The city will have to shell out thousands of dollars to fix Occupy New Haven’s damage to the Green, if and when it succeeds in removing the protest camp, according to city Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts.
The total cost for rehabilitating the Green will be approximately $25,000, Smuts said on Monday.
That includes seeding new grass where the six-month-old camp has worn away all the greenery. It also includes aerating and testing the soil and checking and treating trees and roots for damage, Smuts said.
The Occupy New Haven camp has held a patch of ground on the upper Green since Oct. 15, 2011. It has thwarted several attempts by the city to remove it. Most recently, on Tuesday, the city was forced to withdraw dozens of employees with heavy equipment who had already begun dismantling the camp after a federal appeals court in New York issued a restraining order.
The city has made damage to the Green a central argument in its case for the removal of occupiers. At a March 28 hearing, lawyers for the city told federal Judge Mark Kravitz that the occupiers are threatening the health of the trees on the Green by tying things to them and compressing their roots.
Besides the $25,000 figure, Smuts offered several other numbers Tuesday, including that the city spent an estimated $2,307.84 in police overtime for Tuesday’s aborted eviction proceedings on the Green.
The city has so far spent, very roughly, about $65,000 in police overtime associated with Occupy since the beginning of the camp, Smuts said. Plus, the city has spent about $2,000 per month on port-o-lets and trash removal, Smuts said.