Occupy protesters in for the long haul, they say

Niagara Square has become a whole new community.

Tents of all kinds are scattered throughout the inside of the circle. The occupants live their lives to the sounds of traffic, African drumming music and protests to corporate America.

By Oct. 8, some of the more dedicated of the 99 percent here in Buffalo had uprooted their lives and moved themselves to a place with a great view of City Hall as a part of the Occupy Movement.

"There are 40 to 50 people that sleep here," said John Washington, an ex-debt collector who quit his job to join the movement back in the middle of October. "Lots of other people come and go throughout the day."

The quasi-community consists of individual tents as well as two main tents, a food tent and a media tent, a medic tent and two portable toilets. The food and media tents are significantly larger than the rest of the tents. They are more like party tents as opposed to the camping tents of the individual people.

The food tent is where food is prepared and served. It provides a sort of common room with a table and chairs for the occupiers to hang out and get to know one another.

The living conditions are crude. The floors in the two main tents are covered in hay, and decorated with a collection of fliers and posters that speak out against corporate America.

There is some electricity available from City Hall that has been tapped into. Only one public computer exists on site, usually situated in the food tent. It has a webcam that streams live to the Internet at http://www.livestream.com/occupyblo to show the world what the occupiers are doing.

According to those camping out in Niagara Square, one important aspect of their daily lives is a general assembly meeting held each day in the evening, which is focused on decision-making.

"Items are proposed, items are approved. There are a lot of hand signals involved, less verbal communication, more body language," said John P. Roszman, a college-educated U.S. veteran who currently works as a can-refund man. "If you're on board with something, you give a sign. Everyone is heard."

According to Roszman, Monday morning was trash morning. Those camping out got together and helped to clean the square and take the trash out to the dumpsters. He said that every morning they get together and pick something that needs to be done, such as trash duty or protest duty, and they do it.

Those involved say that everyone there works together to keep the camp functioning smoothly. Some of the people staying the in square, like Roszman, perform "fire watch" duties at night. This does not mean they expect fires at night, but there could be one, so the purpose of "fire watch" duties is to protect the rest of the camp from possible emergencies.

Many people who had started to camp out in front of City Hall in early October still haven't left. They have been living in tents for more than a month. Some have quit their jobs to be there. Some have just been laid off and might not have anywhere else to be.

Everyone who comes through the area is taken care of. They are given food, shelter and clothing, and are welcomed in with open arms. Everything they have to give out is free to the occupiers and often comes from donations. If people come through and don't have a tent, they are offered a sleeping bag and a place in the media tent.

"I got kicked out of my house. I came here and sat down, and within 20 minutes I was given socks, shoes, two coats, a hat and breakfast," said Uriel Courier, as he tried to speak above the drum circle behind him. Courier works multiple jobs and had just arrived at the camp the previous day.

The people who work and live at or around City Hall have said different things about the occupiers and their movement. They say that the daily responsibilities and living conditions would prevent them from participating.

"I am proud of them. I would join them if the temperatures were warmer," said Deirdre Cotter, who works as the senior citizen specialist at City Hall. "It's cheaper than my rent."

And not everyone you might see in front of City Hall is camping there.

Dave Pragel, an ex-sales trainer said he feels he is able to do more for the cause by being mobile and coming in and out. He said he has spent about 20 hours at the camp so far and plans to donate his mattress to the medical tent and then move to the camp on a more permanent basis.

The occupiers say they don't plan on leaving anytime soon. They are currently making adjustments to their tents to prepare for the winter by adding extra tarps to the tents for insulation and planning new events to help spread their message to the one percent.

Mia Summerson can be reached by email at summerson.record@live.com.