 |
 |
BY MARTIN ESPINOZA
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
There is a measure of uncertainty over what will happen Saturday afternoon at Santa Rosa City Hall — as organizers of the local Occupy movement prepare to erect an illegal tent city even as police officials warn that they will take the necessary steps to stop them.
(l to r) Tess McDermott of Sebastopol, Joe Sorensen of Santa Rosa and Renee Mitchell of Cotati were among 20 Occupy Santa Rosa protesters in front of City Hall on Monday. JOHN BURGESS/PD
The possible showdown in Santa Rosa comes at a time when key Occupy movements around the country are entering new ground, becoming increasingly confrontational, particularly in Oakland, where police in riot gear used tear gas and other non-lethal munitions against occupy demonstrators.
Few are expecting that level of confrontation to take place in Santa Rosa, where for the most part demonstrators have worked cooperatively with police and city officials. But Occupy organizers said they are ready for a different tactic, partly because their movement has begun to flounder.
“We are prepared to be arrested,” said Will Kelly, an Occupy organizer who has had meetings with city officials, including the city manager and police officials.
“They don’t know what to expect and we don’t know what to expect,” he said, regarding the planned action.
City Manager Kathy Millison said Friday that the city respects local demonstrators right to free speech and that she personally understands what is motivating the global protests. But she said that the police have a mission to maintain law and order.
“We have an obligation to the community as a whole,” she said, adding that the Occupy participants are “one part of the community, but we have an obligation to maintain law and order for the entire community as a whole.”
Occupy organizers began handing out fliers this week announcing that they intended to set up pitch tents and that they wanted more people to participate. Kelly said it’s been a struggle to get more people involved in the movement.
On Friday afternoon, Joanna Cedar of Sebastopol stopped by the Occupy site on her way to the DMV office. Cedar, a former Santa Rosa High School teacher, asked Kelly what she could do to help.
Cedar, who is not currently working because she cares for her elderly father and two children, said that while she supports the Occupy movement, she does not have the free time to physically attend the rallies.
“I’m supportive of them because they’re doing something that I cannot do at this point in my life,” she said.
Occupy organizers said they hope today’s turnout will be significant, despite the kickoff today of an occupy rally in Petaluma. Local residents there have been meeting regularly to plan their Occupy Petaluma.
The rally is set to begin at noon in Penry Park, across from Bank of America. Protesters said they want Bank of America and other large financial institutions to stop home foreclosures and to give people the opportunity to modify their loans.
Protesters plan on picketing around the bank today.
In Santa Rosa, police officials said they plan to enforce no camping rules at City Hall.
But he said that he was “cautiously optimistic” that there will not be a serious confrontation today.
—–O—–
Loading ...
Subscribe by Email
Follow us on Twitter
Sorry to burst your bubble, but 30 to 50 people camping on SR city hall lawn isn’t changing anything. Their movement is so fragmented the press is having a field day entertaining us with 50 different slogans being waved.. Oh 99%?? Like it was mentioned here before, 47% pay no federal income tax. Shouldnt you be griping at the 48%? That 47% plus the 1%??? Maybe you should get it together before you get a brain cramp.
Personally, my #1 problem with raising “taxes on the rich” has nothing to do with weather or not they “should” be taxed more.
“Taxing the Rich” is nothing less than a bailout for the Feds.
These protesters claim to be against bailouts for huge corporations & banks but they’re fine with bailouts for the people who actually created this mess.
Wall Street didn’t do anything that they were allowed to do, even ENCORAGED to do by the Federal GOVERNMENT.
They didn’t loan money to people who couldn’t afford to pay it back until they were pressured by the GOVERNMENT to do so.
Food Stamps didn’t count as “income” on a loan application until the GOVERNMENT allowed the banks to quickly turn over these ridiculously risky loans by bundling them together, calling them Mortgage Backed Securities and selling them to people who managed your pension.
Politicians were so determined to defy the pesky laws of the free market that they changed the rules of the game and created the environment that caused the collapse of the housing market.
