Occupy Tucson has been evicted from Armory Park and the main library by the Tucson Police Department late last night. Rousting people out of their tents to ticket them is bad enough, but making them pack up their tents, kitchen, and belongings in the dead of night– after most of them have probably gone to sleep? What kind of an oppressive/passive aggressive city government to we have? What a cowardly action– making them move after dark when no one can see what the police are doing.

Who’s decision was this? The public deserves to know.

Below is a report from Alex Maldonado, one of the peacekeepers. The Occupation has moved to Veinte de Agosto Park (AKA Pancho Villa Park). You may remember that this was the original location.

Thursday night at approximately 11pm, the Tucson Police Department surrounded the perimeter of Armory Park with 80 officers and forced Occupy Tucson to vacate the park.

In two hours, Occupy Tucson had bugged-out and cleaned the park of any trash on the grounds.
The Tucson community showed up and helped during the bug-out process. Some who had only been following the movement on the internet, showed up and aided in the move.

There were no injuries to report on the occupiers. Some TPD officers were even sympathetic to the forced action against the occupiers as they could not help during the move but could only watch.

The Pima County Library Park was also vacated by the occupiers after TPD forced an evacuation of that park.

Currently, there are approximately 40 tents at the new base camp with approximately 60 occupiers holding their ground after what can only be termed as a successful and well organized bug-out from Armory Park.

Occupy Tucson has found its second wind.

I can’t help but think this eviction has something to do with the call to action made on Occupy Tucson’s facebook page yesterday afternoon. The Occupiers asked supporters to call or e-mail El Tour de Tucson organizers requesting that they make a deal with the Occupiers to co-exist at Armory Park on the race day (Nov. 19). When I sent a mail to Perimeter Bicycling Association of America, Inc. (the group that organizes El Tour), I received a very long, somewhat gruff response. Occupy Tucson has more than 6,500 followers on facebook, and when they have put out calls to action in the past, there has been a deluge.

Friday Call to Action: Occupy Tucson is asking supporters to come to Veinte de Agosto Park today (Friday) at 5:30 p.m. to demonstrate your support. Our first amendment freedom is at stake. From their facebook page:

This is a call to ALL, show your solidarity with OCCUPY TUCSON and come down to Viente De Agosto at 5:30 pm tonight (Friday) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyones 1st Amendment Right is at stake , the Mayor, council memeber and TPD needs to see all of you there, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT TUCSON !!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE: Local MoveOn.org activists are calling for Tucsonans to show their support for the Occupiers and come to Veinte de Agosto Park on Saturday, Nov. 5 at noon to issue their own citations against corporate robber barons. Here’s the link.

From MoveOn…

Our friends at Occupy Tucson are being issued citations for standing up and speaking out for the 99% of us who don’t have corporate lobbyists.

As many of you have by now heard, the City of Tucson evicted Occupy Tucson from Armory Park and Library Park last night. While this action was regrettable, the movement itself has not been discouraged. The Occupiers have relocated the base camp to Viente de Agosto Park and remains a strong, peaceful and committed community. Let’s continue to stand up for them, as they are standing up for us, the 99% who don’t have lobbyists and corporate legal departments to speak for us!

Thanks to all who have signed this petition in support of Occupy Tucson! We have collected nearly 4,000 signatures in support of the Occupiers, which will be delivered to the City Council at their next official meeting. [Nov. 9 is the next Mayor and Council meeting. ] Let’s show that the people of Tucson support freedom of speech and freedom to peacefully assemble! Meanwhile, the 1% who control over 42% of this naton’s wealth are not being held to account.

On Saturday, November 5th, MoveOn members and our progressive allies in Tucson will gather at Veinte de Agosto Park in Downtown Tucson to issue citations of our own – for crimes against the American public – to three of the biggest corporate banks on Wall Street: Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Chase Bank.

RSVP: http://civic.moveon.org/event/makewallstpayaction/123019

At noon, we will gather at Veinte de Agosto Park at Congress and Church to show solidarity with our friends at Occupy Tucson. After Occupy’s noon general assembly, we (and any Occupiers who wish to join us) will march through Tucson’s financial district to present our tickets to the banks and kick off a “Move Your Money” campaign in Tucson.

