Occupy Binghamton Braces for Winter

It's the sixty first day of Occupy Binghamton and the number of tents has started to dwindle.

But not everyone is sad to see them go....

"It's an eye sore for the people who live around here and try to make it look nice. And I think it's a clever facade on their part to have a place to live for free," said Melanie Depew.

A bartender on State Street who wants to remain anonymous says she even offered to give one protestor a job application, but he declined.

"Why get a job when you can just get everything for free? Where's the incentive to get a job?" said Melanie Depew.

Occupiers say the number of tents is not representative of the number of people staying there because they are bunking together for warmth.

Because of the cold weather, they've consolidated several tents under this tarp. The tarp acts as a wind barrier, while also keeping in the warmth.

"It's pretty warm with all the tarps on the tents. It keeps the heat in," said John Graham.

Graham says some people sleep at their home or a friend's house and come back to protest during the day.
  
But even the protestors see a bright side to the winter weather because the number of bar goers has gone down with the temperature.

"They'll try and come in and want to urinate on the tents and they'll try and start fights and yell things across the street," said Lauren Cemelli.

There remains a core group of about 10 protestors who have no plans to leave.

In fact, they want to remodel.

"On the 21st we're getting our yurt, which is a Mongolian cabin. That'll be delivered here and it's going to stay here after we leave for beautification of the park," said John Graham.

Graham says the protestors raised $1,400 in donations to pay for the Yurt, which he says  Mayor Matt Ryan gave them permission to put on the corner of State and Court Street.
  
Occupiers are also looking for sustainable energy alternatives.

"We're going to try and build a bicycle generator so that we'll have green energy," said Lauren Cemelli.

The protestors say their willingness to fight the cold shows how dedicated they are.