Now these incompetent fools are demanding MORE taxes to cover up the mess they created. God forbid they should reign in spending, oh no… you can’t buy votes doing that.
We don’t have a “revenue” problem. We have a SPENDING problem & giving them MORE money to spend only makes the problem worse by encouraging them to keep doing the same things over & over.
But “Tax the Rich” is a much easier solution to understand.
It requires very little thought.
Even the simplest of minds can grasp the concept of the rich guy buying a Porsche instead of a Ferarri & giving YOU the difference.
That’s what Obama promises to do if only you will vote for him
And you will, and he WILL WIN!
Lomondra wrote:
This is not a tax issue, this is about corruption. “Not a single executive who ran the companies that cooked up and cashed in on the phony financial boom — an industrywide scam that involved the mass sale of mismarked, fraudulent mortgage-backed securities — has ever been convicted.” [Matt Taibbi].
—
And none of that could have happened without federal law and regulation that was written to enable it. That is a simple, plain and undeniable fact. Just ask Barney Frank and Chris Dodd who wrote or oversaw much of that enabling legislation.
Oh wait… you can’t. Because they too are busy blaming in on the evil corporations.
Why, pray tell, are the socialists going after the engine that creates jobs and not going after those in government who pro-actively colluded, enabled and then lied about what happened?
Because it’s far easier to marginalize and ridicule “the rich” than it is to actually examine fact and reach very unpleasant conclusions about what is really wrong with our nation.
Why aren’t the mortgage fraudsters being prosecuted? One word, Obama. Protest the commander in chief and I will come out and join the protesters. Obama and all his czars have planned and carried out the biggest fraud against Americans that’s ever been perpetrated, yes, even more so than Bush. The government wields the power, not private businesses. The misguided folks at the Occupy sites believe that Socialism will be better than free market capitalism. How would giving more power and money to our corrupt leaders in Washington be better?
While the Occupiers cling to the Constitutional right to free speech, they are at the same time lobbying to ‘change’ the structure of our government to a global system of redistribution and the overcoming of individual liberties as guaranteed by our Constitution. The disconnect is palpable.
DO NOT PLEAD GUILTY TO ANY ARREST CHARGE.
Force the county to take you to court where all the facts are laid bare.
Nothing more satisfying that watching the government lies put into a permanent public record.
Nothing more satisfying that allowing the government to set you up for false charges that you can then use to sue them for big $$.
The city and county governments are merely attempting to protect their huge public pension systems that are funded upon the backs of hard working minimum wage workers.
The governments are also fearful that the public will finally realize that all those government badges and shoulder patches are nothing more than a system designed to keep free people from being free.
Do NOT plead guilty to any police arrest charges. Do NOT pay any fine without a court hearing.
Video tape all interactions you see around you at the protests and take notes on everything that the police and government people say to you.
The government has successfully turned a free country into a police state. It is time to take our country back.
Government bureaucrats fear the uprising because people are finally realizing that minimum wage workers are suffering deductions from their hard earned minimum wage paychecks to fund the huge public employee pensions.
Nothing scares government people more than the reduction of their excessive pay and criminally excessive public pensions.
After reading some of these comments, I wonder how many out there are crying out, “help me, I can’t save myself.” Is there something in the water in Santa Rosa that makes these people so nuts? Get a grip on life or get a life.
“Get ready for big brother to snap you back to reality.” – Graeme W.
The reality, Mr. Wellington, is that big brother took a good hard look at the situation and very wisely decided that the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances, outweighs the need to enforce Santa Rosa’s no camping ordinance, your righteous indignation notwithstanding. Non-violent civil disobedience is, after all, a very American tradition.
This is how the Vietnam War protests started. So I think that even if you a a hardcore rep or conservative, you have to recognize the start of something new.
It’s only a matter of time until the specific demands of these folks are expressed concisly. Then what?
As in other countries, I think the young people here (oh, and some older folks) are done with being “trickled on.”