Please note that the start of the rally has moved from Armory Park to Veinte de Agosto Park at Church and Congress, which is the new Occupy Tucson base camp. We will gather between noon and 12:30 and march from there to Chase, Wells Fargo & Bank of America for a peaceful sidewalk rally.

UPDATE 2: Here’s a link to images from the TPD raid of Armory Park.

UPDATE 3: Check out the video of the TPD sweep from the Tucson Sentinel.

Tucson is in the midst of an all mail-in election for mayor and 3 city council seats. Ballots were mailed to all registered voters a few weeks ago, but I’m sure there are thousands of you out there– like me– who have not voted yet.

If you haven’t voted yet, this one’s for you…

The mayor’s race is a three-way between Republican Rick Grinnell, Democrat Jonathan Rothschild, and Green Mary DeCamp. Last week, I gave you my thoughts on Grinnell (professional lobbyist, member of both Rio Nuevo Boards, and would-be Mayor for the 1%). Today’s post will focus on Rothschild and DeCamp.

After the August primary, the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) Tucson Chapter e-mailed questionnaires to all of the candidates still left standing– Grinnell, Rothschild, and DeCamp in the mayor’s race, and Republicans Jennifer Rawson and Tyler Vogt, Green Beryl Baker,  and Democratic incumbents Shirley Scott, Paul Cunningham, and Regina Romero for City Council. The 20 questions were based upon PDA’s core issues: economic and social justice, corporate personhood, universal healthcare, global warming and the environment, fair and transparent elections, and end the wars/redirect the funding.

PDA didn’t really expect the Republicans to answer our questions, and they didn’t. But we were really surprised when none of the Democratic incumbents for City Council answered them either. Only three candidates took the time to answer our questionnaire–Rothschild, DeCamp, and Baker.

Both Rothschild and DeCamp also agreed to personal interviews with 2-3 PDA Steering Committee members. Each of the interviewers scored the questions independently with a possible 2 points for each question for a total of 40 points for a perfect score (ie, the candates’ responses were well-aligned with PDA’s stance on core issues); partial responses received 1 point; and off-the-mark, woefully incomplete, or unanswered responses received 0 points.

In the end, with surprising consistency across the interviewers, the composite scores were: Rothschild 29 and DeCamp 26 (pretty darn close for a mainstream candidate vs a green).

On some issues– like the environment– Rothschild and DeCamp were well-aligned with each other and with PDA. Both of them promote walkable/bikeable neighborhoods, water harvesting and conservation, and solar energy promotion.

On clean elections– they both support clean elections (although DeCamp is running clean and Rothschild isn’t), and they both support limiting campaign contributions. In addition, DeCamp also promotes Instant Runoff Voting, a interesting idea that could eliminate the “Ralph Nadar Effect”.

On other issues– like economic and social justice– they were worlds apart. On job creation, Rothschild’s answers were very mainstream and not detailed: strengthen the educational system; work with the University of Arizona tech transfer department and related businesses to create a technology and research hub; and see his 180 Day Plan (which is very pro-business).

DeCamp’s answers were anything but mainstream. She focused on building local businesses–rather than on attracting new businesses with economic incentives (ie, tax breaks, free land, reduced or no fees, whatever) and building a micro-financing system to help new start-up companies. She also envisions expanding Tucson’s neighborhood centers and broadening their scope by adding tutoring,  basic healthcare, free advice from SCORE for new start-up businesses, community-based police stations, space for non-profits (eg, Literacy Volunteers, the Community Food Bank, etc.), and more. When asked how she would pay for expansion of the neighborhood centers (which have suffered budget cuts, staff lay-offs, and reductions in services and hours), she pointed to the millions that Tucson is investing with TREO (the folks who offer those incentives to out-of-state businesses and bring new call center jobs to Tucson) and the Metropolitan Convention and Visitors’ Bureau (the folks who sell cowboys and cactus to get people to vacation in the resorts that ring the city).

At first blush, DeCamp’s Community Conservation Centers seem like pie-in-the-sky for a cash-strapped city but think of the possibilities in business development, educational attainment, healthcare savings, and community-building that this local investment could bring — not to mention directly creating jobs in the centers themselves. I am not dissing Rothschild’s technology hub idea; that’s good, but I’ve heard it before. I think DeCamp’s community center idea is a fresh complement to his. I also like her emphasis on promoting Tucson’s strengths and growing local business– instead of trying to lure businesses or sports teams away from other cities.

