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Occupy Capitol Hill | Broadway businesses demand ‘immediate results’ in camp clean-up — UPDATE

As Occupy Seattle joined labor organizations in a peaceful march and rally taking over the University Bridge on Thursday, a group representing more than 150 Capitol Hill businesses have come out with an ultimatum for the organizers of the movement’s Emerald City headquarters: Clean up or get out.

“We would like to see Occupy Seattle address the health and safety concerns around the encampment immediately,” wrote Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce and Broadway Business Improvement Association executive director Michael Wells in a letter sent to Occupy organizers and Seattle Central Community College and provided to CHS. “Surrounding business owners and residents would like to see immediate results.”


The letter, below, lists eight concerns highlighted in a November 11th King County Public Health report on conditions at the camp. Some elements like keeping dogs from urinating and defecating near the camp could be easy to solve. Others like “effective hygiene facilities” or elimination of “food borne illness risk factors” might be unsolvable for a camp plunked down in the middle of an urban community college campus. It also acknowledges that many of the small, independent businesses support the movement.

Occupy took up residence at Pine and Broadway at the end of October establishing a “good neighbor” set of rules in the process. SCCC told the protesters their camp would not be allowed but the administration said it could not legally bar the Occupy group from establishing its base on the state property as the Washington Administration Code did not explicitly prohibit the action. As the camp moves into its third week, CHS has reported that the school is again exploring its legal options and is consulting with the State Attorney General’s office about how to legally remove the camp.

But the path to Occupy Seattle’s removal from SCCC might not require AG Rob McKenna’s office to step in. Seattle could look to the “public safety closure” model that has been deployed in other cities including the recent overnight sweep of the original Occupy Wall Street camp in New York.

With the letter from the chamber and the health report, there is increased pressure on City Hall to step in and find a solution. CHS has learned that Seattle Central officials and the mayor’s office met this week to discuss the situation.

There is also the opportunity for the Occupy camp to tackle the complaints and try to take care of the eight areas of concern. But it’s a stiff challenge and getting stiffer as cold and rainy weather sets in. Wednesday night, Seattle Fire responded to a report of an illegal fire at the camp. Maintaining a healthy, safe place to live outdoors in a city plaza and keeping all of its campers in line might be more than Occupy Seattle campers can handle.

Meanwhile, the pressure on the camp from area businesses is mounting.

The Puget Sound Business Journal ran this letter from the company that manages the Broadway Performance Hall:

Whatever sympathy we might have had for Occupy Seattle was lost by us on the night of November 4 when one of the protesters slung a metal garbage can at one of our client’s contractors (yes, another small business owner) in an unprovoked and identity-mistaken attack. In the sixteen years we have operated here, through demonstrations against various wars and of course WTO, this is the first time anyone from us has actually been assaulted here over a political aim.

Meanwhile, Seattle Weekly interviewed a Broadway boutique owner via Twitter Thursday about her Occupy Seattle complaints and posted the result here. The owner asked not to be identified out of concerns for her safety.



Occupy Seattle on Broadway, originally uploaded by afiler.

UPDATE 4:25 PM: Seattle Central has posted two reports from King County Health following inspections of the Occupy Seattle camp. We’ve posted SCCC president Dr. Paul Killpatrick’s statement on the reports and the documents below.

As you know from my previous communications about the Occupy Seattle encampment, my primary concern remains the safety and security of our students, faculty and staff, and the surrounding Capitol Hill community. I take these concerns very seriously. And we have clearly expressed our concerns in our scheduled meetings with representatives of Occupy Seattle.

Since Occupy Seattle moved their base of operations to our campus on October 29, the encampment has nearly doubled in size, and now numbers an estimated 150 residents and a dozen large dogs in 2,000 square feet on the South Plaza lawn.

This week we received two reports (attached) from the Seattle-King County Health Department after we requested that the Department investigate health risks in response to complaints and concerns received by our college. The first report made after visits on Wednesday and Thursday, November 10 and 11 cited “multiple issues,” including accumulations of garbage, poor food handling, discarded syringes and needles, fire safety hazards, dog feces, and disposal of wastewater.

On Wednesday, November 16, I received a second report, following a November 15 site visit. This report states that “issues remain mostly unaddressed” and further notes, “Overall there seemed to be a lack of communication and organization within the group regarding health and safety issues that may concern the encampment as a whole and the community that they are impacting by their occupation.”

Following the second report, we presented copies of both letters to a representative of the Occupy Seattle camp. We also stated that the deficiencies cited by the Health Department in the first report had not been corrected. We again clearly stated that these concerns must be remedied before any subsequent Health Department visit, which could occur at any time. We also suggested that the two reports be shared at the next meeting of the Occupy Seattle General Assembly.

We will continue to monitor the situation regularly and will keep the college community informed with further updates.

occupyseattle_healthdept_11-18

Occupysccc Update 11-15

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calhoun
calhoun
12 years ago

Just a small correction…it was the Montlake Bridge that was “occupied.”

jseattle
jseattle
12 years ago

Times: ‘Jobs not Cuts’ protest blocks University Bridge
http://today.seattletimes.com/2011/11/jobs-not-cuts-protest-

20 years on the hill
12 years ago

Occupy is a farce, and is hurting the very people they claim to support. All these kids are doing is harming the neighborhood.

