{"id":135,"date":"2011-10-27T01:48:34","date_gmt":"2011-10-27T01:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/?p=135"},"modified":"2012-12-18T00:57:33","modified_gmt":"2012-12-18T00:57:33","slug":"local-leaders-support-occupy-santa-cruz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/local-leaders-support-occupy-santa-cruz\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Leaders Support Occupy Santa Cruz"},"content":{"rendered":"
Occupy SC gets attention of local residents and elected officials<\/div>\n
By Alan Sanchez<\/div>\n
City on a Hill Press<\/div>\n
October 27, 2011<\/div>\n
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Photo by Nick Paris.<\/p>\n

Occupy Santa Cruz ended its second full week of protesting with three events over the weekend. The events drew hundreds of community members in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement which is sweeping the nation and capturing the attention of average Americans, politicians and political pundits alike.<\/p>\n

On Friday, at least 100 people congregated at the Water Street entrance to the courthouse, where the movie \u201cV for Vendetta\u201d was screened.<\/p>\n

Along the concrete stairs leading up to an ad-hoc movie screen sat protesters and community members who came out for some free entertainment.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Occupy SC maintained camp in San Lorenzo Park, and participants spoke and tabled at WAMMFest.<\/p>\n

Occupy SC ended the weekend with a human chain around the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse on West Cliff Drive, home of the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum. Local media estimated 150 people participated in the demonstration.<\/p>\n

Mary B., a surfing museum attendant who prefers to remain anonymous, showed up to work just after the protest started.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were blocking the entrance,\u201d Mary B. said after saying she asked them to move off the porch, but felt they were \u201cOK on the lawn.\u201d<\/p>\n

The protest, which was originally scheduled to go from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., was over before 2 p.m. One participant said she felt there was not a lot of energy, which was why people left the demonstration early.<\/p>\n

Police, who often check in with the Occupy Santa Cruz protesters at their base-camp in San Lorenzo Park, were not present at Sunday\u2019s demonstration.<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz Police Department spokesman Zach Friend said the department was aware of this past weekend\u2019s events, but no formal coordination between protesters and the police department took place.<\/p>\n

Many police departments across the U.S. have taken action against protesters in the \u201cOccupy\u201d movement. On Monday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that 130 protesters were arrested in Chicago, 11 in Cincinnati, and more than a dozen in Philadelphia. More than 100 protesters participating in Occupy Oakland were arrested on Tuesday, according to The Los Angeles Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Santa Cruz Police Department has a different operational philosophy than many departments,\u201d Friend said. \u201cIt is important to us to take a balanced approach to enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite community support for Occupy Santa Cruz, tension has been brewing between protesters and the police department, which warned protesters last week it will issue citations if the protesters do not accommodate other parties who want to use the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoving forward, we need organizers to maintain open lines of communication, obtain permits for events and respect local laws and environmental needs,\u201d Friend said. \u201cWe have received feedback from a small number of the participants that they want police action so they can receive greater media attention \u2026 We simply want organizers to maintain a respectful attitude toward the community, laws and expectations we all have for a successful outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local elected officials like Mayor Ryan Coonerty and Rep. Sam Farr (D-Carmel), sympathize with the protesters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot to be angry about,\u201d Coonerty said, \u201cand I appreciate that people are engaging and advocating for a change to our economic policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Occupy Santa Cruz protesters have led several marches around town to protest in front of the national banks, which have been primary targets in demonstrations for the broader \u201cOccupy\u201d movement.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 5, protestors are calling for a national Bank Transfer Day. The idea of transferring money from national corporate banks to community banks and credit unions is popular among the \u201cOccupy\u201d movement\u2019s protesters.<\/p>\n

Coonerty sympathizes with the protesters, but said it is important to respect the employees at the local branches of the national banks because \u201cthey are hardworking members of our community, and should not have to take the abuse for the actions of CEOs they had nothing to do with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[It is important from]an economic sustainability standpoint to keep as much capital as we can in the community,\u201d Coonerty said. \u201cI think if people move their money in large numbers it will send a message.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local congressman Farr, who is \u201cvery supportive\u201d of the protesters and a member of the Progressive Caucus, donated cash two weeks ago when members of the caucus passed around a hat on the floor of Congress to collect money for the Occupy protesters in Lafayette Square, a park located directly north of the White House.<\/p>\n

At a press conference the Congressman commented on creating green jobs in Santa Cruz and the \u201cOccupy\u201d movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is what the people on Wall Street are about,\u201d Farr said. \u201cThey want America to be focused on doing things like this rather than just taking care of their bank accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farr feels the movement is getting people to focus on things other than \u201cthe wonder of wealth, or the worship of wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Republicans continue to block the president\u2019s job bills, the latest unemployment figures remain high in California at a whopping 11.4 percent, and 10.1 percent in Santa Cruz County.<\/p>\n

Farr suggests students get internships at places they want to work so they get a job when the economy begins to pick up again.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour lifetime isn\u2019t going to be remembered by how much money you made when you got out of college,\u201d Farr said. \u201cYour lifetime is going to be remembered by what you accomplished in life, and that\u2019s not just going to be about money. That\u2019s going to be about a lot of other things.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Occupy SC gets attention of local residents and elected officials By Alan Sanchez City on a Hill Press October 27, 2011 Photo by Nick Paris. Occupy Santa Cruz ended its second full week of protesting with three events over the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[58],"tags":[79,69],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":542,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions\/542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}