Northbay Uprising - Information for the liberated zones of the San Pablo Bay

2011-11-17 "City seems ready to move in on Occupy SF" by C.W. Nevius from "San Francisco Chronicle"
[http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-11-17/bay-area/30413406_1_tents-city-demands-police-action]
The Occupy San Francisco movement is being set up. It will be interesting to see what its members do about it.
The occupation has morphed from a political statement, to an endless discussion group, to a campground, to a homeless refuge. And now, after a meeting with Mayor Ed Lee and city officials, they've been boxed into a no-win situation by the city. They can either scramble to meet city demands or fail to do so and justify a major police action.
"The city has been very patient," said Lee. "But I have expressed very strongly that I need changes. I am giving them an opportunity to improve conditions, but I need to see improvements today."
That won't happen. The requirements are too high. According to a handout given to reporters Wednesday, the camp will have to be cut in half, to 100 tents from 198; there will be no drugs or alcohol; and the camp will be required to be cleaned weekly, with tents and belongings removed. Good luck with that, given this fractious group.
"There have been fistfights and acts of violence," said Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White, who said the camp should be shut down. "There is an element of this group that is not cooperative."
 Granted, Lee lacks credibility. The tents were cleared out once on Oct. 8, and he let them come back. He was still saying there were no tents at the camp when the plaza looked like an Everest base camp. He said Tuesday that no action was planned, then his officers staged a raid in the wee hours Wednesday morning, taking down tents and arresting seven people. For someone who said he wasn't going to run for mayor and then did, that sets off alarm bells.
But the 2 a.m. raid was a good indication of how things have changed. Supervisor John Avalos was there, and though he strongly supports the movement and opposes police action, he didn't sound encouraged.
"The message is completely lost now," he said. "There were some people there who were genuinely there for the movement, and there were people who just wanted to party."
Occupy needs to get back to the message that enticed 52-year-old Susan Phelan. On her way downtown to pick up tickets for "Richard III," she stopped by the camp Oct. 22, talked to some of the truly bright and passionate members, and had an epiphany.
She went to her basement, found her camping tent, and moved in at 10 p.m. the same day.
"I woke up at least six times, street sweepers sound like jet planes, my hip was aching, and I wanted to shoot that damn guitar player," she said.
Phelan still believes. She's passionate about the cause, a little angry at the media for what she thinks are distortions, and participated in Wednesday's meeting. But she doesn't camp in her tent anymore. She lasted 10 days.
"I left when I found a guy passed out in there with a 12-pack of beer," she said.
 Phelan, who stresses she is speaking only for herself, fears that if the campground goes away, Occupy will dissolve into "an Internet movement." But whether there are tents or not, Occupy SF has to move beyond turf wars to something substantial.
So far the problem is that the message is garbled. After Wednesday's meeting, city officials came out and offered up sound bites while the Occupy folks "debriefed" behind closed doors. Little by little, the media drifted away and the opportunity to make a statement evaporated.
The exception was a 24-year-old Stanford graduate, Meagan Moroney, who came out of the meeting and spoke to TV cameras.
"We are willing to work with the city," she said. "But we are not OK with the city deciding who gets to be in a civil rights movement."
She was articulate, thoughtful and persuasive. And after a few minutes, a member of Occupy came out and told her to stop talking because she didn't represent the group.
That spoke volumes. This is a group that doesn't know what's good for it.