Occupy D.C.'s Last Stand

Occupy DC demonstrators erect a huge blue tarp labeled 'Tent of Dreams' over the McPherson Statue, in defiance of a U.S. Park Police order to enforce no camping rules after noon today.

Tonight there might be arrests. There might even be violence. But this afternoon in the epicenter of the K Street lobbying corridor, a symbol of what so many Americans believe is wrong with Washington, Occupy DC at McPherson Square made a defiant last stand in a joyous celebration of one of the last remaining encampments inspired by last October's original Occupy Wall Street protests at Zuccotti Park in New York City.

Yesterday the U.S. Park Police, who have authority over the park, warned demonstrators of a noon deadline today when they would begin enforcing a no camping ban. At about 11:45 a.m., in front of a swarm of media and hundreds of curious onlookers, some of the protestors climbed the statue of Major General James Birdseye McPherson and hung a big blue tarp called “Tent of Dreams.” Then the Occupiers entered the tarp and began chanting and singing and listening to music.

While many downtown office workers looked down from the roofs of their buildings in anticipation of seeing a showdown, it never materialized as the noon deadline passed. There were only a scattering of uniformed police officers manning the corners of the park. So the afternoon instead turned into somewhat of a final hurrah for a phase of a movement that has inspired so many people around the world.

Even for those who dismiss the Occupy movement with harsh words aimed at the lack of organization and singular message, or even criticizing the “aging hippies” and “entitled white kids” that are involved, as many Tea Party trolls angrily comment on news websites, they cannot deny the power that Occupy has had. Income inequality has become a part of the national consciousness and populist rage aimed at money in politics is now being discussed by the mainstream media and politicians. Even President Obama's State of the Union recently took a page from the Occupy movement by addressing the growing gap between the wealthiest 1% and the majority of Americans and calling for economic fairness.

Tomorrow the tents may be gone and the jails may be full, but Occupy has already won because they have put political and economic justice front and center. And until our economic and political systems start benefiting the 99% instead of just the 1%, then the Occupy message will continue to resonate regardless of whether or not people are physically occupying a public space.

Here is video of the "Tent of Dreams" tarp being hoisted over the McPherson Statue.



And here is video of the scene on Occupy DC's last day at McPherson Square.



Here are more pictures from an eventful day in downtown Washington.

Green Traveler: New York, New York

Photo credit: Inhabitat.com

A few green observations from a recent visit to New York City:

• Occupy Wall Street at Zuccotti Park was green. How green? When I visited the encampment they were generating electricity and heat from a stationary bicycle. The pedal power on display was part of a sustainability showcase that also featured the importance of plants to the ecosystem and a grey water recycling system.  

• New York has an aggressive public recycling program as evidenced by the blue and green recycling bins strategically located across the city. The green bins are for newspapers and magazines and the blue bins are for bottles and cans. 

• While riding the NYC subway I saw ads encouraging New York homeowners to "join the evolution" by switching to clean, renewable and homegrown bioheat. The Bioheat website states that right now they are capable of blending biodiesel with traditional heating oil at only 2-5% but that they are working on increasing the biodiesel blend. Here is a great video presentation on what bioheat is all about.

• The NYC Department of Parks and Recreation is greening their fleet and since 2006 has been operating trucks on a 20% biodiesel blend (B20) made from soybeans and 80% ultra low sulfur diesel. And the department has been conducting trials using a B50 blend. So B20 is only a stepping stone to using more clean, renewable biofuels in city vehicles.  

• One noticeable change I've seen over the years in NYC is the increase in hybrid taxis and hybrid police cars. The NYPD features a fleet of Toyota Prius patrol cars, Nissan Altima Hybrids, Ford Fusion Hybrid sedans and Ford Escape Hybrid crossovers. And as of July 2011 there were 4,980 hybrid taxis in service representing 38% of the total fleet -- the largest hybrid fleet in North America.

• NYC aims to plant a million trees throughout the five boroughs over the next decade as part of a public-private partnership. So far the city has planted 527,315 trees.

And if New Yorkers need to be reminded why there is such a sense of urgency among city leaders to make the Big Apple the greenest city in the world, all they have to do is take a trip to Midtown Manhattan near Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. At this busy intersection they will see a large billboard sponsored by Deutsche Bank with a rapidly rising number signifying the metric tons of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. I went on the website and the carbon counter is currently at around 3.92 trillion GHGs.

