rather than seek shelter. Because many before her invoked their First Amendment rights of free speech for remaining in the park, she said she did not see any connection between free speech and camping in a public space.
Mark Kavit, president of the the North Downtown Residents Association, said residents feel unsafe walking down the Mall and around the neighborhood.
In the end, however, City Council chose to side with the group. Both Mayor Dave Norris and Councilor Brown told the group they did not want to “stifle” the movement. “I want to see you continue,” said Norris.
Councilor Satyendra Huja said he would have extended the permit until the end of the year and Kristin Szakos argued that free speech didn’t “expire at 11pm” or at Thanksgiving.
The group’s permit is set to expire on November 26, the day after Thanksgiving and it is unclear what the city’s actions will be. In the event that city officials decide not to renew the permit to camp in Lee Park, as they have indicated, Norris said he expect an easy transition. “We are not going in in the middle of the night to evict them from the park,” he said last week.
For more on Occupy Charlottesville, click here.