A bunch of petulant kids who didn’t get enough attention growing up has now moved into destroying others’ property and livelihoods in the name of “occupying.” When you have no life, you occupy other peoples’ lives instead. There is not one 1%’er on Capitol Hill, and if you punks had any balls you’d be downtown smashing windows and really doing something noteworthy. OR you’d be occupying Olympia and demanding politicians did more than just cut services.

Your Broadway encampment is a fraud and a farce and we hate you for doing it.

calhoun
calhoun
12 years ago

Oops…sorry…my mistake.

I was going based on the originally-announced plan to occupy the Montlake Bridge. I guess the organizers decided to change the venue.

Robert
12 years ago

Oh the apathy.

RRowleyTucson
12 years ago

Figures a 1% thing like you would say something like this. Be advised, Michael Wells home address and phone number will soon be posted so that the world can either stop by and give him their opinion or simply call him at home with their thoughts.

Andrew Taylor
Andrew Taylor
12 years ago

Montlake Bridge was the original plan, but it was changed to the University Bridge.

Johnny888
Johnny888
12 years ago

Closing down the University drawbridge was a dumb move. All you did was get people pissed off at you. These are the people you need on your side. You should target the businesses that got big bail-out money from the government. Those big companies that took the money and ran. Paid themselfs big bonuses and now sit on their money and don’t hire people.

Serpy
12 years ago

I am annoyed that these losers are freeloading on the campus where I pay tuition. The general people of the city really do not appreciate the traffic snarls you create to punish the people you say you represent. We are all just trying to get by and they make things worse. I think they should all go occupy a job or get back to occupying their moms basement. This is the stupidest movement ever. TENT CITIES?!?! How gross and ineffective this has proven to be thus far. Why don’t you take all your resources and fly your asses out to DC where the policy makers are and leave the people of Seattle alone! Quit wasting the resources of our city and pack the f up. I think we should protest against the protesters. These people need to GO! take a shower!

AbstractMonkeys
AbstractMonkeys
12 years ago

All of the concerns listed in this letter applied to all the homeless people on the hill with their uncontrolled dogs, poor sanitation and drug habits long before the Occupy movement started.

I fail to see how it becomes the protestors’ responsibility to provide services for those same homeless people now that they are hanging around their camp.

If anything, since several of the protestors are working their asses off trying to keep the area around the camp clean and tidy, there’s probably less of a mess on the hill now than before the camp moved in–it just looks like more because it’s all concentrated in one small area.

waaaaahh....
12 years ago

Oh, but that’s “too hard”. It’s way more fun to play on Broadway.

fuck hope
12 years ago

thats a stretch… i would not walk barefoot through the campgrounds… for fear of god knows what.

JimS.
12 years ago

It’s like this–RRRRRowley: if all you’re doing is pissing off a lot of the 99%, people who generally DO support the cause, something isn’t working. That’s what’s happening. This camp is a colossal mess and a failure.

JimS.
12 years ago

…and trying to intimidate Michael Wells by threatening to post his address and phone number, will NOT win you any friends.

Chris
12 years ago

I was thinking the same thing the other day. Cal Anderson seems tidier, at least.

Phil Mocek
12 years ago

Seattle Central Community College doesn’t seem to see these as urgent concerns. Occupy Seattle participants meet weekly with SCCC staff Tuesdays at 11:00 a.m. to discuss the situation.

This week, the meeting was cancelled because two attendees — who were not facilities or security staff — decided to attend something else instead. This was announced just hours ahead of time via e-mail from Judy Kitzman, Interim Director of Communications of SCCC, who provided me with a few additional details after I contacted her Tuesday morning. I’m awaiting related public records I requested from the college Tuesday at 11:20 a.m.

Brian Enoch
12 years ago

That is too bad, now I will have to boycott Broadway, and I was going to shop in my neighborhood for the holidays. NOw I will shop in Freemont.

Queen
12 years ago

They cancel a meeting and you need to request records about it? Are you really that bored?

upd
upd
12 years ago

Thank you Phil, for costing tax payers more with requests like this. You build support even more by wasting already waining resrouces. NOT.

Johnny Blazay
12 years ago

The is the first clear list of demands to come out of the Occupy movement. See how that works, guys? LOL.

zm
zm
12 years ago

If the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce and Broadway Business Improvement Association were truly concerned about health, sanitation, and safety on Capitol Hill, then they would stop writing TWIMC letters, get off their asses, and go stand down in front of City Hall and demand that the city prioritize health, sanitation, and safety. Better yet, since City Hall can be a black hole when it comes to actual action, they would visit Occupy Seattle and see how they can help. This is a place that is alive with action. If they truly cared, these “business leaders” would stop blaming a group of people who (think, big picture) are actively trying to address the very issues complained about in letter, stop hiding behind a self-righteous sense of moral indignation, and actually DO something.

Occupy Seattle did not create people, Frankenstein-like, who are homeless, drug-addicted, and completely underserved when it comes to health care. There is no tent on site where defecating dogs are cobbled together and sent out into the neighborhood to wreak havoc. These things, these people exist all the time every day all around. Walk around our beautiful city. Used needles/syringes are part of our landscape. The presence of Occupy Seattle has brought this to light; it is not the fault of this group that the people behind this letter were previously in the dark. Sure, the light switch can be flipped back to off, but darkness only hides. It does not erase or heal.

This is OUR city. These are OUR issues. They have existed and will continue to exist until we collectively agree to address them. Writing a letter telling somebody else to deal with the problem is not an example of doing something. It’s a heartless act without courage, resolve, or any sense of the reality of connection between all people.

