From WRAL.com:
Members of the so-called “Occupy Raleigh” movement on Tuesday turned down an offer to set up a base in a downtown parking lot, saying it didn’t meet their needs.
The City Council was expected to vote Tuesday to prohibit the group from camping behind City Hall. A council committee last week rejected the group’s request to establish a base there so protesters could sleep, eat and have a portable bathroom.
City officials said allowing such a camp would reverse efforts to prevent people from sleeping on city property. They also cited concerns about security, cost, noise and potential crime.
Mayor-elect Nancy McFarlane brokered a deal for the protesters to set up camp in a private parking lot on Hillsborough Street, but members said the site was unacceptable. It was too small for their needs, it was too far from the State Capitol, where they have demonstrated peacefully for the past month, and it wasn’t in a safe area, they said, noting it was next to an abandoned building.
