The Point Park News Service investigated Occupy Pittsburgh and reported on the stories they found. View them below.

By Emily Petsko

A cardboard pathway embedded in mud leads to Kaden Sylvers’ tent. It’s the first one on the right at the Occupy Pittsburgh campsite next to BNY Mellon in Downtown. Propped against his tent – a temporary home for three people – is a sign that reads, “Don’t forsake your dreams for $.”

Sylvers, 21, of Bloomfield, is one of many who joined the movement to protest the capitalist system. As a junior studying fiction writing at the University of Pittsburgh, he hopes to someday become a published author. Yet with soaring student loans and an economy that does not foster an appreciation for the arts, he is not so sure he can follow his dreams and still be able to pay the bills.

“It’s about time for some sort of movement and to start taking to the streets again,” Sylvers said.
Two days after the Occupy Pittsburgh march, the Downtown campsite Monday evening is quiet and subdued but not voiceless. Cardboard signs in front of shabby tents and a chain-linked fence display political messages like “Tax the rich, too,” or “Peace,” or even “Ron Paul 2012.”

While there may not be one unified theme, Sylvers said the most important thing is raising awareness for different issues.

“Everyone here believes different things, but we can still get along,” he said.

Sylvers met Hallie Catz, 18, of Bloomfield, at the campsite Saturday and the two have stuck together since then. Catz said she joined the cause “out of hopelessness” because her waitressing job could hardly support herself and she was fed up with her situation.

Although she said there is no easy solution to issues like the job crisis or unaffordable student tuition, it’s a step in the right direction.

“It’s not just reaching a goal,” she said. “It’s building a platform.”

—-

By Emily Myers

Kavin Paulray, 30, a Ph.D. student from the University of Pittsburgh, knows the Occupy Pittsburgh General Assembly needs supplies but what he brings is something much more intellectual: a Mexican History book.

Paulray hopes to find someone who is interested in the topic and give him or her the book.

“I’m going to try and come every day and bring something people need,” Paulray said.

The protest on the corner of Grant and Sixth streets draws Paulray to be part of the presence of people who are all occupying Pittsburgh for their own reasons, he said. As Paulray sees it there are three sides: those who are there for the “process of a democratic movement,” those who are there for the anti-capitalism movement, and those who are there with Occupy Wall Street.

Paulray talked about the Wall Street bail out, the housing market, and the financial system as a whole for why people are upset and out to protest.

—-

By Debbie Hilton

Jeremy Koweldeski, a self-employed graphic designer and aspiring artist, shakes his head at any mention of corporate greed and political lobbying in our nation.

Although this 31-year-old senior at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh works for a living, he protests downtown as one of the many voices about corporations and politics.

“We need to put an end to all this corporate lobbying and corporate greed,” Koweldeski said as he blew a puff of smoke in the air. “The power of influence between the corporations and the politicians needs to come to an end.”

“Occupy Pittsburgh,” whose tent city, cardboard sidewalks, and poster boards have taken over the green area in front of the Bank of New York Mellon Center, is not planning to disappear anytime soon despite cold temperatures and flagrant stares from bystanders.

Koweldeski, who referenced Pittsburgh’s group of protesters to Common Cause, a non-profit advocacy group in Washington D.C., explained that they don’t want the government to sympathize with them but to just help them.

“We don’t want a handout or anything like that,” Koweldeski further explained. “We would eventually like to have a law against corporate bribery. I believe that this country could default by 2013.”

—-

By Colleen Ferguson

Rich Fishkin is making a statement alongside the Occupy Pittsburgh protesters – just not with picket signs and solidarity chants.

Armed with only a video camera and a desire to highlight the voices of those in protest, Fishkin is an example of how the Occupy movements have developed into a worldwide phenomenon: the Web.

“I’m here to amplify their free speech,” Fishkin said Monday evening, standing on soggy cardboard walkways in the middle of the Occupy Pittsburgh campsite Downtown. “I want to put air into the free speech movement, and peace movement at the same time. And to show our solidarity with other similar movements around the world.”

The documentary filmmaker from Pitcairn was originally drawn to the movement because of the media coverage it was receiving. However, he was not happy with the way the local media had covered international issues.

“Pittsburgh is a classic case of a small town without a real people’s voice,” Fishkin said. “I always say, ‘We’re fiddling while Rome is burning.”

—-

By Ed Neuhaus

Tim McDonald came to Occupy Pittsburgh Monday because he believes the time has come for change in government.

McDonald, 21, carried a sign saying, “The real issue: voter turnout.” He believes that political apathy has led to a culture where government is not held accountable.

“The local government isn’t working out for me,” McDonald said.

McDonald was among dozens of protesters who occupied Mellon Green Park in downtown Pittsburgh in hopes of speaking out against a number of varying issues.

He felt that even though the message ofprotesters may not have been entirely streamlined, the fact they were speaking out was better than simply staying silent.

He said he came to the protest to help out in whatever way he could. “I’m here to see what we can do.”

—-

By Adam Cagle

Tom Samuelson has a scruffy beard, large rings that stretch out his earlobes, thick dark-rimmed glasses — and a full-time job.

Each day after work, Samuelson, 24, of Bloomfield heads down to the green outside of Mellon Bank in downtown Pittsburgh to join the other members of Occupy Pittsburgh, a group that aims to express mass injustice and the consequences of corporate greed

“Get a job,” is heard bellowing out of a passing car.  The advice is such a common occurrence that a tally board was created to keep trackof the number of times it is yelled by passersby.

“I do have a job,” Samuelson responds. “I work 45 hours a week.”

—-

By Dar White Natale

Lacie McDonald has a good job at a Pittsburgh law firm and feels fortunate.

She comes to Mellon Square after work to join “Occupy Pittsburgh” because she wants change. Her focus is the issues that concern women’s health and rights.

She said the common denominator of the people at Occupy Pittsburgh is the desire for change. Some people are seeking election reform and others want banking reform, peace and health care.

McDonald said she feels very fortunate to have a good job and health care that many people do not.

She held a sign that said, “Prioritize the health and safety of women.” She said she is concerned about Planned Parenthood not being funded and also about a bill that passed through the House of Representatives that would permit hospitals to deprive women of emergency care when they are suffering a miscarriage. She said domestic violence is another issue that concerns her.