I live on Capitol Hill and will gladly “suffer” the inconvenience of not shopping at any business in my area that feels they would rather stick their head in the sand, point the finger elsewhere, and not actually do anything community-minded about long-standing problems in this city. As much as possible, I try to ensure my money does not support small-mindedness, lack of vision, and general unconcern for the welfare of others.

So thank you Michael Wells for informing me about the lack of civic-mindedness of some business folks on the hill. Good to know. Good to know.

Now…enough letter writing. I’ve got things to DO. SCCC and Occupy, here I come!!!

Residual
Residual
12 years ago

This is a disappointing turn of events. I’m saddened to see the Capitol Hill business community look to perpetuate the status quo of addressing the symptoms of our society’s ills without looking to contribute to the underlying causes’ solutions. The Capitol Hill commercial sector suffered at the onset of the recent economic downturn but has been fortunate (that they are located in a vibrant and relatively interesting neighborhood well served by our shared investment in city, state and federally provided amenities and services. You are all welcome.) to experience a remarkable turnaround (while other areas in the city continue to lag). To collectively say that you are sympathetic to this cause then demand they immediately address, what is essentially a homelessness and addiction problem that is out of their control, is selfish and shortsighted. I have volunteered many times with the Chamber of Commerce picking up the trash in my neighborhood left carelessly by our neighbors and patrons. I appeal to the members of the Chamber to open their eyes wider; their minds, hearts and wallets and seek out ways that they can contribute and support this movement in ways that benefit the entire community including themselves. Could not they make a call for volunteers to assist in securing the occupy site, in cleaning up the area? Could not they reach out to the activists to build a working relationship that might result in a tidier, safer and more prosperous neighborhood? Could they not simply make that their first gesture instead of these difficult to achieve demands. Could they not contribute portable toilet services? I encourage the chamber to back away from these demands and make an about face; declaring, not sympathy but support for the Occupy movement. To come together and resolve, as the city of Seattle has, to seek out ways to discontinue financial support of the unethical entities that are responsible for our current financial situation by moving your banking businesses to local non-profit credit unions. Vow to petition, as an organized business community, Olympia’s upcoming special legislative session to not return to the citizenry a budget with no new revenue sources but instead all new service cuts. Is this letter the best you all can do for our community? Really?

gypsychic
12 years ago

um. capitol hill is chock full of SMALL business owners. if you’re going to occupy anywhere or anything, you should MOVE BACK DOWNTOWN where all the BIG businesses that you’re allegedly protesting, actually are. (hellooooo??)
it boggles my mind that you guys haven’t figured that out yet. or occupy from your home. and close your bank accounts and go w/ a credit union or pure cash. just a thought. i was all for occupy in the beginning, but at this point, it’s counterproductive. and messy.

not to mention it smells like a live version of “oops i crapped my pants” at the camp area now. in your $500 REI tents. amazing.

also, JimS – your comments are so true!

gypsychic
12 years ago

HAHAHAHA

that’s AWESOME.

Chris
12 years ago

The purpose of the march was to say “Fix the Infrastructure” which is part of a long standing jobs campaign that WA labor groups have organized. A bridge was chosen because many, many bridges in WA are structurally deficient. It was not so much a “Occupy” thing except in the sense that infrastructure is owned by everyone and the neglect of it also hurts everyone.

benjammin509
12 years ago

Really?? There was no encampment of this scale before occupy. What was once scattered bits of homeless shenanigans has become a consolidated dumpster fire. I can see where the biz owners are coming from. Gotta get those holiday dollars.

Queen
12 years ago

Here is a solution:

1. Write a resume
2. Apply to a local business on Capitol Hill for a job
3. Take a shower before you leave your tent to interview

benjammin509
12 years ago

Transparency or not, your post is a veiled threat which is completely stupid b/c you are threatening some one for voicing their concerns. Isn’t that what occupy is doing? Voicing concerns? He sent an open letter. What the f is wrong with that? Stay classy, comrade.

Serpy
12 years ago

Look Phil, as a tuition paying student that actually attends classes here, I would really appreciate it if you would not tie up the resources of my school with your stupidity. You people have no interest in the 99% and you certainly do NOT represent me!

Thaaaaanks!

calhoun
calhoun
12 years ago

OK, so this demonstration was “peaceful,” but only because the SPD exercised restraint and chose not to intervene. But was it a LEGAL demonstration? Did the protestors have a permit to occupy the bridge and block rush-hour traffic in a major thoroughfare for over 2 hours?

Somehow, I think not.

oh brother...
12 years ago

Maybe, just maybe, they will listen to you when you start listening! Now go away, please!

Queen
12 years ago

Maybe, just maybe Occupy hasn’t articulated what they stand for. Hard to listen when nothing worthwhile is being said.

zeebleoop
zeebleoop
12 years ago

i actually think it was peaceful because it was a planned protest from working washington and less about the anarchist shenanigans of occupy. i think it’s likely that there was a permit. it just so happens that the occupy group co-opted the protest as their own – which is was not. they tagged along and, as usual, stated that someone else’s goals were part of what their own goals have been all along.

but i guess when your stated stance is so generic as “shit is fucked up and bullshit” you can’t really be expected to have a clear set of goals and objectives and how you’ll accomplish them. so why not use someone else’s efforts?

