The postponement of the food-truck festival at Dewey Square on Saturday due to Occupy Boston might have meant a loss in donations for the Greater Boston Food Bank, which had been asking event goers to bring food donations with them.
Arroyo speaks at Occupy Boston.
Local unions came out swinging in favor of Occupy Boston today. At an afternoon rally, the final speaker wasCity Councilor Felix Arroyo, himself a former organizer for the SEIU. Afterwards, Arroyo was asked about Council President Steve Murphy's comments this morning that he's worried about an estimated $2-million-a-month cost for police overtime and about the arrival of "professional agitators."
Arroyo said he has not seen any figures from the police department yet on the costs of patrolling the occupation, or Murphy's comments, so he said he could not really comment on either.
But, Arroyo said, "The question is, though, what the cost is to the city if we don't change our economic practices now, what is the cost then and that's the lense I hope we [use to] look at this, to say what is the cost to all of us if we continue on this track, if we continue on the track where 99% of the population is essentially struggling and 1% has all our wealth."
If you agree, please call and be nice. Agree or disagree, your comments are welcome below.
City Council President Steve Murphy talked about Occupy Boston on Channel 25 today. While he said he agrees with some of the points protesters are making - banks got bailouts, Big Oil nearly bankrupted the US auto industry - he said police are now on target to spend $2 million a month on patrolling the area, and that money has to come from somewhere.
Whether it's snow plowing or street cleaning or educational needs or summer jobs for kids, frankly, it's all in the same bucket and we only have so much wheat in that barrel. ... Wall Street isn't picking up the tab on this it's Boston taxpayers. ... I just don't think it's good to try to bankrupt a city as you're trying to make your point. And I think that might be where we're headed.
Murphy also echoed comments by Police Commissioner Ed Davis after the Tuesday-morning arrests, that "professional agitators" have joined the occupation and want to cause trouble.
The ACLU of Massachusetts says it's looking into how people were arrested and processed following the "heavy handed" Greenway crackdown on Tuesday.
A mobile food festival originally planned for this Saturday has been postponed until at least this spring, the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy announced today:
The decision is based on the fact the attendees we're anticipating for the Greenway Mobile Food Fest, when combined with the Occupy Boston encampment on Dewey Square, would simply be too crowded to be considered safe for the public.
Carice Pingenot, who forwards this photo of the 99% Quartet from Dewey Square yesterday, reports:
The playing was lovely and attracted quite a crowd.
The Globe explains why some protesters arrested early Tuesday decided to fight charges, rather than pay a fine and talks to Menino and protesters about the crackdown. The Outraged Liberal explains what Occupy Boston is fighting for. The Phoenix posts photos from Tuesday morning. The Awl shows how democracy works at Occupy Boston, via its sometimes drawn out "general assemblies."
Most of the protesters arrested at Occupy Boston early this morning walked out of Boston Municipal Court today after paying $50 fines. However, eight protesters insisted on criminal trials, while 4 others will get criminal trials because of past criminal records, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office says.
The DA's office reached agreement with 49 protesters to drop criminal charges in exchange for $50 fines, which means they walked out of court with no criminal record. A judge dropped charges against an additional 14 protesters in exchange for a similar payment and over prosecutors' objections, the DA's office says.
Arrest. Photo by Jtpouliot. Copyright Jtpouliot.
Boston Police moved into the new encampment on the Greenway around 1:20 a.m., giving protesters five minutes to retreat back to the original encampment closer to South Station or get arrested. They didn't move, and the police, who had been massing around the encampment since the previous evening, kept their word. Jtpouliot was there to record the arrests. Scott Eisen also took photos. An arrest photo. Open Media Boston posted photos as well.
Police Commissioner Ed Davis says anarchists, not a harrumphing mayor, forced his hand today (Ed. historical note: Anarchists were originally blamed for the Great Molasses Disaster as well; as we now know, the tank exploded due to corporate greed - an executive ignored warnings the tank was leaking).
So Boston becomes the first city to clear out the #OWS protesters. Shameful, given the history of the city. What would Sam Adams say?
