Inquirer Editorial: Time for Occupy Philly to strike the tents

The Occupy Philly protesters have worn out their welcome at their tent-city encampment on Dilworth Plaza in Center City.

For the Occupy movement nationally, it's also time to reassess its strategy to bring about economic, governmental, and social change. Americans struggling to emerge from a devastating recession don't see how the Occupy camp-outs are making any difference.

With their numbers in Philadelphia swelled by the homeless, reports of a weekend rape in a tent, the arrest Tuesday of two men who police say punched others at the site, and with what city officials view as a growing public-health threat from unsanitary conditions and fire hazards, it's clearly time for the Occupy Philly contingent to move on.

Beyond the obvious fraying of conditions at the loosely organized protest, the local Occupy folks are standing in the way of a $50 million makeover of the plaza due to start this month.

As Mayor Nutter points out, the transformation of the dingy, granite plaza beside City Hall into an inviting setting with a large lawn, groves of trees, a stunning fountain, benches, and a café will create an oasis for anyone who frequents Center City. In other words, it will benefit the 99 percent of people whom Occupy protesters contend they represent.

Certainly, it's not a project solely for the fat cats - that wealthiest 1 percent of the populace - who, in some protesters' view, stand as symbols of the prosperity beyond the reach of so many.

In fact, the Dilworth makeover would mean more than 800 union construction jobs over a 27-month period, and a smaller number of permanent jobs when the plaza work is completed.

While it might have been possible to resolve safety issues at the Dilworth encampment, there's simply no way around the need to begin the process of dismantling the plaza for the renovation.

Nor is there any good reason to delay the work, which has been in the planning stages for nearly three years - and overdue for at least a couple of decades.

Surely, the protest could be moved nearby with better safeguards, as city Managing Director Richard Negrin has been discussing with Occupy Philly representatives. But a group of protesters on Friday said they wouldn't move until authorities - as happened Monday night in New York City - moved in to clear the site.

What's unclear is how such a senseless confrontation would do anything to advance a call for justice that strikes a chord with so many people.