Meowzers
12 years ago

But I catch the bus at the stop nearest the tents on Saturday mornings at 6:30, and last Saturday I actually had to wait across the street at the Walgreens entrance, crossing the street when my bus approached the stop, to avoid being approached and harrassed by some of the men who were/are hanging around the Occupy area. I’ve lived in Seattle for years, and I rarely feel threatened or not safe, but I was pretty upset by my experience last Saturday morning. I face the same problem for tomorrow morning.
Can’t something be done, some form of self-policing or security, when inappropriate behavior at the Occupy encampment is so obvious? I know this is but one tiny problem, but I think it’s indicative of a much larger problem, or issue that any reasonable protest movement MUST address.
I’m tired of complaining about this movement. I support the philosophy, but this isn’t really working now.

spiffy d
12 years ago

If someone is harrassing you or threatening you and you feel unsafe call the Police.

Same as always.

bus logic
12 years ago

Rather than risk missing your bus by waiting across the street, why not walk the two blocks either direction on the same side? I do this all the time when there’s a creeper at my bus stop.

realdeal
12 years ago

really a small mob of smelly people is going make you shop in fremont? Might I remind you that capitol hill as always been occupied by smelly mobs. go to fremont and while your at pack your bags and move to yuppy fremont, you will fit in there fine

oiseau
oiseau
12 years ago

Wow, Rrrowley….

Threatening a long time Captiol Hill small business owner? Priorities, do you know what yours are? Also, I feel like your idea of 1% must be severely skewed. Small business owners aren’t millionaires, or do you think anyone making any amount of money is part of the 1%? It seems like the OS campers seem to believe that this is true. “Occupy a lower to middle class neighborhood and disrupt the lives of those living in it!!!!” THat’s your mantra?

Also, it really just seems that you are continuing the hating of the bourgois mantra that crust punks love to chant? En francais, bourgois = middle class. 99% = middle and lower classes. Hmmm…..

oiseau
oiseau
12 years ago

.

oiseau
oiseau
12 years ago

@ Chris, occupy the FTA. We cannot upgrade or build bridges if the state or city doesn’t have funding. Where does funding primarily come from, after property taxes? The FTA.

oiseau
oiseau
12 years ago

I’ve tweaked your stereotypical diatribe a bit. See below:

If Occupy Seattle were truly concerned about social and economic equality in Seattle, then they would stop camping and blocking traffic, get off their asses, and go get involved with City Hall and work toward social and economic equality. Better yet, since Occupy Seattle can be a black hole when it comes to actual action, they would visit with actual politicians without complaining about “the system” and see how they can help. This is a place that is alive with action. If they truly cared, these “protestors (campers)” would stop interupting the lives of(think, big picture) normal people who are actively trying to address financial, civic, and economic issues in their lives. Stop hiding behind a (total facade) self-righteous sense of entitlement for themselves but no one else, and actually DO something.

Occupy Seattle has not helped anyone, There are plenty of tents on site where disrepectful/anti-empathetic people cobble together and go out into the neighborhood to vandalize/block people from living/loiter and not do anything at all. These things, these people exist all the time every day all around (for the past two weeks). Walk around our beautiful city. Used needles/syringes are part of our landscape, but now more so on Capitol Hill. The presence of Occupy Seattle has brought this to light.

This is OUR city (not just yours, OS, but all of ours). These are OUR (not just yours, OS, but all of ours). Please, collectively agree to DO SOMETHING if you are really trying to do good. Disrupting the lives of normal people, camping, and not actualy taking any action against the entities that you actually do not like does nothing. It’s a heartless act without courage, resolve, or any sense of the reality of connection between all people.

I live on Capitol Hill and would gladly support OS if they actually took the time to study up on economics, and didn’t only inconvenience LOCAL business and LOCAL residents. Instead, they just dismiss or point the finger elsewhere, and not actually do anything community-minded about long-standing problems in this city. As much as possible, I would like to support a movement for the people, but only if they actually accomplish something substantive and does not just support small-mindedness, lack of vision, and general unconcern for the welfare of others.

So, no thank you OS for making the lives folks on the hill and Seattle as a whole just a bit harder. Good to know you “care about others.” Good to know.

Now…enough letter writing. I’ve got things to DO. Transportation planning meetings, public city council meetings, and ballot boxes here I come!!!

Juno
12 years ago

All of a sudden Seattle businesses and city elite are concerned with the lack of hygiene centers (public showers) and public toilets? What have they been doing all this time?

Seattle homeless who aren’t mentally disabled have been washing up with paper towels and hand soap in the bathrooms at the college and Central Library -when they’re open- for years.

Juno
12 years ago

Pompous “Queen”, how ignorant of you.

Juno
12 years ago

This was an employee organized demonstration under permit with the city.
I support this demonstration even though it inconvenienced me.

Non-trolley buses were eventually brought in on the south side of the bridge. Local and regional bus services are even more inadequate during situations like this than they are on regular days because of the immorally ***LOW TAX RATE*** on the richest individuals and big corporations in King County and Puget Sound.

Don’t blame the protesters, blame the protectors of the system.

capitolhillite
12 years ago

Thank you Residual for a smart and articulate letter. I support this avenue of engagement and the CH Chamber and BIA should listen and take note. Rather than being passive-aggressive about it, the Chamber/BIA should explore direct involvement with this international movement.

