OWS: Decrying Big Business, Killing Small Business
Who's Occupy Wall Street hurting? The food cart owners. Alex Klein writes at New York Mag's Daily Intel:
Even as Occupy Wall Street protesters are decrying the grip of big business on America, they are causing angst for some small business that are well within the 99 percent: The New York food carts and tourist stands that surround Zuccotti Park. And while the occupation has been compared to the Arab Spring and Tahrir Square, the mostly Egyptian kebab cookers and breakfast sellers who are losing their livelihoods aren't too sure.Zizi Elnagouri, a voluble native of Alexandria, Egypt, has spent five years selling pastries on the corner of Cedar and Broadway. She whirled her hands as she spoke, flapping her apron to make a point. "From the beginning of this, we lost all our business," she lamented. Elnagouri took matters into her own hands, venturing out into the square to tell the occupiers "we are out of business." Some were glad and others sympathetic. But Zizi was shocked. "I couldn't believe they were American. Do you see how they look? What they are wearing? I don't believe. This must be the Third World!" Zizi is accustomed to well-fed New Yorkers in suits, not people begging for free doughnuts. "Sometimes they buy coffee ... it depends on who gives them money."
...In the crush of the park, it's difficult to move the carts from place to place at the beginning and end of the day. For Ahmed and Mustafah Abed, both New Yorkers, this means an all-night hot-dog vigil. "We can't leave. People are sleeping in the park, so if we leave, we can't bring our cart back in," said Ahmed. His father, another Egyptian immigrant, has owned the stand on the corner "since before they built the World Trade Center." But now, his sons have had to join on permanently to keep the family business alive. Though they sympathize with the occupation's aims, Ahmed says their stand has lost most of its old customers. "I support what the protesters are saying ... but man, this is bad."
This is a good point, I hope the demonstrators see this and make a point to buy from the pushcarts
NicoleK at October 17, 2011 12:14 AM
I hope the weather turns bad.
MarkD at October 17, 2011 5:17 AM
Amy,
Funny/pathetic story about Occupy Seattle. I heard this from a friend who comes from a cop family, Seattle PD among them.
Apparently an officer was sitting in his car, peacefully keeping an eye on the sitch, light bar running. So this dirty hippie comes over, knocks on the window, and says, "Um, hi, can you maybe turn that thing off, cause it's really bothering us." Which the officer refused to do.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we have a big old help wanted sign up and nobody has asked for an app except for a couple of crackheads. *Plenty* of shitty $10.00 per jobs in Seattle, which is all these people would be eligible for even in a good economy. I really want to go down there in a suit and start conducting mock interviews--"And what skills would *you* bring to the table? Oh, you expect me to teach you *everything* and pay you $40,000 per year for the privilege? And you want 3 weeks paid vacation a year? Ok, good luck with that."
deathbysnoosnoo at October 17, 2011 9:12 AM
Can't say that the hippy in that story did anything serious. I mean if the situation is peaceful and the cop isn't going somewhere, why have the light flashing? Am I missing something? I can't remember the last time I've sided with a dirty hippy, but I just don't see the issue there?
As far as the second part of your statement about labor...well hell you make a damn good point.
Robert at October 17, 2011 9:41 AM
And so the media blitz continues, attempting to portray Americans exercising their Constitutional rights as some sort of threat.
Out come the cameras, the cops, the snarling Fox commentators, all orchestrated to remind us that speaking out against the wealthy and powerful and their stranglehold on our country is dangerous to our own personal health and freedom.
See that dirty hippy getting arrested for carrying a sign? That could be you. Be careful. Be complacent. Be quiet.
No more complaints about the TSA pushing back against the outspoken, please. Either we support the Constitution or we do not. It is not a dim sum cart.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at October 17, 2011 10:13 AM
"I support what the protesters are saying ... but man, this is bad."
Meh, cry me a river. Somehow I'm sure he'd decry any tea party type folks as racist.
Gog, I'd tolerate them and their free speech if the whole thing didnt reek of socialism, redistribution. And that the media wasn't championing them while they make violent statements (crosshairs on a website anyone?) and call tea partiers as violent wackos for daring to protest at all or carry weapons on their person.
I agree with them that wall street is greedy and corrupt but calling for redistribution and more government control (a government in lock step with wall street no matter the party) is not the answer.
Sio at October 17, 2011 11:07 AM
"Gog, I'd tolerate them and their free speech if the whole thing didnt reek of socialism"
Exactly. We don't agree with their politics so they don't get to enjoy their Constitutional rights.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at October 17, 2011 12:55 PM
"We don't agree with their politics so they don't get to enjoy their Constitutional rights."
Really, Gog? It seems to me that these types of protestors always think their "rights" involve trampling all over everyone else's rights. Or that their cause and their holy self-righteousness somehow transcends law and order.
I don't like the current system, but I certainly prefer it to mob rule and their inherit sense of entitlement.
Dar at October 17, 2011 5:24 PM
I'll support them on their protest against "Corporate Greed" the moment every single one of them gives up their iPhone (or other smart phone) and their laptops.
Hell I won't even go that far. How about they give up everything that is made in batches more than 500. That should be simple -- no jeans, no sneakers, no t-shirts, no North Face jackets.
I had a pair of custom made military boots made for about $75 in Korea about 20 years ago. Buying the standard boots on base was about the same cost. That was the differential in the dollar and the economy. I'm pricing out having a pair of boots made for going to renaissance festivals. (Both local cobblers and ren cobblers.) I'm looking at north of $400 either way. If it weren't for corporate greed and standardization of large scale manufacturing, everything would probably cost like that.
Jim P. at October 17, 2011 9:02 PM
Robert,
What the hippie did wrong is prove that he and his friends are pussies. If they really really want jobs, they need to be prepared to not have things arranged to their liking at all times.
deathbysnoosnoo at October 18, 2011 8:41 AM
"It seems to me that these types of protestors always think their "rights" involve trampling all over everyone else's rights. Or that their cause and their holy self-righteousness somehow transcends law and order."
But the argument isn't over what things seem to be to you or to me (channeling Dr. Seuss...), it's about this media push to demonize American citizens exercising their Constitutional rights to assembly and free speech.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at October 18, 2011 10:17 AM
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