Paul Bass Photo
Drew Peccerillo opened donated bundles of hay and stuffed them into the slats of nine pallets — as preparations hit high gear to keep a protest “occupation” on the upper Green through the winter.
Peccerillo (pictured) is one of the anti-corporate-greed activists who began dwelling in tents on the Green two weeks ago, bringing the national “Occupy Wall Street” movement to New Haven.
He and occupants of about 60 tents survived their first major test Saturday night, when a freak storm dumped heavy, wet snow on their encampment and battered it with high winds.
Five or six tents collapsed during the night, occupiers said Sunday. The rest held up, thanks in some cases to some smart planning.
The occupants spent Sunday fortifying their lodgings. Assuming that corporate influence over elections and government economic policy isn’t vanquished in the months ahead, the New Haven occupiers emerged from the storm determined to make it through the winter.
The goal: Have all 60 tents winterized and structurally reinforced by Friday, according to Peccerillo, a member of the occupation’s Sustainability Committee.
Peccerillo returned to his tent at 2 a.m. Sunday after working his shift as a bartender and server at Cask Republic. He had placed tarps over the tent to keep out moisture. But the stakes had come up; snow was building up in the tent.
It was too late and too dark for a big fix. So he cleared out the snow and went to sleep.
Sunday Peccerillo embarked on a longer-term fix. He measured the tent footprint. It’s “12 feet of my feet, by 9 feet of my feet; we don’t have all the tools” for more precise measurements, he said. Then he laid out nine pallets to cover the same area.
Next he ripped open some of the bales of hay people have donated to the occupation for winter insulation. Pecerrilo stuffed the slats with the hay to keep cold from the ground from seeping into the tent, which he planned to place atop the pallets.
Beyond that, he said, occupiers need to rely on wool blankets and other measures to stay warm. “It’s all about personal body warmth. The tents [just] keep us dry,” he said.
Charles Pagan and Danielle Trautman (pictured) had five blankets Saturday night. They also had each other. (They’re engaged.) So they stayed nice and warm, they said. They’re living in a grey and green North Face tent; a donor had stopped by the Green one day and asked them if they’d like to borrow it. It kept all the snow and water out.
In the “United Tents of America,” a few yards away, Tommy Doomsday of Seymour (at left in photo), Ryan Hughes of Norwalk (center) and a friend named Tizzle tried a different tack: They put their three individual tents together under one big tarp. They created an “atrium” in the middle where they generated “talking heat” and shared warm water and ramen noodles cooked on a propane heater. They stayed dry. They stayed warm.
“It’s like Voltron—all these little pieces became one gigantic thing,” said Doomsday, who’s 24.
The occupiers gave it two names: America Tent 2.0 (someone else grabbed 1.0) and the United Tents. The reason: “People think we’re un-American. We’re not. We’re trying to protect our freedom. This is not a hippie spot for us. We want change.”
Doomsday was asked how long he expects to be living in the United Tents of America on the New Haven Green.
“Until there’s change, man,” he said. “That’s the goal. Unless they try to kick us out.”
How will he determine whether enough change has occurred to merit folding up his tent?
“I would like to see human need come before profit,” he said.
It was suggested that might take a while. A whole lot more snowstorms may rage before that happens.
Any more specific possible benchmarks?
Doomsday considered the question.
“First remove money from politics,” he replied. “Make it so corporations can’t buy stock in presidents.”
Previous coverage of Occupy New Haven and Occupy Wall Street:
• Clergy Bless The Occupiers
• Occupiers Eye Clock Factory
• In New Haven, “Occupiers” Embrace The Cops
• Midnight Drug Warning Sparks Soul-Searching
• Emergency Session Poses Democracy Test
• The Password (The Password) … Is (Is) …
• 1,000 Launch New Haven’s “Occupation”
• Klein: Occupation Needs To Confront Power
• Whoops! Movement Loses $100K
• New Haven’s “Occupation” Takes Shape
• Occupy Branford: Wall Street Edition
• Anti-Bankers’ Dilemma: How To Process $$
• Labor, Occupiers March To Same Beat
• Protests’ Demand: A “World We Want To See”
• Protesters To Occupy Green Starting Oct. 15
• Wall Street Occupiers Page Verizon
• New Haven Exports “Free”-dom To Occupiers