Juno
12 years ago

Residual, you hit the nail on the head. We don’t like being taken out of our comfort bubbles. We passive-aggressively and verbally attack when the truth of reality confronts our illusions or unwillingness to go the distance in acknowledging and solving the needs in our communities, cities, metros, states, regions, nations and world.

upd
upd
12 years ago

FYI – Fremont is hardly Yuppy. Have you ever been?

upd
upd
12 years ago

Hey I have a list of Demands. Can I submit them?

oiseau
oiseau
12 years ago

@ Juno

I will go ahead and blame America’s love for the automobile as a whole actually. Even if we taxed the rich properly, that money wouldn’t go very far toward transit funding. The FTA grants the majority of it’s money to highway projects. The University bridge isn’t a highway bridge. Metro isn’t a highway. So, again, this protest didn’t do anything to improve roads or transit funding. Wanna know what could have helped both? Voting for the $60 car tab fee. Did you vote for it? Did you vote?

Maybe lobby Olympia (as an organized political group) to take a long hard look at the regressive sales tax. Unfortunately, transit and roads funding relies heavily on sales tax and property tax revenue when federal funding fails.

Basically, if you *really* want to change that sort of thing, then you might try doing something beside climbing all over the bridge and blocking buses (buses, being the vehicles that carry primarily the 99%).

Johnny Blazay
12 years ago

I think you have to put them up for a vote that involved hand raising, clenched fists, a hackey sack game, several hot box the tent breaks, and then, oh, what were we doing… never mind, the drum circle is starting.

Juno
12 years ago

Oiseau, I’m a registered and active voter. I actually DID vote for the $60 car tab fee and am very sad that it did not pass. However there is tough medicine -not related to taxing- that the cabal of elected officials over the years have not pursued or haven’t pursued to the degree that they should:

1 – Infill
2 – Transit priority on key surface streets.

These things are only going to continue more. Seattle doesn’t have a Tahrir or Trafelgar or Union Square but even if we did, the police -who are unfortunately part of the PROTECTORS of the corrupt system- would do the bidding of those who don’t want there to be PROTESTS against the corrupt system.

checkinit
12 years ago

took this from a letter from the health dept.
“It was reported to us that there had been bedding contaminated with lice and that they were routinely taking bedding off site for heat treatment. They were not able to report to us where the material was going or how frequently they had a need to take material to be treated.”
heat treatment???

zm
zm
12 years ago

I wrote here because I’m pissed about people trying to push enduring and prevalent societal issues off to the sidelines, into some other neighborhood just because they can. Just because they have the money or the clout or the “legitimacy” to do so.

You wrote to complain about being inconvenienced by these social issues and a fledgling and experimental series of efforts to bring to the fore of public awareness the root economic and political causes of local cuts in education, in health care, in social services, in jobs, in infrastructure development, in all things that help make this city a desirable place to live for the sorely inconvenienced such as yourself.

So…to recap: Our government has been hijacked by large corporate interests and agendas that have completely distorted what both democracy and capitalism mean in this country and you’re wringing your hands over having to look at more syringes than usual. (The horror. I’m not sure how you manage it. Why can’t we just maintain acceptable levels of evidence of human misery in this city?)

The status quo of voting, attending meetings, and writing letters isn’t working, hasn’t been working. Of course, we should all continue to do those things, but it is not enough. It’s simply not enough right now. If it were, there would be no Occupy anything.

You’re snipping away at a 100 acre corn field with a pair of dull manicuring scissors. Meanwhile a group of people have joined together and are trying to turn their scissors into a thresher to do a faster and more thorough job of cutting down the same damn field you’re working on and all you can do is complain about the noise, the mess, and the inevitable failed attempts along the way.

????

Juno
12 years ago

Phil, have you requested the records in case the absence and meeting cancellation are precursors to legal action coming from the college/city? Is this a “good faith” negotiations issue?

JimS.
12 years ago

The status quo of campouts and marching back and forth isn’t helping either. That’s pretty much everybody’s point.

JimS.
12 years ago

Is that another way to say “tumble dry/hi setting”?

Queen
12 years ago

Why is that none of the solutions involve working?

zm
zm
12 years ago

Alright Occupy Seattle – Jim S. the Omniscient has spoken. Pack it on up. You have had an entire 2 months – that’s 60 whole days! – and you have failed to reform our deeply complex and corrupt government. Wah wah wah. *enter big cane from stage left*

I’m sure if we just wait until next November and then vote, this whole economic and political mess will be cleared up. It’s all probably just a simple misunderstanding….

checkinit
12 years ago

Yea that’s not gonna kill lice. Are they treating their heads too or just spreading em?

and I'm sure
12 years ago

And I am sure that more filthy tents, drugs, assaults, litter and graffiti will help solve this if given 60,90, or even 365 days to linger.

oiseau
oiseau
12 years ago

@ zm

The point is that you aren’t doing anything. You are alienating your base. You don’t know how democracy works. You don’t care that you are actually doing harm to your cause. You don’t care that you are actually making MORE WORK and building on top of the “government machine status quo blah blah blah” by creating a trash heap on a community college campus. You don’t realize that blocking traffic does nothing. Camping at SCCC does nothing. Marching to SPD headquarters does nothing. You actually have to get involved in politics.

