Occupy San Diego City Council Resolution

PROPOSED RESOLUTION FOR SAN DIEGO -- To be Submitted 2011-11-01

The following proposed resolution will be submitted at the San Diego City Council Meeting on 2011-11-01. This resolution was shortened, and the resolve clauses include more detail similar to those used in the San Francisco resolution. Also, the San Diego Imperial Counties Labor Council quotes were used instead of the Los Angeles Labor Federation quotes.

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, San Diegans, like citizens across the United States, are reeling from a continuing economic crisis that threatens our fiscal stability and our quality of life; and

WHEREAS, "Occupy San Diego" is fueled by San Diegans from all walks of life who have come together in a demonstration of solidarity with and support for the national movement started by the "Occupy Wall Street" protests that began on September 17; and

WHEREAS, the protest in Liberty Plaza called "Occupy Wall Street" released its first official Resolution on September 30, 2011, available at http://occupywallst.org;/foruin/first-official-release-from-occupywall-street/, providing an overview of the goals and unifying principles of the "Occupy" movement; and

WHEREAS, on Friday, October 7, 2011, "Occupy San Diego" started a peaceful protest at Children's Park and at Civic Center Plaza adjacent to San Diego City Hall that continues through this day, and "Occupy San Diego" demonstrators are working to secure permits to continue the protest; and

WHEREAS, the "Occupy" demonstrations are a rapidly growing movement with the shared goal of urging U.S. citizens to peaceably assemble and occupy public space in order to create a shared dialogue by which to address the problems and generate solutions for economically distressed Americans; and

WHEREAS, the causes and consequences of the economic crisis are eroding the very social contract upon which the Constitution that the United States of America was founded; namely, the ability of Americans to come together and form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense of, promote the general welfare of, and secure the blessings of liberty for all, allowing every American to strive for and share in the prosperity of our nation through cooperation and hard work; and

WHEREAS, the fiscal impact of the continuing economic crisis is disastrous to education, public services, infrastructure and essential safety-net services that have historically made America successful, with school class sizes growing while teachers are laid off and forcing Cities and States to make sobering choices that just a few years ago would have been unthinkable, such as how to cut hours and services from public safety provision, delaying or neglecting to maintain essential physical infrastructure including roads, sewers, and water and power delivery; and cutting services provided by our libraries, recreation, and park facilities; and

WHEREAS, the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council has officially endorsed "The San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO is proud support the 'Occupy Wall Street' and associated 'Occupy San Diego' efforts. As a coalition of local unions, we work hard to remind media, elected officials, our members and the general public that the economic crises too many people are facing today were not caused by the third-grade teacher, the grocery clerk, the sanitation worker or the firefighter." and

WHEREAS, the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council statement of endorsement continues: "Our economic crisis was caused by the greed on Wallstreet, CEO’s whose pay is 300 times that of their average worker and big banks who have caused a foreclosure nightmare for middle and working class Americans. We will stand with those who seek to bring attention to the real economic problems that regular San Diegans and Americans face." and

WHEREAS, the cities of Los Angeles, Irvine, Orange, and San Francisco, have all unanimously endorsed "Occupy" protests in those cities, and have recognized the use of tents and a 7/24 encampment as a form of speech which is protected under the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights of our Constitution; and

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, with the concurrence of the Mayor, that by the adoption of this Resolution, the City of San Diego hereby stands in SUPPORT for the continuation of the peaceful and vibrant exercise in First Amendment Rights carried out by "Occupy San Diego."; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City Council recognizes that Free Speech and Freedom of Assembly should not be limited to daytime nor short-term activities and we deem the need of protesters to have tents, tarps, First Aid supplies, environmentally clean and fire-safe energy sources, and the ability to store, prepare, and serve hot food reasonable; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City Council urges the Mayor, the Police Department, and other City agencies to uphold the rights of protestors to political speech and public assembly, and to recognize that the full exercise of such rights requires that participants are able to attend to the needs of everyday life, and have a space free from harassment; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City Council urges Mayor Jerry Sanders to direct the Recreation and Park Department, the Department of Public Works, the Police Department, and other City agencies, as relevant, to be flexible and to collaborate with protestors for the safe sharing of public spaces, in which demonstrators can exercise their political rights and the City can address legitimate safety concerns while avoiding unnecessary antagonism; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City Counci urges Mayor Jerry Sanders, in order to prevent further harm and conflict to any members of the public, including protestors of Occupy San Diego, to direct the Police Department to ensure that there will be no use of force to dislodge the Occupy Diego demonstrators and confiscate their belongings.

