Thursday, January 5, 2012
The 20 or so tents clustered in Monterey’s Veteran’s Park look worse for wear Dec. 29 after nearly two months of continuous use. Their occupants, a mix of the older homeless population and younger (but equally unemployed) locals and travelers, are the last of Occupy Monterey Peninsula’s encampment.
They want to stay, but city officials may evict them on Jan. 20.
That date represents a small victory for Occupy Monterey’s legal team, which lobbied hard for an extension beyond the Jan. 5 expiration of the group’s original permit.
Legal team member Colin Gallagher says he’s pleased the city has given Occupy Monterey a slight extension and put their request for a longer stay on the Jan. 17 City Council agenda.
“The council could act to extend [the permit] further, but it may not,” Gallagher says. “We are aware of the city management’s desire to close down the camp.”
Assistant City Manager Fred Cohn says authorities’ sentiments toward the camp are based on simple economics. He claims numerous groups have made requests to use the campsite in the coming months – though staff can’t produce any group names or documentation to back that up – and they can actually pay.
The city has received $2,000 in donations from community members to pay for Occupy’s campsite costs, Cohn says. But parks staff estimate Occupiers logged around 2,200 camper nights in November and December. With fees of $6 per camper per night, the group is still short about $11,200.
For a while, it seemed Occupy Monterey at least had sustainability on its side. By working with city officials and the Monterey Police Department instead of railing against authorities, the local Occupy movement strove to create a cooperative community that quietly and legally camped out in Veteran’s Park. Refugees from disbanded Occupy encampments in Santa Cruz, Oakland and even Las Vegas flocked to Monterey’s peaceful enclave.
It hasn’t been all peace and love – Deputy Police Chief Phil Penko says officers have responded to 15 calls for service at Veteran’s Park since Occupy Monterey set up camp there Nov. 4 – but there have been no violent police-protester clashes à la Occupy Oakland.
“They’ve been very cooperative,” Cohn says.
Some Occupiers are ready to move on to greener pastures. “Our plan is to try and camp somewhere else,” says Katherine Cross, who’s been at Occupy Monterey since the beginning. Big Sur is next on her list.
Others, however, say they won’t leave without a fight.
“I’ll be the last one here,” says Herman Isaac, who grew up in Pacific Grove and has been homeless on and off for years. “The city should give us somewhere else to go.”
Penko says he and his staff have informed Occupiers there’s no other place in Monterey they can legally camp. Authorities don’t have a specific plan for addressing a new, non-sanctioned campsite, should one spring up.
“We are hoping the collaborative relationship we have developed with the Occupy group will continue, and help ensure non-sanctioned camping will not happen,” Penko says.
But Occupy Monterey participant Luana Conley thinks they shouldn’t stand down just yet. “This is a protest against the powers that be,” she said at the group’s Dec. 24 General Assembly meeting. “If we intend to stay within the lines, we might as well go home.”
Mucky Duck
Monterey
Comments
pcvcolin says...
A few comments: 1) thanks for the timely story. 2) there are no fees. The City agreed to waive the fees as part of the permit. 3) When we offered to pay, during a point in negotiations with the City at a point when it became evident the City management didn't want to renew the permit, we were informed money wasn't an issue. 4) If money is going to keep being mentioned, it should be pointed out that the monetary value of: [a] Occupy feeding and sheltering people (with the enormous and ongoing assistance of many people throughout the community), [b] providing public and civic engagement services for various sectors of the community, and [c] providing alternative educational services which aspire to present messages and ideas to inspire and transform civil society, (and more), far and away exceed the $11,200 figure which the City cites as its costs... and Occupy thus far has not sent the City a bill. We are happy to provide these services for the community. The City of Monterey management has not yet tapped into the Occupy Monterey Civic Working Group (we're not sure why this hasn't happened), which is a concept for helping the community in a multitude of ways. However, if the City management wishes to continue comparing Occupy Monterey to a monetary loss... well, they will not have learned anything.
Posted 5 January 2012, 12:36 a.m. Suggest removal
pcvcolin says...
In a Herald letter to the editor dated January 6, 2012, “Occupy should go to source of problems,” Willard P. McCrone wrote, “What a stark contrast to the civil rights movement of the '60s, when civic patriots went to where the problem was (…) got beaten up and even murdered and in the process actually changed the world.” In "Your Town," dated January 16, 2012, the Herald wrote, "Occupy group asks City of Monterey for more time." Occupy Monterey does not simply desire time, but reasonable effort toward a solution. Unfortunately, the Coast Weekly has recently chosen to conduct phone and in-person interviews of local Occupy participants almost exlusively about issues related only to any disturbances at Camp, which have always been addressed by either Camp Assembly in rare instances by a police service call. This form of "if it bleeds, it leads" reporting is particularly unethical in light of the fact that Occupy Monterey has managed to get issues of concern to the community on the agenda of the City Council. The larger issues which face Occupy Monterey, and the City of Monterey community -- and what the City Council will end up addressing -- are what the solution(s) may be with respect to how to address the community's needs.
On January 17, 2012 many Occupy participants, including some from Occupy Monterey, will be in Washington, D.C. Occupy is a movement which happens everywhere, and does not require permission of officials to increase its effect. On that same day, we’ll be in Monterey, before the City Council at 7:00 PM with an appeal on issues of public assembly to change the City’s code, Camp and indoor safe harbor, civic issues, and community needs, laying the groundwork for a comprehensive solution. It is hoped that that the City Council will make this part of a revolutionary strategy to help address issues that confront us all.
Posted 16 January 2012, 3:34 p.m. Suggest removal
pcvcolin says...
One more note: It was also confirmed during my time at Camp today, that the reporter from the Monterey County Weekly was calling me on my cell (while I was not at Camp) and asking me a variety of questions relating to Camp -- while he was at Camp. Occupy Monterey campers confirmed that he did not ask them any questions about their Camp experience, instead choosing to spend his time on the phone talking to me. A sad sort of unethical reporting, this reporter will probably claim in his story that he "visited Camp for the story" and yet, actually did not do the in-depth story on Occupy Monterey that could have been done. This reporter (and he knows who he is) should be reading the 2005 story, "Homeless in Paradise" done by the Monterey County Weekly (at that time, the Coast Weekly) which can be found at http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/n...
Posted 16 January 2012, 11:17 p.m. Suggest removal
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