This fascinating exercise in democracy left me longing for a mashup mayor between Rothschild and DeCamp. As a member of the Democratic Party’s Executive Committee for several years and as the managing partner of a law firm with city contracts, Rothschild is an insider with connections to the establishment. DeCamp is an outsider with fresh ideas and connections to the activist community– particularly those sympathetic to Occupy Tucson, where she has been camping out since Day 1. (Rothschild hasn’t even visited Occupy Tucson, or if he has, there has been no media coverage of it.)

Here are the questions facing Tucson’s more progressive voters:

Can an establishment candidate break out and seek creative solutions?

Can an anti-establishment candidate survive in our entrenched city government?

Now you see why The Tucson Progressive is still holding onto her mail-in ballot.

What’s a person to do? VOTE.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 8. The deadline is 7 p.m.

If you want to mail your ballot, get it in the mail by Friday, November 4.

If you want to drop off your ballot, here is a list of polling places where you can deposit your mailed ballot.

More Background Information

For candidate background information, check this Arizona Public Media link. To watch the AZPM mayoral forum, check DeCamp’s website.

Occupy Tucson began on Oct. 15 at Armory Park– after a shift from Pancho Villa Park to accommodate Tucson Meet Yourself. Now the demonstration is taking place at 3 locations downtown– Armory Park, Pancho Villa, and the main library.

Tucson Police continue to give campers curfew citations nightly at all three locations– despite the restraining order issued by a federal judge in Tennessee who has prevented the state of Tennessee from issuing curfew citations against Occupy Nashville protesters on grounds that the tickets violated their first amendment rights to freedom of speech.

For more on the arrests and the new Occupy locations, click here.

For a collection of Occupy Tucson videos, click here.

For moving Occupy Tucson testimony from the 2 City Council meetings were no action was taken, check out these links. Particularly moving is the homeless man at the beginning of part 2 of the October 25 meeting.

October 18, 2011 Tucson Mayor and Council Meeting

October 25, 2011 Tucson Mayor and Council Meeting

This is the fifth in a series of personal accounts from the Occupation of Tucson. In this letter, Green Party Mayoral Candidate Mary DeCamp talks about life in the Occupy Tucson camp, her first court date, and the local media (who recently realized that she is running for mayor).

Nov. 1: Notes from the Occupation
by Mary DeCamp

Good morning media folks & friends,
Here’s another update from Camp DeCamp along de campaign trail….

Yesterday was busy.  I started with a 6:30 a.m. in-studio interview at KGUN-9 television station way out on Rosewood.  Luckily, a friend allowed me to intrude early and take a hot shower so I wouldn’t uphold the Flea-Party image that my right-wing friends have tagged all the Occupiers with.  I guess it didn’t matter a whole lot, because from what I saw, much of the video coverage was of generic shopping scenes instead of the candidate’s visage.  The atmosphere there was chilly, perhaps because my good friend & psychologist Dr. Victor Shamas had engaged in a long and heated email exchange with station producer F. Carr over the negative and misleading slant reporter Steve Nunez put on the foreclosure press conference I gave on October 4, 2011 in front of City Hall.  I called Jon Justice, KGUN’s upstairs neighbor and host of the morning talk radio program on “104.1 The Truth,” to see if I could stop in for a visit with them, but Jon refused to take my phone call and the phone screener said Jon wanted nothing more to do with me.  I was surprised, because the day before Jon had graciously shared with me a caricature one of his followers did of me that I thought was pretty flattering.

Running hot and cold in Tucson is par for the course these days.  Daytime temperatures rise while nighttime temperatures dip.  It gives me a whole new appreciation for my homesteading ancestors who crossed the plains in covered wagons and ended up living in sod houses on the windswept prairies.  We’ve got it pretty comfortable when that comparative perspective is applied.

My ancestors would be amazed at all the changes.  I could dash from the eastside back downtown in my car, arriving at City Court for my second appearance in response to the ongoing citations for Occupying Armory Park after the 10:30 p.m. curfew.  After clearing the metal detector and being scanned for weapons, I had time to take a telephone call from Pacifica Radio and talk with them about why a mayoral candidate would be willing to do more than just talk about supporting the Occupy movement.  Evidently it is unusual for politicos to walk their talk by sleeping on the ground along with others who sacrifice their comfort to stand for all our rights, and the folks at Pacifica wanted to hear more about Occupy Tucson, Code Pink, and the Green Party.