Tommy could not restrain his authoritarian tendencies, and we all know that nothing happens in Boston unless approved personally by Tommy.
Please spare me any comments about people using the empty space known as "the Greenway," especially on the Dewey Square end of it.
What were they arrested for? Oh, "unlawful assembly?" Sounds like Boston taxpayers will have to cover some damages and fees on civil rights lawsuits.
Their ranks swelled with local college students, Occupy Boston had its first major confrontation with Boston Police today, at the North Washington Street bridge to Charlestown, which police refused to let them cross.
As protesters milled about, some shouting to take the bridge, police brought in every prisoner transport wagon in the city and reinforcements from across the city to join the downtown and motorcycle cops already on scene. Even drug and gang officers were summoned to the area between Haymarket and the bridge, just in case.
In the end, however, protesters marched back to the Occupy Boston encampment at Dewey Square, spurred, in part, by a rumor that police were taking down the tents. Tonight, protesters await what they say is a midnight deadline from Boston Police to remove tents in a different part of the Greenway, north of that Big Dig structure, that had been empty or police will move in and take out the entire tent city.
Boston Police have turned to Twitter to ask protesters to take down the new tents. In a series of tweets tonight, BPD explained;
BPD requesting protestors return 2 original @Occupy_Boston site on Greenway to continue peaceful protest. Thank you 4 ur cooperation.
BPD seeks to curtail additional damage to newly developed green space at second site. Please adhere @Occupy_Boston. Thank you.
@Occupy_Boston: the Greenway Conservancy recently invested over 150k in new plantings 4 all to enjoy @ 2nd site. Pls return to original.
Earlier in the day: Protesters return to Dewey Square.
Photo by FishHeadNed posted under this Creative Commons license.
NorthEndWaterfront.com posts video from a Greenway Conservancy board meeting at which board members discussed the Occupy Boston encampment at Dewey Square.
Meanwhile, it looks like Occupy Boston might be putting down some roots in Copley Square.
Dennis Fox has been spending several hours a day at the Occupy Boston encampment in Dewey Square:
Only in Boston. Photo by Occupy Boston.
Unlike in New York, where police herd protesters onto illegal walkways, then arrest them, Boston Police have not interfered with Occupy Boston's First Amendment rights. Yesterday afternoon, police even blocked side streets along Newbury so protesters could march down the street.
On Friday night, police could easily have gotten out their pepper spray and plastic handcuffs and fired away as protesters walked over to the front doors of the Federal Reserve Bank; instead, they formed a line in front of the building and let the protesters have their say (still, just in case, Occupy Boston's legal team keeps telling people to write the National Lawyers Guild's emergency numbers somewhere on their bodies).
Keori tweeted yesterday from Dewey Square, where Occupy Boston's set up its tent city:
I often go over and ask if BPD want anything but they say no. We smile and thank them. They've been great.
Meanwhile, Marjorie Eagan says if she has to choose between what one New York paper called "spoiled brats" and fat cats, she'll take the kids every time:
Well, I'll take spoiled brats over the rest of us complacent sheep who just lie down and take what’s happened here: that is, a corrupt Wall Street that bankrupted millions of Americans, through no fault of their own. The financiers not only escape prosecution but get bailed out by taxpayers. Now these same financiers are underwriting campaigns of politicians who are supposed to fix this mess to benefit the public, not the high-rollers who stuff their campaign chests.
Mystery Pill has been spending some time at Dewey Square. Steve Annear at the Metro is livetweeting from there today.
Photo copyright Mystery Pill. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.
Protest at the Fed. Photo by Georgy Cohen.
Several hundred protesters, mostly young, turned the Greenway at Dewey Square into an impromptu protest village tonight, then marched toward Faneuil Hall - and across the street to the Federal Reserve Bank.
Occupy Boston, organized just over the last few days, seeks to protest what it says is subversion of the American economy and politics by Wall Street. Although some of the protesters came from an earlier demonstration outside the Bank of America building on Federal Street, the two events were planned by different groups.
After two nights of meeting on the Common, the Occupy Boston people have decided to launch their occupation at 6 p.m. on Friday in Dewey Square. No word if the revolution will be catered by Clover.
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