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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

MIC CHECK! -- MIC CHECK!

Occupy Update!


Sketch of scene in the federal court room
asking for a temporary restraining order

From Left, Asst. City Attorney Kristin Black, Judge Hayes
Attorney Todd Cardiff, Plantiffs Davina Lynch,
Eugene Davidovich and John Kenney


comic-whatdotheywant.jpg


NEWS

Despite what you might hear on the corporate-owned news:
  • The occupation continues, around the clock.
  • PLEASE COME DOWN when you can and help with numbers. This is your true vote. Stay at home = vote against 99%.
  • Tents and almost everything is now being restricted by the police.
  • Food is needed -- we no longer have a food table, so you'll have to play it by ear.
  • We will not be denied our constitutional right to assemble and speak!
  • Many Teach-ins on Sunday!

Court Hearing
(Some corrections are marked below)
Federal court hearing of the TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) regarding Municipal Code 54.0110. Judge Hayes heard the oral arguments at 2:30pm on Tuesday, Nov 22. We must all thank the protestors who attended this court hearing and exhibited excellent courtesy. Here are my comments:
  • Court Documents
  • Attorney Bryan Pease could not attend in person because he just completed Lasik eye surgery. He attended by telephone but did not participate in the hearing.
  • Attorney Todd Cardiff presented the arguments in favor of the restraining order.
    • The primary argument is that the law is vague and overly broad, and therefore subject to abuse. It outlaws anything on public property, even a coffee cup, and even if it is for free speech.
    • We are talking about the civic center plaza here, which is specifically set aside for free speech.
    • Quoted ACLU vs. City of Las Vegas
  • Asst City Attorney Kristin Black presented the defense for the City.
    • Said TRO is not required, because there is no imminent harm. She said the protests have been continuing with out disruption since Oct 7 and there is no infringement of freedom of speech. If this was a big concern, then this case should have been brought sooner.
    • She said that the law was only used when the plaza was cleared, because they did not want the protestors setting up their tents and gear while the square was being cleared. Of course we know this statement was far from being accurate.
    • She said they have not "precluded anyone from putting anything down." Maybe, but I know once it is put down, the police will threaten arrest if you don't pick it up.
  • Judge said he would consider all the arguments and release a written decision. Normally, these don't take very long.
  • If this Temporary Restraining Order is approved, we will return!
  • We need video documentation of police hassling people about setting stuff down. If you have such a video, please contact me at raylutz@citizensoversight.org so I can get it to the right people.

My Interaction with the Police Today I was hanging around the Civic Center Plaza at about 10am on Wednesday, Nov 23. I noticed SDPD officer Tony Lessa talking with occupier Michael. The officer was asking the occupiers to stop singing because it was disturbing the tenants of the nearby building. After watching the ridiculous overreaching by the SDPD and the lies in court by the City, I jumped into the conversation. "What complaints are you talking about?" He said they had many complaints. "Oh, really, did you get them in writing?" I asked. "Well no," he said "But they complain all the time."

We walked up to the tall office building to the north of the public square, to the Civic Center Plaza building. We talked to Michelle Rouselle, "Manager of Civic Center Plaza," I think the security detail. "Have you had any complaints?" -- "Oh yes many complaints. The sound comes right in the open doors." -- I asked "Well did you ever think of closing the doors? Most businesses don't leave their doors wide open." -- She said "What? Are you trying to force us to close our doors, we should not be required to do that!"

We wound up going up to the office of Cyndi Poes, Assistant Real Estate Manager, who reports directly to the owner. It turns out that the building is owned by a private party and leased mainly to the City for City Attorney and Mayor's offices. What a sweet deal that must be. I asked: "Have you had any complaints for noise?" -- "Not lately, no" she said. Of course Michelle tried to interrupt to say how disruptive the singing was. I said "Well, I think that if you do have any complaints, step #1 should be to close the doors, don't you agree?" -- "Well, yes."

