By MATT CHANDLER
mchandler@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1654

Traffic is brisk on a cool November morning in downtown Buffalo. Commuters pour into the city, with hundreds passing through Niagara Square on their way to work. But on this day, Niagara Square feels more like Times Square. Horns are blaring, people are shouting from open car windows and an energy fills the air that is atypical.

Welcome to Occupy Buffalo.

What began as a movement by disgruntled Americans against financial institutions and corporate America on Wall Street has reached Western New York and beyond. Citizens are taking to the streets and vowing to stay put until their collective voice is heard.

In the five weeks since the first tent appeared across from Buffalo City Hall, the numbers have swelled. Now, more than 40 tents are home to people looking to raise awareness and stir the consciousness of Americans. Thousands have taken part in the effort. 

So who are the occupiers?

College students, veterans, fathers, mothers, the unemployed and the very employed. They share a common bond, saying they are fed up.

Albert Brown is one of the original occupiers. Most days he can be found, sign around neck, waving to cars and trying to spread the word to passersby. But Brown declines to be identified as a leader of the movement. 

"We don't have leaders per se," he said. "We are a horizontal movement. The concept is: When you have vertical power, a hierarchy, it is very easy to buy out a leader and corrupt the group. But if you don't have a leader, that is much more difficult."

Without leadership, how does the organization accomplish anything?

Brown said it can present challenges, but he also calls the structure the purest form of democracy.

"We aren't looking for representatives to solve problems for us," he said. "Obviously, they create more problems than they solve."

According to Brown, it is early in the movement to get specific about the desired outcome.

"There is an end game, (but) it's not going to be articulated yet," he said. "This movement is just getting started, and I would say to those people that are trying to frame this, resist that. We want to talk about why we are here, not what we hope to gain."

John Washington said he knows why he is in downtown Buffalo, holding a sign, greeting people and spreading the message. At 26, he has a political science degree and worked as a debt collector. He picked up a flyer announcing the formation of the movement and knew he wanted to be part of it. Four days after arriving in Niagara Square, he quit his job and hasn't looked back.

"I realized that as much as I had talked about it, I had turned my conscious off for the money," he said. "I saw the results of our system working in debt collections, but I ignored it."

Washington is encouraged by the growing number of people who stop by and predicts the effort will get stronger in the coming weeks and months.

"You walk around here and everybody has their own individual story. The longer you are here, the more injustices you see," he said. "I came down here pissed off for five reasons and now I'm pissed off for a thousand."

Mike Mottern of Kenmore, meanwhile, has been with Occupy Buffalo for three weeks. He said he feels a family connection to the ideals of fighting back.

"I had a great-great uncle who was part of the Bonus Army March in 1932 when the veterans were fighting for their bonuses," Mottern said. "He did his duty during a Great Depression and now I'm doing my duty during a great recession."

There's a misconception that the organization is anti-business, he said.

"Even as a socialist, I don't believe in the overthrow of capitalism. I'm not against private enterprise or small businesses. What I do believe in is a humanization of capitalism turned into a Scandinavian liberal paradise," he said.

When asked if the nationwide protests will result in wholesale reform, Mottern said, "This is the age of Aquarius. I believe anything is possible."

He isn't alone in his optimism. And Occupy Buffalo is not without supporters. Horn-honking and yelling aside, people have stopped by with hot meals, doughnuts and coffee, as well as words of encouragement. While some protesters across the country have encountered resistance at the government level,  in Buffalo they have been left alone so far. Last week, the Common Council agreed to waive the $500 assembly cost for the group.

Mayor Byron Brown also weighed in on the protest.

"As long as they are orderly - and they have been - we don't have a problem with Occupy Buffalo," he said.

Albert Brown, meanwhile, said about 50 people occupy Niagara Square overnight. During the day the number swells to 100, with as many as 300 turning out on Saturdays.

"You've got working, middle-class folks here who have had enough," he said. "They've privatized the profit and socialized the losses to us."

There have been suggestions to relocate the movement to the waterfront, but protesters said that's not likely.

Linda Abrams is among the Occupy Buffalo participants who don't sleep overnight but are regulars during the day. The owner of Alternate Roots, a counseling center in Hamburg, said she questions those who are trying to shift it from Niagara Square.

"The beauty of democracy is that everybody is entitled to have their opinion," she said. "But in my vision of the world that I am hoping to co-create with other people, we honor every contribution."

As protesters continue to arrive and the so-called tent city bustles with midday activity, Albert Brown offered a final thought for those who want the occupation to end.

"The support from the working-class folks that make the city run has been wonderful and we aren't going anywhere. We are going to be right here in the spring."