I believe Occupy Long Beach hit a logistics bump last night but overcame it with a consensus, truly proving the solidarity forming in the the bluff and the unity of things to come.
Last night, during the second week of general assembly meetings at 6 pm at the bluff on Ocean Blvd and Junipero, a consensus was made for the base camp of Occupy Long Beach to be Lincoln Park. The other option was Marina Green Park, along Shoreline Dr, but was nixed because of the lack of visibility to the general public and city officials, essentially.
On the other hand, Lincoln Park is in the heart of downtown Long Beach and surrounded by the city library, City Hall, World Trade Center, the financial district, downtown foot traffic, and the metro and bus station. Located at Broadway and Pacific Ave, Lincoln Park has the distinction of being the oldest park in Long Beach and includes tons of grass space and a statue of good ‘ol Abe Lincoln.
Occupation will begin at Lincoln Park on Saturday, October 15th at 10 am. A rally and open mic is scheduled at 11 am, a peaceful demonstration will follow along the sidewalks of the downtown financial district at noon and will conclude back at Lincoln Park. Another open mic session will take place at 1:30 pm and a general assembly meeting at 6 pm.
Folks are planning to camp out for as long as necessary and do their best to gather others to join in the solidarity of mistreated and misused working Americans, doing what they feel necessary to discontinue that treatment.
Occupy Long Beach may not be as big as Occupy Wall Street or Occupy LA, but there are some beautiful people with intelligence, social awareness, organizational skills and insightful observations. There are people, from hippies to rockabilly’s, who believe in stopping corporate greed from taking place in our very city and believe that they can do it.
This meeting included a teacher who is witnessing children suffer from education cutbacks, and knowledgeable Hyatt hotel workers fed up with their minimally waged jobs working for a city subsidized hotel chain owned by billionaires. It also included students who cannot afford their tuitions, local entrepreneurs that are struck with overwhelming ambitious city taxes and a young woman who originally walked to the bluff to do yoga, but ended up joining the movement.
I wish I could say more to explain the incredible energy that I felt and discussed with numerous other attendees. My legs were shaking during discussions; I continually sat down then got up when a great statement was made and overall just felt like everyday people that can and will change our country surrounded me. But, I think suggesting you attend a meeting Thursday or Friday at the bluff at 6 pm and appear at October 15th’s Global Day of Action is a much better suggestion.
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