Occupy Madison members will be allowed to stay at Token Creek until March 17 after 13 campers accepted a permit deadline extension deal from the county Friday.
Dane County officials offered Token Creek camp residents the option to move out on the original permit expiration date of Feb. 17 or accept the extended date under the stipulation that the county will not consider any extended camping privilege requests for winter 2013.
Following weeks of campers requesting the county extend their Token Creek permit deadline to May 1 to give its members a place to stay the winter they begrudgingly accepted the offer.
“We don’t consider this not much of a choice, since there is no legal place to go,” campers said in a written response to the county. “The current group camping at Token Creek will take the extension to March 17th with three requests and two concerns.”
First, Occupy members asked the county to supply transportation of materials from the camp back to the city on March 17.
“There were 4 trucks and a trailer used to forcibly move people to Token Creek and we do not have the resources to provide this kind of transportation back to the City of Madison,” the campers said.
They also requested county officials be understanding if there is extreme weather just before or on March 17 that would inhibit a timely evacuation, and that they be allowed to return to Token Creek after the move-out date to retrieve materials that may freeze to the ground without being punished for leaving the camp in a disorderly manner.
Occupy members’ concerns included the estimated 157 men who will be denied access to Porchlight shelters on and after March 10 because they will have already spent their allotted 60 stays per year, and will have no place to go because county camp grounds do not open until April 16.
The members also expressed their apprehension of the deal in their response under the terms that future campers will not receive a permit to stay on “county owned property” next winter.
“Hopefully, none of the current people at Token Creek will need to stay there next year, but others may, and it is unfair to commit, in their absence and on their behalf that they cannot ask for a permit next winter,” campers said.
Since moving to Token Creek in May 2012, 100 people have camped with Occupy Madison, according to the response.
