So-called “Occupy Wall Street” protesters around the country are critical of the excesses of corporations that they believe are making “too much” money. But they seem to have no qualms about forcing taxpayers in the cities where they are demonstrating to rack up excessive costs to manage the protests.
The Associated Press did a survey of just 18 of the cities where the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations have been taking place. It found police overtime and other services cost taxpayers in those cities alone at least $13 million over a two-month period. That does not include the expense of handling the protests in many other cities around the nation, so the true cost is almost certainly millions of dollars more.
In Atlanta alone, just two weeks of managing the demonstrations cost the city nearly half a million dollars, as protesters deliberately ignored reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on their activities.
In Los Angeles, protesters have done an estimated $200,000 worth of damage to a park. Asked about that harm, one demonstrator casually dismissed such concerns. He told the AP, “We’re here fighting corporate greed and they’re worried about a lawn?”
Don’t taxpayers have a right to be worried about the destruction of public property for which they paid good money?