Occupy Olympia settling into its home

The interaction goes both ways.

Members of Occupy Olympia took up a collection and raised $500 for the owner of one downtown business after the business was broken into and 11 bottles of wine were stolen.

This is some of the activity that has taken place at or near Occupy Olympia, one of several gatherings throughout the country that have sprung up following a larger protest known as Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Olympia began Oct. 15 at Sylvester Park and moved to Heritage Park a day later. By one estimate, 250 people are now living at Heritage Park, up from about 20 last month. There is food service, a first aid tent, regularly scheduled meetings for the residents and nearly 100 tents.

“We are taking care of our needs, meeting the needs of the community and addressing social and economic injustice,” said Alex Daye, 31, of Olympia, a former EMT who set up the medic tent and has helped with the camp’s basic infrastructure. He also has worked as a liaison between Occupy Olympia, the state Department of Enterprise Services and the Washington State Patrol.

As Occupy Olympia has settled into its routine, so, too has Enterprise Services, formerly known as the state Department of General Administration, the state agency that manages Heritage Park.

Since Occupy Olympia’s arrival, a conference call is held daily with the agency’s director, maintenance staff and the state patrol to assess the gathering, spokesman Steve Valandra said.

The state so far doesn’t have any big issues with the site and neither does the state patrol, he said.

“They don’t have them so we don’t have them,” Valandra said. “We want to avoid a confrontation.”

The maintenance staff picks up garbage daily, cleans bathrooms daily -- something that would normally be done for the park anyway -- and has provided an extra dumpster. Occupy Olympia members have agreed to provide bathroom supplies, he said.

This year it cost the state about $394,000 to maintain and operate the park.

Although Enterprise Services doesn’t have any big issues with the gathering, it still has some concerns. One is Occupy Olympia’s apparent evolution from a free-speech activity to more of a homeless encampment; another is that the agency would like to see the group apply for a 14-day permit, Valandra said. So far the group doesn’t want the permit because they don’t want to be tied to a specific time frame, he said.

The permit is free for a free-speech gathering -- it’s $75 for a commercial or private event -- and could be renewed repeatedly as long as it doesn’t conflict with another Heritage Park event. The permits are issued on a first-come, first-served basis, Valandra said. The next scheduled event for the park is a third annual sunrise ceremony, which is set for 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Nov. 24.

Occupy Olympia is a nearly unprecedented activity for Heritage Park and Enterprise Services. The closest thing Valandra could compare it to was a three-week vigil called Camp Rachel, which set up in the park in 2003 following the death of Rachel Corrie, a former student at The Evergreen State College. Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli Army bulldozer near the Palestinian town of Rafah on the Gaza Strip.

Enterprise Services also had some concerns about basic sanitation at Occupy Olympia and asked for assistance from Thurston County Public Health & Social Services Department.

The county health department inspected the site one day last week, checking how food was being handled, how garbage and water used for dishes were being disposed and whether Occupy Olympia members had access to bathrooms, said Art Starry, environmental health division director.

“Based on our first inspection, things looked pretty good,” he said, adding that the county likely will start inspecting the site weekly.

Meanwhile, one nearby business, Traditions Cafe and World Folk Art, finds itself occasionally hosting a meeting or serving coffee and tea to those members trying to escape from the rain. Other than that, Occupy Olympia has had a minimal effect on the business, said longtime manager Jody Mackey.

“They are working on really being a community,” she said.

Waterstreet Cafe proprietor Jeff Taylor, too, said the gathering had had no effect on his business.

“They’re there; we’re here; we’re co-existing,” he said.

Olympic Wine Merchant on Fourth Avenue, though, had a different kind of Occupy Olympia experience.

Owner Patrick Hub said his business was broken into and robbed about 4 a.m. Oct. 29. Three white males, thought to be 16 to 22 years old, stole 11 bottles of wine and later were tracked to Occupy Olympia by a K-9 unit. An Occupy Olympia member pointed out the general direction of the three suspects to police but they were not found. The case remains under investigation, Olympia police Sgt. Dan Smith said.

Occupy Olympia has a no illicit drugs, alcohol, dogs off leash or violence and aggressive behavior policy.

About nine bottles of wine were returned to the store and Occupy Olympia also took up a collection, raising $500 for the damage done to the store’s door. They delivered the money to Hub last Tuesday, he said. “It had nothing to do with them,” Hub said about Occupy Olympia. “I appreciated that they acted with some concern and responded in a thoughtful and considerate manner. I don’t hold it against them at all.”

Life, meanwhile, continues at Occupy Olympia, although Daye said the site is in need of tents, sleeping bags, blankets and other cold weather gear as the temperatures drop.

First aid concerns at Occupy Olympia have been limited to cuts and toothaches, but it has been more serious off site, he said.

A peace and safety committee formed by Occupy Olympia patrols the downtown streets at night and it has found people living on the street suffering from hypothermia. Some have been brought back to Occupy Olympia to get warm, but about a half-dozen also have been taken to hospitals, Daye said. Daye, who used to work for a private ambulance company for two years, said he was spurred to get involved with Occupy Olympia because he was “sick and tired of business as usual in this country.”

“It’s going in the wrong direction,” he said, adding that corporate America has too much influence, including in politics. “We’re fixing the system that puts profit before people,” Daye said.

Daye, whose wife and two children also live at Occupy Olympia, said he plans to remain at the site until “they drag me away.” But even then, that will only be the end of “this phase,” he said.

Renata Rollins, 29, of Olympia, remains committed to Occupy Olympia, too. Rollins, whose husband works for the state, said she knew she would get involved because the Occupy movement is a “systemic response to a sick (economic) system, one that stokes greed over cooperative values.”

She doesn’t spend every night at the site and has volunteered her time to help out at the media tent, to wash dishes and to wash bathrooms.

“I’m here as long as everyone else is here,” she said.

Rolf Boone: 360-754-5403

rboone@theolympian.com

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