The other anti-occupation argument surfacing now in the city is about the cost of the police response to the Occupation. An Occupy Philadelphia spokeswoman responded to this charge on WHYY recently by saying much of the police presence is unnecessary, that the Occupy movement was quite capable of providing its own security and monitoring its own activities. For instance, there were no police after 10 pm the night I was at City Hall. Plus, why is it that police costs aren't an issue when it's about protecting businesses, but it is an issue when it's about protecting the right of citizens to redress real grievances.
Mayor Michael Nutter is running in a November 9th election, and some occupiers suspect he is holding off a violent confrontation until after his expected re-election. One marcher under the Rizzo statue was certain the mayor was just waiting until after the election to attack and clear City Hall. A pre-occupation planned construction project for Dilworth Plaza slated to begin in November could become a hot button issue in this respect.
In his letter to the occupiers, Managing Director Negrin refers to a "Dilworth Plaza construction project that has been in the works for 2 years which will affect your relocation date. Your permit currently states as agreed, that Occupy Philadelphia will vacate the premises at the start date of the construction."
Some occupiers say no such agreement was made. The construction project is to take over two years and cost $55 million, $50 million of it from federal stimulus funds. The Dilworth Plaza redesign project [5] will involve a pond that can be turned into a skating rink in the winter, a large green lawn space and a cafà ©. Some Occupy Philadelphia members question [6] the number of permanent jobs the project will develop once construction is over. Others say the stimulus money should be used for things like low-income housing. A meeting between the city and Occupy Philadelphia to address this and the matter of moving is reportedly planned soon.
The 30 occupiers under Frank Rizzo's arm held their 45-minute informal discussion utilizing The Occupation Rules of Order. When someone wanted to talk, he or she shouted "Mike check!" It wasn't perfect, and some people tended to hog the "mike." But for the most part it was respectful and no one was shut out. When listeners liked what they heard, fluttering hands and fingers went up.
The questions involved: Who are we? What are we about? And how do we express those things? Some talked about the need to reach out to others in the city. Some wanted to clarify the occupation's message. An African American man wanted to occupy the "hood. Another man wanted to bring down Capitalism, while one of his comrades pointed out how ultimately immense, complicated and impossible that was.
One clear-eyed and compelling young man jumped in and said it wasn't a matter of deciding which ideas, needs or projects were important but that the group should express all of them and work for all of them -- that, in the end, in the process of working for all of them, it would be revealed which ones were the important ones. He wasn't satisfied with the response to his suggestion. His remarks sounded good, but they also raised too many questions for an impromptu gathering on the street.
One thing was clear: These young Americans were fed up. They had been brought to the realization their society was a top-down, unfair maze of corruption more concerned about overseas military adventures and a bogus "free" market that benefited the rich than about the ever worsening circumstances of ordinary citizens at the bottom. Somehow, by their sense of urgency and demand, their determination to occupy ground, they wanted to facilitate some kind of reform of the system so they might fit into it as creative members of society. You got the sense they felt locked out or overwhelmed by the incredible dishonesty of it all. I'm 64-years-old, and I certainly felt that way.
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