OCCUPY EVENT 10/15

I would suggest a vote for the event on 10/15. As great as today's event was and as great as the turnout was I would point out that downtown was EMPTY. A large majority of Jacksonville's citizens are at the beach during the weekend, not downtown. We could partner up with Occupy Jax Beach and create some awareness down there. Also, I feel like a large group of people downtown would create a larger amount of attention. Anyone up for some discussion on this?

If you're interested in occupying spaces in which there are large crowds, the Town Center mall is probably your best bet. Personally, I think that occupying downtown is a smart strategy because it's empty. Our operation will drawn attention and people to the city, to see what we're on about.

I would agree with the town center!!!! I didn't think about that at all. Especially since we are protesting large corporations. A lot of these shops outsource their jobs and that is a lot of what we are protesting!!!!

I have been known to have half-way decent ideas, on occasion.

we need to do work groups first i think. cause i had to leave early cause of work. im down to start earlier.

The town center is private property (simon malls). You are asking to be arrested. I would advise sticking to public properties. In addition, creating a "permanent" presence somewhere would be advisable, rather than switching locations.

Our ideal goal should be creating a permanent center where people could come and go and there would always be protesters there. Ideally, the center would grow in size with time. This is the model that NY followed and it has worked quite well for them.

I would argue that where the protesters are in NYC is in the middle of NYC. They didn't really follow a model about picking a place. They picked the BEST place and stayed there. But the place they picked is quite a busy and popular place.

swayda wrote:The town center is private property (simon malls). You are asking to be arrested. I would advise sticking to public properties.

Zuccotti Park/Liberty Park where the Occupy Wall Street group is established is a privately owned property that allows for public access. Protesters are allowed to inhabit the park because it is privately owned, and therefore not subject to ordinary public park curfews (the way that Hemming Plaza is).

So, if we are interested in finding a place for semi-permanent occupation, we need to look for privately owned, public access areas. My parents suggested the vacant lot owned by Dolores and Wayne Weaver that is opposite the Maxwell Coffee building. It may smell awful, but it's large enough to house a tent city. I think that it is sometimes used for supplemental parking on Jaguar game days... but I'm not sure. Also, I don't know what the legal ramifications are for using it. Maybe someone from our legal team can look into this?

Not a lawyer, but I have a sneaking suspicion if a massive protest disrupts the business being conducted at the Town Center, the police will be called by Simon Malls to remove the disruptive people. Just saying.