PROPOSED RESOLUTION FOR SAN DIEGO -- Submitted 2011-10-25

The following resolution was submitted on 2011-10-25 to San Diego City Council during Public Comment.

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, San Diegans, like citizens across the United States, are reeling from a continuing economic crisis that threatens our fiscal stability and our quality of life; and

WHEREAS, "Occupy San Diego" is fueled by San Diegans from all walks of life who have come together in a demonstration of solidarity with and support for the national movement started by the "Occupy Wall Street" protests that began on September 17; and

WHEREAS, on Friday, October 7, 2011, "Occupy San Diego" started a peaceful protest at Children's Park and at Civic Center Plaza adjacent to San Diego City Hall that continues through this day, and "Occupy San Diego" demonstrators are working to secure permits to continue the protest; and

WHEREAS, over 1300 additional "Occupy" protests have taken root across the Country, from large demonstrations in Boston and San Francisco, to dozens of smaller ones in between, with many more being planned every hour, including a large-scale "Occupy Colleges" movement on college campuses across the United States; and

WHEREAS, the protest in Liberty Plaza called "Occupy Wall Street" released its first official Resolution on September 30, 2011, available at http://occupywallst.org;/foruin/first-official-release-from-occupywall-street/, providing an overview of the goals and unifying principles of the "Occupy" movement; and

WHEREAS, the "Occupy" demonstrations are a rapidly growing movement with the shared goal of urging U.S. citizens to peaceably assemble and occupy public space in order to create a shared dialogue by which to address the problems and generate solutions for economically distressed Americans; and

WHEREAS, the causes and consequences of the economic crisis are eroding the very social contract upon which the Constitution that the United States of America was founded; namely, the ability of Americans to come together and form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense of, promote the general welfare of, and secure the blessings of liberty for all, allowing every American to strive for and share in the prosperity of our nation through cooperation and hard work; and

WHEREAS, today corporations hold undue influence and power in our country, and the key to this power is the corporate claim to "personhood," an opinion both U.S. Supreme Court Justices Hugo Black and William O. Douglas declared should be reversed; and

WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court's recent 5-4 ruling in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission rolled back legal restrictions on corporate spending in the electoral process, consequently influencing the selection of candidates, the outcome of elections, and policy decisions -- threatening the voices of the people; and

WHEREAS, our economic system can only be called broken when one considers that currently, over 25 million Americans who seek work are unemployed; more than 50 million Americans are forced to live without health insurance; and, even using our current poverty measure that is widely recognized to be inadequate and outdated, more than I in 5 American children are growing up poor in households that lack access to resources that provide basic survival needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released a "CDC Health Disparities & Inequalities Report- United States, 2011" revealing that income inequality in the United States is the highest in the world among any advanced industrialized nation, with wide-spread inequities in U.S. health outcomes by income, race, and gender; and

WHEREAS, over the past 30 years, both the average and the median wage in America has remained almost stagnant while the average individual worker contribution to GDP has soared to 59% and the economy has doubled, all after adjusting for inflation; and

WHEREAS, over the past 30 years, almost all the gains to the economy have accrued to the very top income earners largely the top 1%, who now control 40% of the wealth in the United States, in great part as a result of policy changes that are reversible such as taxation; and

WHEREAS, the Institute for Policy Studies indicates that the top 1 percent of Americans own half of the country's stocks, bonds and mutual funds; and

WHEREAS, the 400 richest Americans at the top control more wealth than the 180 million Americans at the bottom; and