Occupy Wall Street: Zuccotti Park Before and After NYPD Raid

Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan is the birthplace of the Occupy protest movement that has swept across America and the world demanding a more sustainable and fairer economic system.

Last month I visited Occupy Wall Street at its height. This was when the unions had joined up with young students and aging hippies to create a spirited and festive community full of lively debates about the future of American democracy. The diverse group of citizens who pitched tents and displayed cardboard signs were an inspiration to millions of us who are deeply concerned that corporate greed and political paralysis are endangering the American dream.

This joyous moment didn't last long because last week Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the New York Police Department to clear out Zuccotti Park because of "health and safety concerns."  The NYPD raided Occupy Wall Street unannounced in the middle of the night and completely removed the encampment, even using force at times against those that resisted the removal.

I visited the post-OWS Zuccotti last weekend. It has now been turned back into the boring block of concrete it always was instead of the democratic revival, the city of hope and change it had been turned into. It was a surreal scene last Saturday afternoon. Community police officers lined the perimeter of the barricaded park. There was one entry point I could see and the police were in an argument over demonstrators not being allowed to bring in drums. There seemed to be a lot of confusion and anger over what was allowed and not allowed in the park.

Once inside it got even more surreal as a swarm of media and tourists centered in the middle of the park surrounded one Occupier talking to a camera crew.

There were a few leftover signs and I recognized one of the folk musicians from a couple of weekends ago when it was a festive, spirited atmosphere. He was still playing 60s anthems but his partner was missing. There were a handful of young people listening intently to his version of Buffalo Springfield's 1967 song "For What It's Worth."

Another guy was giving away Occupy Wall Street buttons. A memento from a brief moment of hope and joy when anything seemed possible. I took a button that summed it all up for me. It said "You can't evict an idea." Yep.

Here are photos and videos of Zuccotti Park before and after the Occupy Wall Street encampment.

Ground Zero and Occupy Wall Street: Hope Rises From the Ashes

A sunny Sunday stroll through Lower Manhattan this past weekend revealed nothing less than an American awakening. And that is not an understatement after seeing the rapidly rebuilding Ground Zero site and the nearby Occupy Wall Street demonstrations at Zuccotti Park. It is appropriate that ground zero of the people-powered movement to reclaim the American dream following the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression is literally right across the street from the newly opened 9/11 Memorial that commemorates the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor.

There is an undeniable connection between the 2001 terrorist attacks and the 2008 economic collapse. And I'm happy to report that, despite claims to the contrary, American Democracy is not dead thanks to the courageous souls taking a stand for the 99% of us. And America's collective spirit to do big things is alive and well thank you very much, despite the political paralysis and short-term thinking on Capitol Hill. That's because gleaming new skyscrapers are arising from the ashes of 9/11.

New York is resilient. New York is not afraid of embracing the future. New York is America, not the self-centered, small-minded politicians in Congress. Thank God for that. Ground Zero and Zuccotti Park should give us all hope that all is not lost in this country we all love so dearly but are rightly so concerned about.

GROUND ZERO

The first sign of progress most visitors notice upon a visit to Ground Zero is One World Trade Center -- the formerly named Freedom Tower is being built up at a furious pace and when completed in 2013 will tower over the New York City skyline as the tallest building in the United States and one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world. 

And there are other towers under construction such as Two World Trade Center as well as the 9/11 Museum which is scheduled to open a year from now. The 9/11 Memorial Fountain recently opened to the public on the tenth anniversary of the attacks and has already become a popular tourist attraction, although it should be noted that you need to reserve tickets online in advance to enter the memorial area. I didn't reserve a ticket so the photos I took are from the outer perimeter of the memorial. Also, the World Trade Center Transportation Hub is expected to be completed in 2014.

For many, the lack of progress in rebuilding Ground Zero was a symbol of this country's misplaced priorities and political inertia. How else to explain that in the past decade the New York Mets, Yankees, Giants and Jets all received shiny new stadiums, the Nets will be moving to a new arena in Brooklyn and the home of the Rangers and Knicks, Madison Square Garden, just underwent an $850 million renovation while train travelers have to suffer underneath MSG in a cramped and dingy Penn Station?