Why does voting not work? Becuase only a very very small percentage of the population cares enough to vote (or to even be civic minded period) and that tiny slice of the population is usually in favor of social program destroying things like no new taxes, tax loopholes for the rich, tax loopholes for large corporations, no free healthcare, massively cutting education funding, massively cutting transit funding, etc. If people llike you actually took the time to get involved in civic activities, maybe things would be different? Instead you sit back and complain about how the “status quo” (which you are part of in one fashion or another) isn’t doing anything, while you yourself do absolutely nothing.

Want political change? Get involved in politics. Our mayor is a former activist. It can be done.

The saddest part of this whole thing is that you are so selfish that you believe that only you know what is best for 300 million people. Get over yourselves and maybe take some fucking constructive criticism for once. Try it, instead of just blaming the majority of people (people who desperately WANT to support this cause) for the problems of the world simply because they don’t want to be dick heads to other people.

Practice what you preach or please just kindly shut up already.

Thanks!

oiseau
oiseau
12 years ago

Also, I don’t blame you for not knowing this, because I don’t expect you to know this, but attending public forums and town halls does actually make an impact. Attendance at public forums saved Metro this year. It’s helping shape the landscape around the streetcar and light rail stations on Capitol Hill (community spaces, etc). It helped gather support for mandatory sick leave in Seattle. It helped preserve most of Pioneer Square in the 70’s. It took down the class-dividing and offensive “aggressive pan-handling bill” last year. Shit works when people actually try to do it. Occupy city council meetings man. Seriously. That shit works.

Bojangles
12 years ago

Well put!

Andrew
Andrew
12 years ago

Was forcing a community college with limited resources to spend them on dealing with this mess the goal of Occupy Seattle?

Caerl
12 years ago

1. Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.
• It is active nonviolent resistance to evil.
• It is assertive spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.
• It is always persuading the opponent of the justice of your cause.
2. Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding.
• The end result of nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation.
• The purpose of nonviolence is the creation of the Beloved Community.
3. Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people.
• Nonviolence holds that evildoers are also victims.
4. Nonviolence holds that voluntary suffering can educate and
transform.
• Nonviolence willingly accepts the consequences of its acts.
• Nonviolence accepts suffering without retaliation.
• Nonviolence accepts violence if necessary, but will never inflict it.
• Unearned suffering is redemptive and has tremendous educational and
transforming possibilities.
• Suffering can have the power to convert the enemy when reason fails.
5. Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.
• Nonviolence resists violence of the spirit as well as of the body.
• Nonviolent love gives willingly, knowing that the return might be hostility.
• Nonviolent love is active, not passive.
• Nonviolent love does not sink to the level of the hater.
• Love for the enemy is how we demonstrate love for ourselves.
• Love restores community and resists injustice.
• Nonviolence recognizes the fact that all life is interrelated.
6. Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice.
• The nonviolent resister has deep faith that justice will eventually win.

the Marchioness of Beets

The Chamber’s letter seems a bit much. Out of sight of the SCCC corner, Occupy Seattle has no presence on Capitol Hill that I can see. Are they really affecting business at Elliott Bay, at Mario’s, at Boom Noodle, at the Deluxe?

Was the letter written at the request of the SPD?

Juno
12 years ago

A few million Americans are asking that very question about the jobs they’ve been laid off from or rehired to at less pay and more work, or to part-time work when they have full-time debts (thanks to interest on debt).

Where are those sacred “Job Creators” when you need ’em? lol

Juno is stupid
12 years ago

Why should SCCC negotiate in good faith, Occupy forced itself on the school and are now holding them hostage and costing them money.

Queen
12 years ago

And those few million Americans are not the ones in the tents of Occupy Seattle and are not represented by Occupy Seattle either. Those millions asking the questions are still working hard to find a job.

tbowman131
12 years ago

“I am annoyed that these losers are freeloading on the campus where I pay tuition.” – speaking of freeloading, how’s the state subsidized tuition you’re paying? the point of a protest is to make peoples lives inconvenient as a means of raising awareness. it’s as american as apple pie.

i guess you aren’t learning much history at SCCC…

OCCUPY EVERYWHERE

calhoun
calhoun
12 years ago

Michael Wells is a well-respected and well-liked member of the Capitol Hill community, and he has contributed immeasurably to our neighborhood in many ways. Keep your sleazy hands off of him!

If you publish his private information, there will be repercussions. If you do that here, I would hope that Jseattle will delete your post.

mike.silva
12 years ago

Oiseau,

Nice try at condescension, but you are the one that doesn’t seem to have a tight grasp on politics, when you conflate the national conversation and political outcomes that Occupy is trying to affect, with petitioning local government.

Occupy has actually been pretty effective at changing the national political discussion from worrying about deficits and bailing out the bankers to the exclusion of everything else, to pondering why the federal government isn’t doing more to help normal people recover from the recession.

Yes, you are right, it’s still possible, to some extent for individuals to affect local politics, at least in a fairly small city like Seattle. But at the national level, Congress is completely bought and paid for. Good luck showing up with a merry band of like minded individuals to congressional offices and hearings, and having much of a chance of defeating monied interests.

So while your little lecture about democracy is cute, it’s also clear you are so wrapped up in your, admittedly laudable, love of fighting for improved local transit, you fail to get the big picture.

I submit that while transit policy is fractious here, it’s still a pretty milquetoast issue that’s relatively easy to get a bunch of middle class white commuters and poor transit users allied to fight to prevent decimating budget cuts. When I see you down at city hall getting funding for homeless services, and aid to other undesirables, then maybe I’ll think you actually know as much as you like to think you do about making people more civic minded.

