In May of last year, members of Occupy Los Angeles and homeless advocates held an occupation-style demonstration every night in front of LA’s downtown business lobby, the Central City Association. That action lasted about three months. Last night, about 35 protesters returned for a one-night stand. The demonstration was a continuance of last year’s actions...
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Margarita Lucero and her husband are unloading their pick-up truck of clothes. In the back are old televisions and VCRs. These are items they sell at swap meets, she explains. When asked how she has been, she responds, “No bien. Nervous.” The subject of her worries flies overhead in an overcast sky. “La policía,”...
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At the request of a homeowner under foreclosure, occupiers have barricaded themselves inside another home. They hope to stave off eviction and force an amicable arrangement with the mortgage lender. According to the homeowners, Margarita Lucero and her brother Benito, and occupiers, Deutsche Bank is fraudulently foreclosing on the Lucero home. On the day...
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It’s Saturday afternoon, Labor Day weekend, in Van Nuys and the mood is subdued. Homeowners tend to chores. One works on his pick-up truck. Above, a warm breeze stirs the tree leaves, making a gentle sound that causes one to desire a hammock for an afternoon nap. Nearby, atop a flag pole, an American...
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A protest over activists being arrested for chalking messages on sidewalks erupted into a near-riot on Thursday, July 12 in downtown Los Angeles. Members of Occupy Los Angeles held a planned act of civil disobedience over what they argue is their constitutionally-protected right to chalk politically sensitive messages on the sidewalk. The event was...
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Homeless people have historically gained the ire of city dwellers. In 1875, the editors of the New York magazine Appleton’s Journal took issue with the destitute who made themselves “an object of abhorrence to decent folk” in Central Park. They criticized the installment of park benches, saying that the “mendicancy of a free seat...
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Occupy activists and homeless advocates continued their planned seven-day demonstration last night in front of the offices of the Central City Association, a downtown business advocacy group. Activists argue that CCA influences city officials to draft policies that benefit wealthy interests at the expense of downtown’s poor and homeless residents. Pitching the occupy movement’s...
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A group of homeless advocates held an educational meeting for occupy activists yesterday concerning Skid Row and the plight of the homeless. It ended in an appeal to occupy. Yesterday’s meeting, which was held on Towne Avenue south of Fourth Street, was a major step for this subset of Occupy LA, which brought together...
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An LAPD patrol car parks in the middle of Towne Avenue just south of Fourth Street in Skid Row. The empty street begins to fill with anticipation. From its loudspeaker, an officer in the patrol car barks orders at a cadre of occupy activists and homeless advocates who are in the process of staging...
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Reporting from Orange County – When Mark West heard about a protest happening near the Orange County Civic Center, it struck his curiosity. He was informed of the Occupy Orange County demonstration when police officers knocked on the window of the truck he lives out of in the Santa Ana Civic Center parking lot. West...
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