But now that there is visible progress at Ground Zero there is hope that at least New York City can rebuild its infrastructure for the 21st century and showcase big and bold architecture and grand public spaces. With the Senate today blocking President Obama's $60 billion infrastructure plan, which should have been a bipartisan slam dunk, it is obvious the political will is lacking on Capitol Hill. But after seeing what is being done at Ground Zero, there is even hope that eventually, likely with a few election cycles to get the current unimpressive group out of office, that our national political leaders can show the same collective determination and vision as the planners of the Ground Zero rebuild have.

OCCUPY WALL STREET

Which brings us to Occupy Wall Street, because in order to give the boot to the political charlatans on Capitol Hill the movement needs to grow even bigger and turn into a potent force able to rally millions of Americans to vote at the polls for candidates who will invest in clean energy, health care, education, transportation, infrastructure and innovation and strengthen the middle class while addressing the unsustainable growing gap between the rich and poor.

The encampment at Zuccotti Park has become a big tourist attraction and on the day I visited there was a festive atmosphere with drum beating and other music, lots of creative and heartfelt signs and even an innovative bicycle-powered generator providing heat and electricity to the tent dwellers.

There are a couple of observations I've noticed walking through both the Occupy D.C. and Occupy Wall Street encampments. Number one is how organized and resourceful they are. Call it organized chaos if you'd like. It might seem like these are a bunch of dirty hippies dancing in a drum circle, but a closer inspection reveals that this movement is highly organized. There is a daily schedule of activities, including workshops and marches. There are Occupy newspapers being printed to inform demonstrators and the public. At Zuccotti Park there is even a makeshift library with all sorts of books in plastic bins. And when I was there people were patiently waiting in line for healthy lunches. An example of the resourcefulness is the aforementioned bike-powered generator, which was started by the Sustainability Working Group after the NY Fire Department and NY Police Department confiscated six gas and diesel generators because of safety concerns. 

The second observation is that the people living in these tent cities, whether it is McPherson Square or Zuccotti Park, are taking extra measures to tend to the park. There are signs warning visitors not to touch the flowers or tread on newly seeded grass. There are trash and recycling bins set up. These two parks are probably in better shape now with the encampments than before the demonstrators arrived.

The bottom line is that these people are sick and tired of being sick and tired so they are taking a stand for all of us. It is no different than the civil rights movement or any other progressive movement that made our lives better. For that, we should all be thanking these people.

While I was walking around Zuccottti, some guy walking by said "go home hippies." One of the demonstrators, a young woman, responded that "we are home." I wonder if one day this guy will realize he is the 99% too and will join them.

Click here and here for photos I took from Occupy DC at McPherson Square in downtown Washington.

Here are more photos of One World Trade Center and the 9/11 Memorial and more photos of Occupy Wall Street.

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And here are videos I took at Zuccotti Park. The first video is of a musical tandem singing a snappy folk song that could be the theme song for Occupy Wall Street. I didn't catch the name of their group. The second video is a bit of the scene last Sunday as I walked around.

Photos: Occupy DC Turns into Tent City

This past summer I saw tent city protests all over Israel. These mostly young Israelis pitched tents to protest the high housing costs and lack of affordable housing in Israel. Voluntarily living in tents was a powerful symbolic demonstration. Well, the tent cities have come to our shores, at least in Washington, D.C. as part of the Occupy DC branch of the larger Occupy Wall Street movement. But these tents are for more practical purposes -- to protect the growing community of the hunkered-down demonstrators in McPherson Square from the rain and harsh elements as cool fall weather settles in and winter will bring the cold and snow to the nation's capital.

Here are recent photos.

Photos: Occupy D.C.

Occupy D.C. is an offshoot of the larger Occupy Wall Street protest movement taking place in New York City. People are organizing in other cities across the country under the unofficial banner Occupy Together. The demonstrators are encamped at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza in downtown Washington. Their literature says the participants are "citizens, professionals, students, activists, parents, unemployed workers, voters and the underrepresented who represent the 99%." They are interested in "separating money from politics and improving the country's infrastructure to fix healthcare, education, environment and the economy."

Is this a fad or the foundation of the left's own Tea Party movement? That question has yet to be answered. But right now there is something stirring in cities across the United States of America. And it can't be ignored. Here are photos of some of the signs and the atmosphere at McPherson Square in D.C. this past weekend.