Yes, people don’t like to be annoyed and…inconvenienced. But it also makes them stop and think sometimes. Ask Madison Avenue. The gamble is that there are more thoughtful smart people that will stop and think beyond their own petty interests, to what the larger cause is. If that fails, I’m sorry, but no number of your righteous appearances at city hall to argue about petty provincial matters are going to turn this country around. Because enough people simply will have ceased to have the capacity to give a shit, to do anything but worry about the local political issues that effect their own comfort and convenience. And good luck continuing to even win those battles, if patently dumb national economic policy keeps killing local economies and the capacity of local governments to support even the most basic and popular services.

calhoun
calhoun
12 years ago

I’ve always thought that Fremont and Wallingford were the neighborhoods most similar to Capitol Hill, and to call them “yuppy” is just not accurate.

Now, if he was to decide to shop in Madison Park, then your comment would be more appropriate!

upd
upd
12 years ago

Sorry, I was also distracted, somebody yelled MARCH. There was a march for ‘something’ but we weren’t sure what so we just went.

jseattle
jseattle
12 years ago

As hippie dippy as it might sound, I love this. Thanks for sharing it.

Roberta
12 years ago

If they are worried about food borne illness, why not allow the Occupiers to use heat and refrigeration? They are going to be preparing food there anyway, why not give them the opportunity to make it safe?

It just seems stupid to refuse their requests for help or even outright ban their needs from being on campus, but the health department is, in turn, helping to create an even more dangerous environment than what they claim the campers have created for themselves.

Roberta
12 years ago

gypsychic, local businesses like Gamestop and Panera Bread? Yogurtland? Last I checked, those businesses are all major chains, not local. The only local business within a block of SCCC is Blick’s, and they have zero complaints.

Roberta
12 years ago

As a tuition paying student at SCCC, I more than appreciate Phil’s desire to have those records pulled up and made public information. In fact, I’d gladly start paying MORE in tuition if it meant that public information could be made even more public like what he is aiming for. Looks like most of the commenters here have no idea what “transparency” means.

benjammin509
12 years ago

Bill’s off Broadway, Mia’s, Hot Mama’s, Cure, Tin Table, Rancho Bravo, Broadway Cafe, Mollie Moon’s, some sneaker/athletic store next to mollie moon’s …

I’m sure there are more.

Queen
12 years ago

Roberta,

Have you ever taken responsibility for yourself before? Are your parents paying your tuition?

upd
upd
12 years ago

Rebecca – or don’t care (like me). 2 months in…nothing actionable. Lottsa of wasted and gimme gimme gimmeeee…what good is the camp giving the community at large besides leeching.

upd
upd
12 years ago

YES! You got it Rebecca! How about those of us working each day pitch in and buy appliances and heat! HELL we could cart in catering trucks for free to add to the gimmee gimmmeee gimmmmeee! Mindset!

calhoun
calhoun
12 years ago

At least “serpy” is paying tuition. As far as I know, OccupySeattle is not paying one penny for the upkeep of the area where they are camping, and they are causing SCCC to spend $20,000 a week, money they cannot spare. As someone mentioned, I wonder how many scholarships that money would buy?

tbowman131
12 years ago

“At least “serpy” is paying tuition. As far as I know, OccupySeattle is not paying one penny for the upkeep of the area where they are camping” – considering the campus is state property, all taxpayers are paying for the upkeep of the area. so, yes, OccupySeattle IS paying because WE ALL ARE.

“causing SCCC to spend $20,000 a week” – the actual figure given has ranged between $10K and $20K (a margin of error of 100% doesn’t inspire confidence). the occupy seattle movement has asked the college to give specific details around how they arrive at that figure, but no specifics have been given other than generalities around dirty bathrooms. ( http://mynorthwest.com/646/578929/Occupy-Seattle-turns-on-Se and http://www.su-spectator.com/news/sccc-complains-of-occupy-co)

what every student at SCCC needs to realize is that the occupy movement is fighting for YOUR right to a decent living standard in a nation where if you don’t know someone in a position of power or if you weren’t born wealthy (categories that those who go to community colleges are not a part of) you would otherwise be relegated to a life near/at/below the poverty level.

OCCUPY EVERYWHERE!

calhoun
calhoun
12 years ago

Somehow I doubt that the average OS camper is paying much, if anything, in taxes to the city.

Taxpayers help support the basic care/maintenance of a place like SCCC, not the added costs from the encampment, which are significant.

oiseau
oiseau
12 years ago

Elliott Bay Book Company, Oddfellows, Century Ballroom, Pho Le’s, Honey Hole, Broadway Cafe, the barber next to Broadway Cafe, Grubwich, Neighbours, Annapurna, King’s Teriyaki, Broadway Dental, Linda’s, Capitol Loans….

Just because you only look directly to the east from your tent doesn’t mean you actually know this neighborhood.

oiseau
oiseau
12 years ago

Hey Mike Silva, do you happen to know how the House of Representatives works?

Even the crazy tea partiers have figured it out.