The phone call didn’t take long, and I was seated in Judge Shetter’s courtroom along with my friends, to hear whether or not the State would allow the prosecutor’s motion to apply zoning restrictions to our cases. Zoning restrictions mean that the defendants cannot return to the scene of the crime. Usually these restrictions are applied for crimes of moral misconduct like theft and/or prostitution, or if others are injured as in the case of fighting or domestic abuse – those convicted are unwelcome to return to the physical location and make more mischief.  Think what that says about how the City views the Occupiers.  And consider the implications if adopted.  By lumping us together with thieves, prostitutes, and violent offenders, we are banned from returning to Armory Park.  (The first time this plan was forwarded, it was to cover ANY time, the second time, it covered just the hours the curfew was in effect.)  But, if we cannot return, the number of tents steadily decreases and the media can contend that support is waning.  It is a sure way to break the back of the movement.  Pretty slick, huh?  Both judges Chrenshaw and Shetter denied the motion.

The Occupiers will have another court date on November 17 to determine the outcome.  Today, Judge Bernal told the prosecutor to bundle the motions for zoning restriction and present them all together in front of Judge Rojas at 9:00 a.m. on November 7 for a determination then.

After the court date yesterday, I scooted on over to my old stomping grounds, the University.  I had the wonderful opportunity to return to the classroom and meet with a bunch of fresh-faced and intelligent young aspiring journalists at the invitation of Professor Mark Evans.  What a delight!  For once, I was given more than just 2 minutes to lay out my plan for the City.  I swear, I have had longer interviews for waitress positions than what has been afforded me on the campaign trail to plead my case to be the next Mayor of the 33rd largest city in the USA.  Yikes!  What does that say about our media and democracy?  The students were interested, engaged, and had great questions.  I couldn’t believe how quickly the time slid past.

At noon, I met with my all-volunteer campaign team to refile paperwork to qualify for City Matching Funds.  We filed Oct. 26, but the City Clerk’s office disqualified 24 of the 301 donor forms.  So we beat feet, got even MORE of those $10 donations from city-dwellers who are over 18 and American citizens, and went back to petition once more.  The staff in the City Clerk’s office is so wonderful!  It is always a delight and a pleasure to visit there and interact with such pleasant and professional city workers.

<The afternoon was free of further commitments, so I could devote time to maintaining the base camp.  I could do litter patrol, some emotional support for our needy campers, and some office work on the computers in the Armory Senior Center.  Yep, I qualified for the membership offered to those over 50 years old and so I took them up on the deal.  My platform is based on recreating that sort of community spirit in all 131 registered neighborhood associations.  Direct exposure with their operation just strengthens my commitment to plant such seeds in other neighborhood communities.

Supper last night was fantastic – grilled chicken, burgers, and veggie burgers accompanied with a side salad and snacks.  I heard our kitchen got a gold-star rating from the health department, but haven't verified that rumor.

The general assembly offered good information about what all the work groups were up to.  We're still working with other groups that have filed for permits to use Armory Park for their upcoming events, so nothing to report there yet.

Sleep came quickly, and was only briefly interrupted when the Tucson Police stopped by to issue our nightly citations.  Throughout the night, I was roused by occasional horns honking as people drove by and hollered at us to "get a job."  But, all in all, it is amazing how easy it is for the body to adapt to new demands.  Sleeping on the ground isn't bad.  Being surrounded by the stately trees, feeling the fresh air, and knowing that I'm performing my patriotic duty allow me to rest easily these days.

Thanks for your continued interest in the Camp DeCamp Campaign.  Only one more week to go!

Tell your friends, family, and neighbors to vote – hopefully for me, but even if not for me for SOMEONE to lead this City.  I'm hoping if I don't get elected that whoever DOES get elected will adopt all my good ideas.  We all share common ground and want the best for the future.

Thanks, fellows,
Mary DeCamp
www.DeCampForMayor.org

Previous articles in this series:
Oct. 23: Green Tea
Oct. 25: Of Permits and Police
Oct. 26: Tucson Mayor and Council Meeting
Oct. 30: Jon Justice, violence, and illegal sleeping