Occupy Albany protesters camped out across the street from the State Capitol for the fourth day say they have no intention of leaving anytime soon.
One of the organizers of Occupy Albany, Colin Donnaruma, a graduate student at SUNY Albany, says he thinks the people camped out in more than a dozen tents in a park across from the Capitol will be a “sustained presence”, despite the increasingly chilly upstate New York weather.
“Just as the weather is getting colder, the budget process is going to be getting warmer,” said Donnaruma, referring to upcoming legislative session and talks on the new state budget.
“We might be looking for an indoor space,” he said.
When asked if he meant the State Capitol building, Donnaruma answered “no comment”. While the protesters have a variety of complaints, Donnaruma says he’s most concerned about cutbacks at SUNY and recent tuition hikes, and he backs calls for a continued tax on the state’s millionaires. He and some of the other protesters have begun calling Governor Cuomo, who wants the tax to expire, “Governor One Percent”.
