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Occupy Philly: pivotal vote tonight possible on whether to leave plaza for construction. Or stay put.
City says tents must move in coming month when construction to rebuild Dilworth Plaza begins. Last night, the "radical caucus" put forward a proposal to vote on whether to stay put for good.
Occupy Philly: pivotal vote tonight possible on whether to leave plaza for construction. Or stay put.
Mayor Michael Nutter has allowed the Occupy Philly encampment in front of City Hall to continue more or less unmolested. But he has made it clear that the protest tent city must move in the coming month when construction to rebuild Dilworth Plaza is slated to begin. But protesters have debated whether to comply and last night, a group called the “radical caucus” put forward a proposal to vote on whether to stay put in Dilworth for good.
It’s possible, says organizer Chris Goldstein, that the proposal, like many others, will be tabled or amended. And he says that whether people stay or relocate will in the end be a personal choice since the General Assembly (GA) isn’t a governing body. It’s just a space to build consensus — or something close to it (the rules call for an overwhelming super-majority).
For his part, Goldstein is more interested in discussing expanding the encampment than relocating.
“There’s a lot of autonomy in Occupy Philly. I’m not sure if a vote at the GA will make any difference. People can occupy wherever they want. My personal opinion is that we should occupy more places. I’m not sure if moving is as much an issue as expansion.”
If they vote to stay, it could prove divisive since many want to move and avoid conflict with a city they say has been cooperative. And there's debate over the reconstruction project too.
“The problem is that in our letter to the city we said that we would talk to union representatives about the impact on them before we make the decision,” said one activist who didn’t want their name mentioned. “And that hasn’t happened. The other problem is that we were also going to invite disabled representatives to come speak, because part of the project is to make the space disabled accessible. Because right now you can’t transfer for free from the blue to the orange line if you’re disabled.”
Yet in one letter, activists criticized the project as a privatized bourgeois redevelopment scheme:
In the poorest big city in the country, we believe that it is morally bankrupt to consider spending $50 million on the redevelopment of Dilworth Plaza. Who made that decision? To whom are Paul Levy and his Center City District accountable?
But it will also create jobs and improve handicapped accessibility.
“I get the whole problem with ice skating rink and privatization of the space, but you’re also keeping people from having jobs,” says the anonymous activist. “And that’s not cool.”
Good God, they really tend to over-think these things, don't they? Just move already; it's going to be an improvement for the city poor and rich alike.— billpa
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