Occupy Philly!

I attended a meeting for "Occupy Philadelphia," which is a continuation of Occupy Wall Street in New York City, which has been continuing for something like a month now. It was held in a Methodist church downtown that I've never been inside before. I was impressed by the organ. Seating capacity was 900, so with the people standing or sitting on the floor, it was over 1,000.

This sort of meeting can amount to looking around and seeing faces I know, sometimes saying Hello, sometimes not. What I was pleased to see tonight was that no political party or ideology was mentioned from the stage (well, the altar) and a simple decision was made: where and when the occupation will begin. The four locations that were brought from the previous meeting were all fairly close to each other. I favored Rittenhouose Square, which is where the dog-walkers of the rich walk the most exquisite pedigree pooches, and which has plenty of grass and trees. Another choice was the very scenic Logan Circle, which I blipped in May. That had its drawbacks, including that it's such a large area that if the numbers are not huge, the crowd will look small. The second runner-up was Love Park, which is in the heart of town and world-famous among skateboarders. The winner is City Hall, on the west side of it, which does have advantages, but I believe that the message will be confused by the choice, since the city government has little or nothing to do with the protest. Nine in the morning, Thursday is the time the occupation begins.

What's it all about? Well, it gives people a way to ventilate displeasure at being thrown into uncertainty or real poverty by banks, CEOs, and the stock market. Occupations just like this are being organized in cities around the country.

At the bottom of the picture, a lady is wearing a tee shirt promoting Cheri Honkala for Sheriff on the Green party ticket. The Sheriff's office does three things here: it moves prisoners between jail and courtroom, it polices the courts, and it enforces foreclosure and eviction orders. Part of the economic meltdown has been that when a building is foreclosed by a bank, the tenants who live there and have been paying rent on time all get thrown out on the street. Honkala has put out the promise that if elected, she will evict nobody. I knew her slightly years ago when she was the leader of a welfare rights group in a very poor section of the city. She is respected by everyone, but for her to get through the machinery is a very long shot.

Well that's my blip for today! I hope that all is well with my fellow blipsters.