I told her I was intending to write a letter to her to send to her owner on the issue. I also believe that it is impossible, even though the property is privately owned, for them to keep us from peaceful political activity on that private property. It is not City property, so there is no way they can use SDMC 54.0110, and the Pruneyard case speaks clearly that even in a private mall, designed not for public speaking, but for sales of merchandize, they are required to allow people to set up tables and chairs and hand out literature and talk to the public, because malls have largely replaced the public square. But there, they are subject to time, place and manner restrictions. Our club does voter registration at the local mall for a whole weekend every month, right in front of Wal Mart. In contrast, the "private property" in front of the Civic Center Plaza building is obviously part of the public square. I don't think they would even be able to regulate peaceful political activities using time, place and manner restrictions.

Bottom line is the SDPD is attempting to enforce requests based on assumptions that we are bothering neighbors when in fact no one has complained. They are not enforcing the law, the are going well past that. At this point, they are only trying to make our life miserable, so the pesky problem of Occupy SD will disappear. Even though the square is not filled with 100s of people, I know the people on this list are there in spirit and want this movement to be successful, and are definitely not ready to give up.

  • GA notes -- will be sent as a separate email blast, when available.

  • Hunger Strike -- John Kenney continues his hunger strike, now in day 14. He is requesting that the City come to the table and discuss the right of Occupy San Diego to conduct protests in the form of an encampment. John is now sick and I am starting to worry about his health. Nancy Casady is no longer on Hunger Strike.

TAKE ACTION

This is a new section and will list a number of things YOU can do right now to help.

MEDIA

NEW

2011 Nov 24


ANNOUNCEMENTS

See All Occupy San Diego Announcements to read all previous announcements about
  • Where we meet, how to recover confiscated property from the San Diego Police Department, information for people were arrested, etc.

Unless noted, all events are at "Freedom Square" (the San Diego Civic Center Plaza, 1200 3rd Ave. San Diego, Intersection of 3rd Ave. and B St.)
Unless otherwise noted, we meet daily as follows:
  • 4 pm -- Finance Committee Meeting, Downtown Johnny Brown's, Mon. thru Friday
    • Each committee should send a representative to this meeting! Budget is currently being defined.
  • 5:30 pm -- Committee meetings -- many meet at the "big circle" (the part of the plaza where there's map of San Diego in a big circle) with very few exceptions.
  • 7pm -- General Assembly (Civic Center Plaza)

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Warning: Can't find named section OccupySanDiegoEmailBlast2011Nov24 in topic Occupy.OccupySanDiegoEvents


Occupy San Diego & Imperial County (Visit each site and "Like" it)


National Coordination


User's Tip

Since we get new subscribers every day much of the email blast will be the same as the last one. BUT, you can view JUST THE DIFFERENCES if you want to, so you can read it faster.
  1. Go to the web version of the email blast.
  2. Scroll to the bottom. Click "More Topic Actions"
  3. Go to the sections "Compare Revisions"
  4. Compare the current topic ("3" in this one) to 1 (which is the prior day's)
  5. Click COMPARE.
Notes:
  • This does not show some changes, like images, so you should scan the original email too.
  • At the bottom of the original topic, you can view any older version (click the numbers) or comparisons ("<") by clicking on the list. (Doesn't work for our case of comparing one day to the next because there are usually several revisions before the final one, so you have to use the "Compare Revisions" function.

SEND THIS LINK AND TELL OTHERS TO SUBSCRIBE: http://lists.citizensoversight.org/mailman/listinfo/occupysd

If you have:
  • lists of emails that should be subscribed
  • events or notices that should be included
  • needs or wants to request from our supporters
  • specific requests for volunteers
SEND TO: raylutz@citizensoversight.org (Media Committee Member)
and we'll work to get that information included in this daily update.

DISCLAIMER! Although we will do our best to make sure this list of events is accurate, changes may occur frequently! Please check your email daily to make sure and also the various web sites.

THANK YOU FOR BEING INVOLVED.

Edited by Ray Lutz with help from Email Blast Team.
Topic revision: r6 - 19 Mar 2018, RaymondLutz
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