Produce jobs. Prosecute criminals. Take away the power of greedy corporations – they are not people. The rich should pay WAY more in taxes because they have WAY more to protect. Prevent politicians from being elected by special interst money.
Stop the divisive legislation being promoted by state reps who temporarily have some illusion of power. Don’t destroy school budgets. Don’t limit voter rights. Don’t eliminate all forms of birth control. Don’t bust unions, especially when they’ve proven willing to negotiate. Acknowledge record corporate profits.
Go after GE and other corporations that got tax refunds. Don’t let Congress pass a tax holiday for repatriated foreign profits of US corporations – 15%? Just like the tax on investment returns.
If you’re paying 15% you’re a parasite.
If you’re paying more, you may be a fool.
Required reading for all the protesters:
“The ‘Conflicts’ of Men’s Interests by Ayn Rand
Here’s a link:
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer/News2/feed/PageServer?pagename=ari_ayn_rand_conflicts
It’s a short essay, clear and precise.
She was right on the money concerning our present financial crisis and she’s right about the current crop of protesters.
This is the difference between the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street in a nutshell. This is why you see images of Ayn Rand at Tea Party.
Required reading for every reporter trying to put the OWS stuff in context. You’ll sure seem a lot smarter and on the ball if you can absorb Rand’s unassailable logic.
All I know is that there will be a few people with some assets getting arrested. If/when they do, the city will be able to recover all their costs of dealing with this.
How many permits and papers would I have to fill out to legally stage a public event on city property? What would the fees be and how many police would I have to pay for? How large of a deposit would I have to make and how much liability insurance would I have to buy? How much would I have to pay for clean up and what would be the limit for numbers of attendees? What would be the limit for hours of operation? What is the decibel limit for sound? What is the fine for camping? What is the fine for trespassing, riot, rout? What is the fine for urinating in a public park? The fine for consuming alcohol in a park? What the fine for smoking marijuana? What’s the fine for cursing in a park (there is such a law) or for annoying children in the park? What is the fine for contributing to the delinquency of minor?
We’ve got some creative protesters. But I’ve got lots more ideas than you. The morning after, I go to work. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
I have all the evidence I need and all the laws on my side. Get ready for big brother to snap you back to reality.
Get a grip people, taxes are not paying for the port-a-potty. This is not a tax issue, this is about corruption. “Not a single executive who ran the companies that cooked up and cashed in on the phony financial boom — an industrywide scam that involved the mass sale of mismarked, fraudulent mortgage-backed securities — has ever been convicted.” [Matt Taibbi].
Hopefully all officials of the City of Santa Rosa will take a look at the out come of the “Occupy Movement” in Oakland. Avoid any and all conflicts by not sending out conflicting signals out to these protesters. Supporting rights to our freedom of speech is all that should be supported by our local officials, but enforcing the City’s policies, ordinances and laws should be top priority.
S.R. has a no camping law that should continue to be enforced. The occupiers are getting their message out without setting up tents and ultimately a place where they can live rent free. Placing out a port-a-potty sends out mixed messages and they should send that back to where it came. Why should the taxpayers pay for this? Why make it easier on them? This just makes it one step closer to a tent city.
““We are prepared to be arrested,” said Will Kelly, an Occupy organizer…”
So in other words, they are going to refuse to follow the laws the City has in place. How much more money will the taxpayers have to pay for these people? They are demanding consequences from the “1%”, yet they place the responsibility of consequences from their actions on the other approx 53% of those who pay taxes? Ummmm how selfish is that?
All those who knew a confrontation was inevitable, in spite of all the “non violent” rhetoric, please raise your lattes.
Will Santa Rosa violate the Constitution of the United States of America ?
“In Santa Rosa, police officials said they plan to enforce no camping rules at City Hall.” – MARTIN ESPINOZA THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
How about they enforce the the Constitution ? “… make no law … abridging the … right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” – Constitution
Santa Rosa’s camping rules abridge the people’s right to assemble. A violation of the Constitution.
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency … the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless … ” – Thomas Jefferson
It has come to pass here in the USA, the FED did what Jefferson warned about.