The Latest from Occupy Los Angeles: A Timeline and My Thoughts

Rumors have been swirling at the Occupy Los Angeles (OLA) camp at City Hall for the past few days of an impending shut down of the camp and forcible eviction of its Occupiers. Alternately, rumors of secret deal making and negotiations between the city and certain Occupiers also have set the camp astir.

Here is a timeline of events over the past few days as I have reconstructed them, based upon my notes and memory. I am trying to refrain from passing along gossip and unsubstantiated rumors, so this timeline will be rather spartan in certain particulars as to 'why' and 'who'.

On the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 22, members of the OLA City Liaison Committee (CLC) appeared before the General Assembly (GA) and informed the GA that an offer from the city was now on the table. That offer included a 10,000 square foot office space in an underground shopping mall across the street from City Hall, an unspecified parcel of farmland and 100 beds for the homeless in return for OLA abandoning its camp on the lawn of City Hall.

Announcement of this offer by the city was highly contentious at the GA, with many Occupiers angrily demanding to know why they were only now hearing of the negotiations and\or why the offer was not yet in writing. No action was taken in response to the offer by the GA that night and negotiators returned to meet with the city officials the next day.

On Wednesday, Nov. 23, the OLA negotiators were told by representatives from the city that the city's offer had been “rescinded”.

On Wednesday night, Nov. 23, OLA’s GA approved the text of a refusal of the offer, even though said offer was referred to as already ‘allegedly rescinded.’ This refusal was published on the OLA website on November 24.

On Thursday, Nov. 24, notices were placed on trees and other posts stating that City Hall Park closed at 10 p.m. each night. The placing of these notices was taken by many Occupiers as ‘constructive notice’ of impending eviction, meaning they thought that the city was giving Occupiers 72 hours notice of its intent to evict them. (The city denied it was doing this.)

On Friday, Nov. 25, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa held a press conference at which he announced that the rule about the park closing at 10 p.m. would be enforced starting at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, November 28. Anyone who remained after that time would be subject to possible arrest.

On Friday evening, Nov. 25, the GA convened and began deliberations upon its response. The General Assembly divided itself into two groups: those willing to face arrest to defend the camp and those unwilling to risk arrest but willing to support the first group. Each group discussed strategy and tactics in small break-out groups and spokespeople presented each group’s findings to the GA at large. Additionally, the GA unanimously approved a proposal to file for injunctive relief in U.S. Federal Court, as it can accept filings electronically at all times and the state courts are closed until Monday.

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Where does this leave OLA? Right now, everyone assumes that any raid will occur no earlier than Monday at 12:01 a.m. Last night’s GA witnessed a new seriousness of tone and purpose and a sense of stubborn determination. Very little defeatism was evident and I do not think the OLA camp will be broken up easily. Although the vast majority of Occupiers remain firmly committed to non-violence, there is a lot of thinking going on about the creative uses of non-violence to resist the Mayor and his forces.

Alma and I will be returning to OLA later today and tomorrow and I will update this thread with pertinent information as it becomes available. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, especially the brave OLA patriots who, in committing non-violent civil disobedience, will now face the combined might of LA law enforcement.

Because I have a life outside of OLA and GA and cannot devote myself full-time (yet!) to being a citizen-journalist, I heartily encourage and welcome any corrections to this timeline and, of course, any comments or perspectives you have.

the campers out. In a city that is on water rationing, maintaining a lawn of water-guzzling non-native grass is not a very persuasive reason.

The mayor and the members of the City Council should attend a GA and meet with the Occupiers personally.

After all, the mayor and members of the City Council meet with other civic groups, attend parties with rich business "leaders" and religious leaders all the time. They could make themselves available to the actual campers and not just a small self-appointed delegation of campers.

The point in camping in front of City Hall as I understand it (not being a part of the Occupy movement myself) is to protest the lack of access, the lack of opportunity for participation in the decision-making processes of government of ordinary people, poor people, unemployed people, people who can't pay-to-play.

The City needs to demonstrate that every citizen in Los Angeles, including those camped in front of City Hall can have the same access to government leaders as the heads of law firms, the owners of large construction companies, and the extremely wealthy titans of Hollywood have.

why the OLA occupation needs to end: a desire to restore and protect the grass lawn in City Hall Park. I was at OLA while Villaraigosa was holding the news conference and so did not hear it live. As a result, I've been relying on MSM reports (from ABC7).

Ironically, LA's Dept of Water and Power actually pays homeowners to remove grass from their properties b/c doing so promotes water conservation. Not sure whether to file that little factoid under "Unintentional Irony" or some other category.

Details announced at the press conference held by the mayor and police chief included:




One thing that needs clarification is whether the area will be shut down completely or LAPD merely will be enforcing the restrictions on hours of use. It sounded to me like a complete shutdown (especially in view of the intent to restore the grounds), but I'd have to double-check the press conference video to be certain.

I posted in LBN a CBS news story that includes the 9-minute video of the press conference:

Villaraigosa Orders Occupy Protesters To Leave City Hall By Monday
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x5070897

Thanks again to you and Alma and Fire Walk With Me for all your work!

ABC's announcement of the presser, then headed down there and had no way to post the actual presser while it was going on.

There is some ambiguity as to whether only the South Lawn will be shut down, while the West and North steps remain open. Apparently Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief Beck offered contradictory answers within the same presser !

On a personal note, this business of opening up shelter beds for the homeless really sticks in my craw and the craws of a lot of OLAers. If there were beds available for the homeless, why weren't they already opened up irrespective of the OLA developments? I mean, really, WTF? (Not directed at you, but at our craven mayor and city council. Ugh.)

is the need for OLA to maintain as much communication as possible with the mayor and the city council. The closer members of OLA get to and stay with the mayor and city council the greater the chances for understanding of the people's needs, and "them" becomes part of "us" and "we" and "they" will realize that we are one.

to go 'all in' on a holiday weekend. All I and many others could do was leave voicemails with Villaraigosa and, in my case, Councilperson Rosendahl.

Part of what pisses me off is that this whole thing went down on a holiday weekend, when the broader public's attention is elsewhere and where crucial civic institutions (like the courts) are closed. Almost makes me want to pull my tinfoil hat out of storage :)

I suspect Villaraigosa and the city council are getting all kinds of heat from LA's 1% crowd (Eli Broad, et. al.) to shut us down. But I have no way of knowing, so did not include that in my OP.

weekend began. I didn't even realize that until it was stated at the GA...and as stated, because CITY COURTS ARE CLOSED THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS.

Co-inky-dink? Hmmmm...

Thanks as always for your excellent work on the #Occupation. See you there this weekend!

What are Occupy LA's plans concerning the shut down of West Coast ports on 12/12 in sync with the Occupy Oakland request?

I know y'all have something more immediate on your plate, but if you have any info as to intentions I would appreciate it.

I am planning to participate in the action, and have a long way to drive.

My options are LA and San Diego, but I prefer LA as I have support there.

Thanks so much.

other matters.

Here's what I do know. The OLA GA endorsed the port action of 12/12 and planned to occupy the port of San Pedro. Discussions were underway with the Action Committee and the ILWU and Teamsters locals, as I understand it, when the eviction threat started getting legs.

As far as I know, the plans for the port action are still a 'go'. But I will ask one of my colleagues on the Action Committee and report back to you as soon as I have more definite info.