Both Mayor Dave Bing and the Detroit City Council approved a one-week extension of Occupy Detroit’s permit to camp in Grand Circus Park.
In separate actions, both Mayor Dave Bing’s office yesterday, and the City Council this afternoon, granted to Occupy Detroit a one-week extension to their permit to camp at Grand Circus Park, with an end date of apparently Monday, November 21.
Late yesterday, the Mayor’s office issued a permit extension which included “reservations” that the park must be evacuated “by November 21st.” [view document]
Today, the City Council considered the two-week permit extension previously submitted by Occupy Detroit. At the beginning of the consideration, Councilwoman Watson informed representatives of Occupy Detroit about the Mayor’s action of the day before, of which Occupy Detroit had not been previously informed. The Councilwoman indicated that Mayor Bing’s action of yesterday seemed to circumvent the normal permit application process, over which the City Council normally has jurisdiction. After consultation with one another, Occupy Detroit representatives agreed to table their two-week extension request and accept a one-week extension from the City Council, which the Council granted unanimously.
Occupy Detroit’s two-week extension request was supported by a letter from John Royal, a member of the Occupy Detroit Legal Committee. In the letter [linked], Royal, current president of the Detroit National Lawyers Guild, acknowledged that the occupation was “unusual”. He also argued that these were unusual times, saying : “For several decades, this country has followed economic and political policies which have made a small number of people quite wealthy, at the expense of the rest of the country. The economic pain which the entire country is enduring has had a catastrophic effect on the City of Detroit. The rate of home foreclosures in our City is astronomical, and unemployment is at depression levels. Occupy Detroit is a branch of the Occupy Wall Street protest movement which began in New York City, and has now spread around the world. This is a grassroots effort to directly challenge the political and economic policies which created the current devastation and suffering. If this movement has any impact on bringing about fundamental economic and social justice, the benefits for the people of the City of Detroit will be incalculable.”
It was further noted in the letter that Detroit Police Officers have dropped off homeless people at Grand Circus Park, and advised them to seek food and shelter from the Occupy Detroit movement. In another instance, an obviously suicidal woman was similarly dropped off by the police, instead of being taken to proper medical facilities.
While some police officers have used Occupy Detroit as a social service center, Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee sent a letter to the Occupy Detroit movement, dated November 11th in which felony arrests were threatened against anyone in the park (including occupiers) who refuses to comply with a police order. Some in Occupy Detroit wonder why the people of this city are being treated to the spectacle of some police officers using Occupy Detroit as a social service agency while the official communications from the Chief threaten the protesters with felony arrest.
During the City Council’s consideration of Occupy Detroit’s permit extension request, a number of Council members made very favorable statements about the activities of the Occupy Detroit protestors. They recognized Occupy Detroit’s community building efforts, and their coordination with other local groups to highlight issues important to everyone in the Detroit area – many of these issues being driven by income inequality, globalization, and the failure of very powerful elements in society to take meaningful steps to address the effects of these realities.
At the Council meeting, representatives of the Detroit Police were asked if they opposed the granting of the one-week extension of the permit to Occupy Detroit. Deputy Police Chief Tolbert expressly indicated that the police department had no objections.
According to John Royal, the language of the permit extension is somewhat ambiguous. The prior permit would have expired at midnight, Monday, November 14. A one-week extension of that would carry the legal occupation to midnight, Monday, November 21. Yet, the permit extension language indicates “the park must be evacuated by Monday, November 21st.” Occupy Detroit reads the permit extension as allowing legal occupation at least through legal park hours on the 21st, precisely because it was an extension of a previous permit.
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OCCUPY DETROIT PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 11:30 PM EST
CONTACT:
Lee Gaddies, 313-585-8440, lee337@comcast.net
Todd Brady, 313-961-8310, ext. 516
Web: www.occupy-detroit.us; Twitter: @occupydetmi
