"No one is the enemy," shouted Victoria Ross to the members of the Occupy Buffalo movement who had gathered at Niagara Square on Thursday afternoon to march to 350 Main St.: the Middle Market Regional Headquarters of Chase bank.
However, Chase is one of the enemies – or at least one of the targets – of the growing Occupy Buffalo movement.
Approximately 100 people gathered in front of the Main Place Tower to protest Chase's business practices, which the marchers called fascist, classist and shameful. "We are here to bail out the teachers, the nurses, the librarians, the children. We aren't here to get anything; we are here to give everything. We are the people you took everything from," said Natalie Luczkowiak, a Citizen Action representative participating in a "Chase got bailed out, we got sold out" chant led by Albert Brown.
After a series of rallying cries, the protestors entered the lobby of the Main Place Tower, where they were met with a wall of resistance in the form of four security guards who barred entrance to the 23rd floor, where Chase's offices are located. While there was security in the office building, there was no police presence during the event.
The Occupy Buffalo movement has been unmarked by the violence that has been seen in New York City and Boston, with the biggest issue thus far being the condition of the grass in Niagara Square.
Protestors had wanted to deliver a letter to the corporate office en masse but were denied. Ultimately, only two representatives were permitted upstairs by security. Organizers then planned to make photocopies of the original letter so that each individual with a grievance could schedule an appointment and hand-deliver a copy of the letter. Ross promised that the contents of the letter will also be mailed to The Buffalo News and be made available on the Occupy Buffalo movement's Facebook page.
During the entire hour-long event, many onlookers were supporting the protestors with clapping, cheers, and honking horns.
Not everyone supports the Occupy Buffalo movement, though.
"[The protestors] all want $25 an hour," said a man named Gilbert,who declined to reveal his last name.
As a local vendor at the farmers market, he contends that if he offered the protestors a job, they'd all turn him down.
"You've got to start on the ground floor if you want to get somewhere in this world," Gilbert said. "You have to start at $10 an hour and work your way up to $25 an hour."
Martin Wolanyk, a passerby, was also critical of the protestors.
"It seems to be a waste of time," Wolanyk said. "They don't have any suggestions. They're just mad that all the jobs have gone overseas for the past 20, 30 years."
But, there are some suggestions.
Gene Grabiner, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor at Erie Community College, offered up several alternatives. He suggests a cap on interest rates, nationalizing banks, stopping certain forms of speculation, and taxing Wall Street transactions.
Heron E. Simmonds-Price, adjunct professor of philosophy at Canisius College, also suggested banking at a credit union instead of at a traditional banking institution. "Credit unions don't engage in credit default swaps and derivative tradings," Simmonds-Price said. "The money you put in a credit union stays in your community; it supports your community. It supports your neighbors. Credit unions do things you understand. They help you buy a car, put your kids through college, [and] own a home." Robert, a 1980 UB civil engineering alumnus who declined to reveal his last name, had mixed reactions to the protest.
"These people are all very liberal. Why aren't they going after Cuomo?" Robert asked. "He supported Obama's jobs bill, but then he lays off state workers. He doesn't tax the rich to save state jobs. Why aren't they going after Cuomo?"
Chase is being targeted because it has the highest foreclosure rate among the big banks, according to Harold Miller, director of New York Communities for Change.
"There are 74 open [Chase] foreclosures in Buffalo," Miller said. "We are calling for the [loan] modification process to be transparent and timely. We can't have more families in the streets."
Additionally, Chase serves as the overseeing institution for the New York State unemployment debit card program. Chase also provides debit cards for six other states' unemployment programs, 15 states' child-support programs, and 26 states' food-stamp programs. The debit cards replaced paper checks in 2006, and New York State's Department of Labor contends that the move saved the state over $1 per check processed after accounting for printing and mailing fees.
The National Consumer Law Center, though, says that these debit cards are loaded with "obnoxious fees," including balance inquiry fees, overdraft fees and inactivity fees that burden already-strapped individuals.
Several towns and cities across New York – including Hempstead, Freeport, Binghamton, and Ithaca – have cut ties with the bank in protest. Some have refused to go the bank for any new bond issues, according to Miller.
Aaron, an HSBC banker who declined to reveal his last name, doesn't believe that protesting is going to change anything.
"It seems like a lot of it is show, without a lot of solid direction," Aaron said. "Reform would be good, but corporate law and all the regulations are structured to maximize profit and benefit shareholders. It doesn't look promising. I mean, I don't make a lot of money."
Miller, though, sees all the different factions as part of one big problem: corporate greed.
"It's like a rotten tree," Miller said. "All the branches [of the tree] are the lack of jobs, the home foreclosures, [and] the hydrofracking, but the root is greed. That's what unites all these causes. We've got to get greed out of politics. Right now, the person with the most money wins the election, not the person with the best ideas. We need to get rid of the lobbyists. We need clean money and clean elections. That's where we start."
Email: news@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
