Occupy Richmond now occupies lawn next door to Mayor Jones’s home
Frustrated by the Mayor’s unwillingness to extend special permission for Occupy Richmond protestors to spend the night in public parks, they have taken up an offer from the Mayor’s neighbor to occupy that neighbor’s front lawn.
Occupy Richmond protestors have found another location wherein to colonize: next door to Mayor Dwight Jones’s home.
The Publisher of the Richmond Free Press, Raymond Boone, made it known in his paper last Thursday that Occupy protestors were welcome to encamp in his yard, which is directly next to Mayor Jones’s residence in the Brookbury subdivision of South Richmond. Occupy protestors are still upset with the Mayor for his refusal to grant special permission to allow overnight encampment at the previous locations used by protestors, Kanawha Plaza and Monroe Park.
Protestors have erected tents and procured basic provisions for an overnight stay. Richmond Police are present also in a supervisory role, including leading officials of the command staff.
Update
Here are photos from yesterday
Via a statement provided by the Mayor’s Office, Mayor Jones has “no comment on what a private home owner chooses to do on his/her own property as long as it is within the law.”
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Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
bit of a joke?
The photo used above is from the Monroe Park Occupation in March and is in no way related to this article or this news piece. Please remove it as it is irrelevant. TY.
@M
RVANews did not have a photograph that we could legally use of the occupation next door to the Mayor’s home. Therefore I chose to originally run a photo that conveyed an outdoor occupation similar to that of what was occurring next door to the Mayor’s home, even though it did not fully represent the story.
As we still have no photo that we can use legally (and RVANews respects copyright law), we have since updated the article photo to that of a sign held at the first Occupy Richmond event from our archive.
I did not intend to mislead anyone with the original photo, yet I recognize how that could be the case. I trust that the current photo is more appropriate.
And now it is raining. The only thing I can think of is how messed up that grass is going to get with all of the foot falls churning up the mud.
Yes Brian the grass, the grass who is going to protect the grass
“still upset with the Mayor for his refusal to grant special permission to allow overnight encampment at the previous locations used by protestors, Kanawha Plaza and Monroe Park.”
What a bunch of whiny little hippies. Gee, can’t get “special permission”- too bad!
I would be more impressed with Occupy Richmond if they were more aligned with Occupy Wall Street’s goal of taking on corporate money. It seems like Occupy Richmond is obsessed with City government’s park rules.
My suggestions:
For starters, see who (including City Council, Mayor, and other elected officials) will take this pledge:
“I will vote for no candidate who takes corporate money.”
In addition, demand that City Council pass a resolution along these lines:
WHEREAS, the citizens of the City of Richmond hope to nurture and expand democracy in our community and our nation. Democracy means governance by the people. Only persons who are human beings should be able to participate in the democratic process; and
WHEREAS, interference in the democratic process by corporations usurps the rights of citizens to govern; and
WHEREAS, corporations are artificial entities separate and apart from human beings. Corporations are not naturally endowed with consciousness or the rights of human beings. Corporations are creations of law and are only permitted to do what is authorized under law; and
WHEREAS, corporations claim to be persons, possessing the rights of personhood, including free speech and other constitutional freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and
WHEREAS, corporations presuming such rights of personhood have influenced and interfered with democratic processes by lobbying and pressuring our legislative bodies, making campaign contributions which dominate election campaigns, and using the media to substitute corporate values for community and family values; and
WHEREAS, Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black stated in a 1938 opinion, I do not believe the word person in the 14th Amendment includes corporations; and
WHEREAS, corporations are not mentioned in the Constitution. The people have never granted constitutional rights to corporations, nor have we decreed that corporations have authority that exceeds the authority of the people of the United States.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Richmond believes that no corporation should be deemed a person and therefore that no corporation should be entitled to the same rights and protections as those guaranteed only to persons under the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Richmond supports education to increase public awareness of the threats to our democracy posed by corporate personhood, and the Council encourages lively discussion to build understanding and consensus on appropriate community and municipal responses to those threats.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Richmond supports the Occupy Richmond group in hosting town meetings to draft an ordinance or ordinances addressing the legal fiction of corporate personhood and other threats corporations pose to our democracy in Richmond.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Richmond authorizes sending copies of this resolution to our elected representatives.
@Scott: Yes Scott, the grass. I don’t know why I am more concerned with that than anything else the protest seems to want to do. do you have a yard?
Oh Brian, get the big picture.
Do you remember the patter back and forth in City Council about downtown? Along the lines of “But if we let THEM occupy, who’ll be next? Neo-Nazis?”
Freedom of speech is not exclusive. The grass will survive. It’s the country club mentality that has to go.
the grass, the grass who is going to protect the grass?
I’m not sure, but I think @5 – Scott’s remark was meant as a joke.