The city of San Jose is offering an olive branch to the Occupiers.

If members of the group agree not to set up tents on the City Hall plaza for the next two years, the city will drop all civil charges against them.

That's the essence of the "civil compromise'' sent Monday by Senior Deputy City Attorney Shannon Smyth-Mendoza to Occupiers who were cited for city code violations during the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in early October and ended late last month. The city violations include trespassing, setting up a chair or structure on city plaza property and staying at the plaza after 11 p.m.

City Attorney Rick Doyle said there are about a dozen people eligible for this compromise.

"It's a fair result," he said.

Daniel Mayfield, an attorney who has offered to help the loose-knit group, said that he knows of three Occupiers who have already signed the compromise.

"This is the best deal in the world," Mayfield said. "When all you have to do is agree not to violate a law in the future and the other side says they'll drop all the charges? Of course, I recommended it."

One person who hasn't signed off is the most notable of the San Jose Occupiers: Shaun O'Kelly, aka Cracker, who lived atop a City Hall wall for nearly a month.

He faces several city violations and was supposed to appear in court Monday. But friends say he's headed back to his home state of Florida.

It's not as though the Occupiers

are caving by signing the compromise, Mayfield said. There are still other ways they can get their message out. For example, Occupy San Jose is continuing to hold protest marches around Wells Fargo and Bank of America branches in downtown San Jose. Shaunn Cartwright, an unofficial Occupy San Jose spokeswoman, said the group managed on Friday to shut down three banks for the last hour of business that day.

Cartwright faces a trespassing violation, but has not been sent a compromise letter by the city.

"And if I do, I'm not sure I'd sign it," she said. "We're not camping, we're occupying."

Contact Lisa Fernandez at 408-920-5002. Follow her on Twitter @ljfernandez.