While many of the Occupy protests have made headlines for causing disruptions on public property, the participants of Occupy Raleigh are embracing a different tact — buying into the system and actually renting land to set up their tents and stage their protests.
The occupiers set up camp on their newly rented land four blocks from the North Carolina State Capitol last week after a series of arrests at the Capitol and their failure to get permission to set up camp outside the Raleigh City Hall left them without a place to visibly protest.
Enter Rob Baumgart, owner of a company called Chatterbox Communications in Raleigh and a landowner with an eye for profit.
Baumgart told The Daily Caller that he had been following the local Occupy movement in the papers. When the city offered the occupiers a place to protest away from the Capitol, Baumgart had an idea.
“By them not wanting that spot it kind of led me to believe, ‘Hey there is an opportunity here to make a buck.’” he said. “I’m a small business owner, family man, we have a mortgage to pay, we have bills to pay. I figured, ‘Why not contact them and see if they would have interest in my land?’”
After haggling with the protesters — who initially thought Baumgart would donate the land — on the monthly rent, they are now leasing Baumgart’s 2,482-square-foot plot of land for $400 per month.
An anonymous donor paid for the remainder of November and a month in advance for December.
According to Baumgart, there are currently about 15 tents on his property, a porta-jon, and several communal tents including a library, sanitation tent and a tent for meetings.
Joseph Huberman, an Occupy Raleigh spokesman, told TheDC that bending to the mandates of the establishment initially divided the Raleigh movement.
“There were two opinions. One group thought it was fine — that is, the group of people that were sleeping out on the sidewalks,” Huberman said. “The group not on the sidewalks said, ‘oh no, it has to be public property.’”
He added that the protest will serve as a billboard for their concerns.
“The reason for occupying isn’t necessarily just to be in the face of the legislators but to be in a prominent spot where people will be reminded that we are still concerned about the inequities in our financial system and the gross accumulation of wealth to the one percent,” he said, adding that the strategy of leasing private land might actually help them get their message out more effectively.
“In Raleigh, it’s a very polite society. The idea of us hanging out, getting arrested and making a scene wasn’t going to be the most effective way of getting our message across,” Huberman said.
Baumgart noted that prior to leasing his land he had a relatively negative view of the occupiers.
“As I’ve gotten to know these people, here at Occupy Raleigh locally, they are eloquent and well educated,” said Baumgart. “I don’t seen anyone I would deem as ‘homeless,’ getting a free ride, and hanging out in a tent because it is fun. They are a group of people trying to convey a message.”
The Raleigh News and Observer reported Tuesday that local officials are looking into whether the tent village violates any laws.
“Just because it is an undeveloped parcel doesn’t mean anybody can do anything on it,” City Manager Russell Allen told the paper.