Occupy St. Louis – the Tent People - Protest or Commune?

Every day I pass by Keiner Plaza while commuting by bus to my job in downtown St. Louis. Keiner Plaza is a lovely park with a half circle pavilion, waterfall, and beautiful beds of flowers. This city park is where many newly married couples come to have their wedding pictures taken. If you stand at the Seventh Street entrance and look out over the waterfall, you can see the old state capitol building and the Gateway Arch in the back. It truly makes for a great picture. That was until the Occupy people took over.

Now when I pass by Keiner Plaza, all I see are dirty tents, dirty people, discarded furniture, food stands, and trash everywhere. There are so many tents that they actually overlap each other on the sides. There may be a variety of people there from all walks of life, but when I pass by, all I see are a few homeless people and a few men standing on the sidewalk holding signs. I do not think anyone actually uses the tents unless someone wants to take a nap during the day, because there is curfew at night and the police have arrested a few people for not abiding by it.

I looked up Occupy St. Louis on Facebook and from the information posted there; it appears to be more of a commune than a protest. They hold meetings about which bank they will protest next and where, about using "donated" money to have the port-a-potty cleaned because it is starting to stink, and when yoga classes will be held. They post about the food donated by local unions. There are also posts from some protester who are complaining that some are not doing their fair share at the plaza.

What is happening at Keiner Plaza does not resemble a protest. Keiner Plaza has become a community of people who live in tents and beg for money to keep them living in tents.

I heard on the news that the Occupy protests have had $300,000 donated to them. Who handles this money? Do they put it in a bank? That would be an oxymoron. Maybe they keep it in a coffee can and bury it in the park somewhere.

Whatever their cause, I will just be glad when they are gone and the park is restored to its beauty.