Also, the local level is where you need to start. Civil rights started on the local level. Prohibition/the end of prohibition started on the state level. A great deal of environmental initiatives start on the local level. Why does this have any national significance? Well, for instance, San Francisco banned plastic bags. Then Portland did. Now Seattle will. Another example. San Francisco requires all employers to offer sick leave to their employees. Seattle city leaders saw that and thought “wow, that is a fantastic idea” and the council unanamously passed that into law. You can’t just march onto the House or Senate floor and demand something. You have to start small and gain momentum. Do something worthwhile and other cities/states/regions will follow. Hello, gay marriage anyone? 15 years ago it wasn’t even a thought in the minds of politicians and now something like 13 states recognize gay marriage as marriage. That’s pretty impressive and it didn’t start big. It started small and the idea is growing continously.

Also, Occupy *Seattle* has not started a discussion. I’ll admit that it’s probably contributed a bit to a discussion. People have been talking about this same stuff for years now, and all that Occupy *Seattle* is doing is now camping out, blocking traffic, and carrying on the same conversation. They aren’t taking action. Seriously, if you want to influence government on any level, inject a candidate. Inject multiple candidates. Get involved….
read more
something.

Also, yeah Seattle is small but it is a major cultural and commercial hub. We have one of the largest ports in the country. Washington one of the only states to deal directly with China on an ongoing basis. Seattle and Vancouver also have strong ties to one another. Selling a place short just because of the size of the population will not help the cause. Think about it. Aren’t you for the people? We are 600,000 people. Yes, it’s not the 8 million of New York, or the 4 million of LA, but it’s still a sizeable group of people, and you need to get people on your side. Do something proactive and we might start paying positive attention.

Just sayin’

Mike
12 years ago

I sincerely request that everyone please read the reports themselves, as well as this statement from Occupy Seattle’s media team:
http://occupyseattle.org/blog/2011-11-15/occupy-seattle-ques

No needles or even *traces* of rats were actually found by health inspectors! The letter from the BBIA makes it sound like rats were shooting up all over the park and in every building, but there was no evidence found of rats during either inspection, nor needles sighted at the time. All they say is “Entrance of vermin [into the food tent] not controlled.” They DON’T say that “vermin are entering and leaving feces in the food,” for no such traces were found. Just that there is a potential hazard that needs to be rectified. That is very, very different. What does this mean? It means that when the SCCC administration claims they’re paying for rat exterminators for their buildings, they’re lying. Through. Their. Teeth. Because they’re not in the camp! If they’re not, nor never have been, in the camp, then Occupy hasn’t brought them into the buildings. Pretty simple logic.

mike.silva
12 years ago

Hey Oiseau, do you happen to know how the economy works?

I can assure you, your smugness and inability to see the forest for the trees aside, that not only do I know how the House works, I know how it works better than you do. I’ve worked on both national issues and local ones, and done just fine. So hats off to you and your sassy local transit advocacy, but spare me the lectures.

Because you seem to have a hard time grasping the obvious, Occupy Wall Street is about a few things, but mostly economic justice issues. And guess what, smart guy, in a recession…particularly one as marked as this…the power to effect the economy rests solely with national governments who have the ability to run deficits, print money, and basically use all the tools of Keynesianism to bring things back from the brink.

You know, all the stuff your trite little admonishments to go be a scrappy speaker at city council meetings, or even in Olympia, has no chance of doing anything about. Unless you bought your last bike with Olympia printed Evergreen bucks, or Seattle Salmon dollars.

I also find it interesting that though I said, yes, local movements have a chance to affect local policy outcomes, you still felt the need to lecture me with some ridiculously oversimplified version of “All Politics is Local”. I get it better than you, bud.

But let’s delve a little deeper into your oh so very incisive citation of the Civil Rights Movement. Yes, protesters went local to the south to shine a light on inequality, but last time I checked, it was federal troops that forced open the schools, and federal laws that finally brought equality. Please do regale me in all exquisite detail about the indigenous Mississippi Civil Rights Act that was forged from the shamed local populace’s deep seated need to make amends, before the feds took action.

Oh, that didn’t happen?

People like you would have been the death of the Civil Rights Movement. You would have lectured at length that black people sitting at lunch counters was just too prone to creating acrimony. Or bitched that the blood of marchers bludgeoned by bigoted cops was distasteful waste that the local populace shouldn’t have to trod over. And, oh, the traffic created by those marches! Grab the smelling salts! You’d have wanted the Freedom Riders sent home, and harangued blacks for the ‘pointlessness’ of their protests rather than going to local council meetings to seek redress of grievances.

As for Occupy Seattle creating a conversation, it and the other Occupy encampments have undoubtedly done so. Both the national discussion of economic and social justice, but also at the local level. After all, how many posts have you written here? Occupy Seattle, has forced even people like you, that seem to have a tendency to think of everything in terms of themselves, to think about the fact that there are poor people, who have been screwed and are angry, and they aren’t going away. In fact, they are going to pitch tents in your neighborhood, and work you up into 11 post tizzies because they are ‘blighting’ your neighborhood. And they are going to keep letting you have a tizzy until finally YOU get a clue, or stay selfish but get tired of having tizzies and ask the national government to help the damn hippies just so you don’t have to listen to them anymore. Even if neither of those things happen, it is the petty whining of anti-blight and anti-impropiety fetish queens like you that will win more people over to their cause, not less.

And let’s be honest about Capitol Hill. In the time any of us have been around to see, it has always been sort of shabby and sketchy. Even if when you bought your condo/townhouse/tech mcmansion, in your minds eye you saw it more as a bohemian hipster paradise.

Which is fine. But your shattered self-image doesn’t mean you actually know what you are talking about and can offer any political advice of merit.