WHEREAS, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor has officially endorsed "Occupy Los Angeles" and "Occupy Wall Street" in a statement of support saying: "The Los Angeles labor movement stands with its sisters and brothers occupying Wall Street, downtown Los Angeles, and cities and towns across the country who are fed up with an unfair economy that works for I% of Americans while the vast majority of people struggle to pay the bills, get an education and raise their families;" and

WHEREAS, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor statement of endorsement continues: "The Occupy Wall Street movement is mobilizing for a fair economy across the country including in Los Angeles. This movement is taking a stand against the corporate bullies, banks and investment firms that not only created our economic collapse in 2008, but continue to take advantage of it today, making billions in profits while demanding further wage and benefit cuts from American workers;" and

WHEREAS, Americans must resolve some of the divisive economic and social realities facing our nation in a peaceful way to avoid the further deterioration of our greatest asset —our human capital—and;

WHEREAS, in cognizance that one of the factors spurring recent violent revolutionary protests in the Middle East is high income inequality, though the sobering reality is that income inequality in the United States is even higher than that of some of the countries torn asunder by violent revolution; for instance, according to the C.I.A. World Fact Book, the United States Gini coefficient, which is used to measure inequality, is higher than that of Egypt's pre-Revolution; and

WHEREAS, the fiscal impact of the continuing economic crisis is disastrous to education, public services, infrastructure and essential safety-net services that have historically made America successful, with school class sizes growing while teachers are laid off and forcing Cities and States to make sobering choices that just a few years ago would have been unthinkable, such as how to cut hours and services from public safety provision, delaying or neglecting to maintain essential physical infrastructure including roads, sewers, and water and power delivery; and cutting services provided by our libraries, recreation, and park facilities; and

WHEREAS, one of the largest problems causing our economy to continue to flounder is the foreclosure crisis, with some banks continuing the use of flawed, and in some cases fraudulent, procedures to flood the housing market with foreclosures, such as the recent revelations of widespread foreclosure mismanagement by mortgage servicers who fail to properly document the seizure and sale of homes, in some cases foreclosing without the legal authority to do so, prompting the 50-state Attorney General investigation of foreclosure practices; and

WHEREAS, California has been particularly hard-hit by the foreclosure crisis, with: in 5 U.S. foreclosures in California; and 1.2 million foreclosures in California since 2008, with a projection of a total of 2 million California foreclosures by the end of 2012; and More than a third of California homeowners locked in an underwater mortgage, with few banks offering any type of principal reduction modification, even given Federal, State and City programs offering to split the balance of a modification with the bank; and

WHEREAS, the costs of the foreclosure crisis to California taxpayers includes: Property tax revenue losses estimated at $4 billion; and Local, county and state government losses to respond to foreclosure-related costs estimated at $17 billion --including costs such as the maintenance of blighted properties, sheriff evictions, inspections, public safety, trash removal, and other costs at $19,229 for every foreclosure; and

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, with the concurrence of the Mayor, that by the adoption of this Resolution, the City of San Diego hereby stands in SUPPORT for the continuation of the peaceful and vibrant exercise in First Amendment Rights carried out by "Occupy San Diego."

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Concerns

• Quotes Los Angeles Labor and not San Diego Labor.

Summary of articles submitted (Add | All):

• (M1185) 2011-10-26 TEARS STREAM AS CITY COUNCIL UNANIMOUSLY AGREES ‘OCCUPY TENTS ARE A FORM OF SPEECH’ -- Synthian, Occupy Orange County, Occupy San Diego City Council Resolution
• (M1186) 2011-10-26 Irvine gets it right, unanimously approves Occupy presence -- Greg Diamond, Orange Juice, Occupy San Diego City Council Resolution
• (M1187) 2011-10-25 Avalos offers resolution supporting OccupySF and its camp -- Steven T. Jones, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Occupy San Diego City Council Resolution
• (M1181) 2011-10-05 City of Los Angeles Resolution to Support Occupy LA -- City of Los Angeles, Citizens Oversight, Occupy San Diego City Council Resolution
• (M1188) 2011-10-03 San Diego Labor Council Comes Out in Support of Occupy San Diego -- Lorena Gonzalez, Ob Rag, Occupy San Diego City Council Resolution